Towing upgrades?
 

Hey, Have a 2001 Ford F-550 with of course the legendary 7.3L powering it down the road!

Here's the thing, I use it to haul a 48ft dovetail trailer all across the country on a regular basis. Trailer is generally maxed out at 20,000lbs all the time.

The truck is pretty much factory other than:
-Banks cold air intake.
-Tow master automatic transmission.
-Gauges, EGT, Boost, Trans.

I was think about getting a tuner to help with power and fuel economy but I've heard the F550 comes with different mapping? I have a Banks automind and PHP tuner, I've tried both ans they work, but not very well, like it wasn't designed for it. If this is the case can a guy just swap the PCM for one out of a 350?

I would like to make and maintain more boost especially up hills.
I was thinking of the Garrett Performance Turbo Housing 1.15 A/R Non wastegated, apparently this helps when towing to build and maintain boost pressure.
anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also any other ides would be great! thanks guys!

There is a thread a couple posts down that went over this exact thing. Gauges,intake, exhaust and a hydra with custom tunes will help a ton. I'm not a fan of putting money into the stock turbo

I have gauges, Intake and exhaust.

The Automind and PHP tuners don't work well with it.

I had the PHP installed with 550 files and it still didn't help at all. Would I have to call and have custom files made?

The stock turbo loses boost after about 12 psi, the wastegate opens up and drops everything.

Take the banks shit off, its garbage and that's where it belongs. What's a 550 file? Sounds like you have other problems because it should build more then that.

Yeah I pulled it off after I discovered it wasn't helpful at all other than tripping my engine light and throwing an ICP over pressure code.

You download the install program for the PHP and it offers files for each PCM code. And they have my code under 550 tuning. Offers tow and sport but that's it. Tow tune doesn't help at all just dumps black smoke and EGTS rise.

I don't have any boost/exhaust leaks fixed those last month.

The turbo wastegate opens up around 12 to 15 psi depending how much I'm on the throttle and dumps all the boost

Oh I didn't notice yours was a 550.

Sounds like your waste gate might be weak. I don't remember if you can adjust those or not. Might look and see if you can tighten it up or try unplugging it.

As for the tuning you can call PHP and talk to them or try someone else's tuning. I would recommend gearhead or wildman.

Okay, I'll look into the wastegate.

As for tuning I'll call PHP or the others you suggested and see what they can do.

I'll let you know what happens.

Have any suggestions on aftermarket injectors that would be great for towing 20,000lbs?

I want to get a bigger intercooler as well. I was thinking water methonal injection set up for EGTS for those long up hill climbs but I don't know much about them.

Look into pis injectors, they have some that are a great tow injector but are still fun on the street. Think they are 200/30s. Do the injectors and see how everything is first. I wouldn't buy an intercooler or water injection unless you needed it.

Sorry for the slow reply, I'm traveling across the country.

I removed the red vaccum line from the back of the wastegate. Man what a difference! Truck got some balls back.

I removed the line and capped it off, gained anywhere from 5 psi to a full 10 psi difference under load. It dropped 200 EGTS as well. I keep a close eye on it and don't exceed 20psi. I'm not sure what the stock turbo and truck can handle.

Can't really give any fuel mileage increase/decrease numbers yet it hasn't been long enough. But sure as sugar makes things easier towing!

Stock turbo you can do about 25-30ish and be fine.

Awesome. I was thinking about just deleting the wastegate all together with this,
GAR700213-0005 it's the non-wastegated version. Bout $300 online.

I wonder if anymore benefits would be had. I can't afford an aftermarket turbo, I don't have problems with this one for now just as long as it holds boost

Personally I wouldn't, I would save your money and put it into a decent turbo.

Kooper so u removed that line and just capped it off?

Yes I did.

It gave me access to a lot more boost and lower EGT's.
However, under WOT and sudden throttle let down it seemed the air couldn't let out fast enough and kinda romped on the turbo. "I have feeling this isn't good."

My turbo was already wearing out and I believe this accelerated the breakdown.

I finally decided to get another turbo. Went with a modified stock one "price was right" type of deal.

I can run 35psi up a 6% grade with about 950 on the EGT's unloaded.

Towing power was improved massively, feels like a new truck now. Got the wastegate vacuum line reconnected and everything with this set up.

Only problem I got now is past 21psi or so the CEL shows up. Guess I gotta get the over boost annihilator installed now.