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.

Another note to add, manually lockin OD out increases line pressure in the trans, so if you're really heavy, it might be a good idea for trans health to lock it out 'til you're up to speed.

You make a good point, and I try to keep OD locked out manually when getting up to speed.

Just got back from vacation. My 5er weighs 11,000 loaded and i pull from OK to CO every year. This year I switched to a T-S chip that I got from K-T peformance and I love the way it pulls just a little hard on lockup when pullin from a stop. Best speed i pull at is 75mph too bad its above the spee limit in most places. If ya look at my profile you'll see that our trucks are close to the same. I got 137000 on mine never had a tranny problem and its been chip in some form or another for over 100 thou doesn't get drove unless it has a trailer behind it.. I found if I can be at a 1000 degrees at the bottom of a hill and in the area of 75 mph i can pull my trailer up anything..... 1246 was the highest pyro i seen on my last trip to CO..... if this helps.....

That is a wealth of info, thank you! I have never pushed my truck any higher than 1000 degrees on the pyro. Next time I pull I will look at the bumping up my speed to 75 and see how the truck performs. Any idea what kind of fuel mileage you get pulling at 75 mph? I keep looking at my on board computer read out and I know its not right, but its hard for me to not pay attention to it, I know its not accurate due to the chip, but with the pissy little 25 gal tank ford puts on the short bed I stop way to often for fuel. I drove from Coeur d Alene Idaho through Missoula to Butte and down through Dillon Montana and on through to Rexburg idaho and I had to stop twice, its about 420 miles. I think it's a little ridiculous to have that small of a tank on a diesel, even though it is a short bed...I'm looking into a 47 gal replacement.:argh: