7.3 Towing questions
 

I tow a 35' 5'er towhauler, when its loaded with atv's and gear it weighs about 12k, so my question is this: Does anybody tow about the same with their 7.3? I am trying to figure out the best way to tow, whether it be in OD or Drive and what RPM should I try travel at? Just wanting to get some views of others that tow and what they try to shoot for.

It depends on how the truck is driving, if it is shifting in and out of overdrive then its time to lock it out. If the temps are coming, then lock it out.

Any mods to the truck?

I have a SuperChip Programmable, (which I am not all that happy with), straight 4" exhaust from the turbo and a cold air kit. I guess what I'm after is what would be the very upper limit of the RPM range to run at for any length of time. Is it ok to run at 2400 in drive or should slow down to run in OD? It seems other rigs with similar trailers and weight are running a lot faster than me, but I'm conservative and inexperienced at what the limits are of the 7.3

I am assuming your running gauges? Pyro, boost and tranny temps?

There is no issues with running 2400 for hours, I have run those RPM's for hours pulling or running empty at high speeds.

He is right. I don't pull near as heavy maybe 9 - 10k loaded and my truck does fine once in od. but i do manually pull it out once i slow to about 1300 rpm then on acceleration manually engage it at around 2300. But the truck will pull in od. If i come to a hill where it shifs out, i will manually disengage it till i'm over the hill so it won't go back and forth.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I do have gauges, and I watch the egt's increase as it starts to lose rpm's on hills then I manually kick it out of od. What kind of temps do you guys generally run at when pulling? If I'm on flat ground or a bit of a tailwind I pull at about 700-850, depending on speed and whether I am in OD or D. As the rpm's increase my egt's decrease. I have about 135k miles and I smoked my tranny at 50k, so it's been built to run and pull with a suncoast t-converter and a tugger kit with upgraded bands and a hell yeah...haven't had issues yet, knock on wood. My concerns are more of what is ideal for the motor, and I appreciate your inputs. This is the best site ever. Hey, another thing I am experiencing, before I shift out of OD and the motor is being pulled down by a hill, I get this interrupted howling sound, and then it goes away when I pull it out of OD, ya'll experience that? Is that what others have said to be "stall"? Will a wicked wheel fix that?:humm:

Could be surge, low RPM and High load will call it. Watch the boost gauge, you should see it bounce a little when that happens. A Wicked wheel will help.

Yup, it does bounce, it's good to know what that is...thank you. I will look into ordering a ww. Anyone have any experience putting one in? Is it do-able to do in my garage?

it is very dooable in the garage.. might look into an ats ported housing as well.. many have installed the wheel with no results.. many it has fixed it..

The ATS ported housing is more expensive, but it is light years easier to replace than the compressor wheel and will be a guaranteed fix for the surge. NOTE: Neither the compressor wheel or housing are performance upgrades....they are simply fixes for compressor surge.