Hi all-

I'm new to this board and wanted to ask how I can get better towing performance from my '98 F150 supercab 4x4 with 4.6l v-8 that is totally stock right now. 48,000 miles.

I tow a boat weighing about 2500 lbs and although it does ok, I stuggle in the hills and wind. I always drive with the O/D off.

Where should I look first? Exhaust? Chip? Air filter? If so, what brands do you recommend and were can I get these products, prices, can I do it myself, etc.?

I'm ok with a wrench but would be slightly intimidated by tearing apart too much of my truck.

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

 

Welcome and I see you are a Red Green fan.

All those things you mention are great bolt ons and will give you some improvement. Not night and day, but won't hurt.

An aftermarket cat back 3" single exhaust will run about $300.00. Supposed to be a bolt on, but you do need some decent cutting type tools. I just took mine to a muffler shop and paid them. They had the old out and the new in in just over a half hour.

A K&N drop in filter is about $50. Pretty simple.

Chips are around $300 I think. There is a whole forum on that topic alone, so I'll leave it at that.

Gears would be the next thing to consider, but cost lots of $$$. If you have 3.55 now, and move up to say, 4.10's, you'll pull that boat alot easier, without any of the above mods..... but, you'll be pulling higher rpms, so mpg may suffer some. That's assuming you keep the same size tires........

 

Thanks for the quick reply Mitch. I see this is a fairly quick moving board. Good pick-up on the Red Green quote, your the first.

Nice picture of your truck, mine is the same blue with prairie tan bottom.

I wish I'd have simply ordered the 5.4 when I bought the truck, but at the time I didn't think I'd need it. Now that the truck is paid for it is hard to think about payments again!

Any way, the exhaust upgrade is really what I'm interested in.

Should I go to dual exhaust or stay with the single exhaust? Are there any benifits to either? Increased or decreased HP?

 

Thanks man, I've seen a couple of trucks with the blue/tan lower section. That looks great too. Yeah, good ol' Red Green. ".....I can change, if I have to, I guess...."

I just got lucky and mine had the 5.4 when I bought it a year ago. Still making payments, however!!

There's some debate on the whole single vs dual topic. IMO, I feel the single is best if you want to keep or increase low end torque. Duals seem to take a bit away from the low end, but you gain it all back and then some when you hit the higher rpms.

Now, your 4.6's peak torque is a bit higher in the rpm range. I can't recall the exact number, but it's like 3 grand or so. I think the 5.4's peak is at 2,500-2,700 rpms.

So, the 4.6 "may" respond better to the duals. Just don't have any reference point to go by myself. I do know that the single 3" gave me the low end I wanted, but that's with a 5.4........

I'm sure some other 4.6 owners will be giving you some hands on advice here soon.