What about keeping your factory warrenty, would that be a good argument

 

What about it? We're talking about DPF delete exhaust setups, warranty is of no question. If you really wanted to, you could take your DPF delete off, throw the DPF on, and bring it in for work and they wouldn't be any wiser...

If you're worried about warranty that much, you have no business trying to figure out how to get to 500rwhp, or anything that has to do with removing the DPF.

 

If I was worried about not removing the DPF, I would not have made the post in the first place. As long as there is not fire shooting from my tail pipe, I think i'm good.

 

Some of the early 6.4 would shoot fire out the tail pipe

 

I couldnt be more happier with my spartan setup with the 250 tune. Mileage went up to about 17 on the highway and power is through the roof! SCT and H&S make a good product but the combo of support and the dashdaq is an awesome package with spartan! Spartan is the best bet hands down!

 

Hi Guys,

This is my first post. I'm driving a 2008 F450 6.4 4x4 King Ranch Dually. I'm living the full time RV life so I'm towing an 18,000 pound, 3 axle, 41 foot toy hauler most of the time.

I had an 06 F350 4x4 6.0 Harley Edition which was nice ...... nice enough to be stolen twice, which is why I have the F450 now. Mileage on the 6.0 was almost double what I experience with the 6.4 (7 towing, 12 hwy cruise w/o trailer)

I'm looking for advice on tuners. I'm concerned about the large increase in exhaust gas temps as chronicled by Banks Engineering. I'd lean their way except that they do not support DPF delete and without that my guess is that there won't be any significant gains in mileage, power or reliability. I think I detect a lack of enthusiasm for Banks products on this forum for some reason?

My final concern is warranty. I've spoken to two Ford Service Managers about this. They both said that adding a tuner and turning off the Regen cycle is something that leaves a permanent record or code in the PCM and it will absolutely void the warranty. My question is .... is the record in the PCM really permanent when you turn off the regen cycle?

The truck is equipped with a large factory intercooler. I know I need to improve the intake tract. When it comes to exhaust, other than the DPF delete, I doubt that aftermarket exhaust systems make much measurable difference in mileage or performance so it's DPF delete or I should just save the money for something else.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

 

The biggest issue that you are facing with your 450 is the gearing. if you had 3.55 gears like a lot of the 250's then you would probably be ok. Spartan is the only tuner on the market that is completely untraceable. it does this by completely reflashing the computer back to a stock truck and resetting all traceable modules to stock. The only thing that the dealer will be able to detect is that the OBDII port was accessed. So basically if you need warranty work done you just remove all your mods and put the return the truck back to a stock tune. If you were to put a spartan tuner on your truck running the 275 tune you would probably see a 4mpg gain on hwy and in town. These 6.4 engines stock are pushing 1400 degrees when its in regen mode as it is so they are plenty capable of handling high horsepower tunes. When cruising with the 250 tune on my truck i usually see about 700 degrees which is completely normal and not hard on the truck at all. LEt me know if you want to know anything more about the spartan tuner and ill give you some info. I love mine and the power is amazing!

 

Thanks for that feedback. You are correct about the gearing. The 450 is running 4.88 gears which is good for towing an 18,000 pound trailer, but the mileage suffers and the 6.4 is bad to start with ...
I've gotten use to towing at 55 mph but the mileage w/o trailer at 55 still sucks.

 

I would still recommend River City Diesels 450 Tune for towing with your 450. Josh has tuned many local f450s and these guys do nothing but work and abuse their truck, and none of them complain. We own two 6.4's and trust me, with my 3.55's and joshs tuning, you WONT find better fuel economy. Trust me, River City is the way to go.

Jared @ RFFI