Greg,

Did you get the fan clutches swapped?

I'm still planning on going up to Forest Lakes tomorrow.

 

Yep.
I've decided to drive Simon back up and give it another chance for redemption.
See you tomorrow.
I'll have the quads ready...

 

I thought I'd post an update in case anyone was following this thread...

I had a chance to put the 450 to the test this past holiday weekend and it's like a completely different truck. I sent the injectors off to Rosewood for a stock rebuild with new nozzles. 4 of the injectors were remans and 4 looked to be originals. The originals received new plungers and barrels since they were scored pretty bad.

Turbo compressor wheel had a little bit of material missing from the blades so that was replaced. It looked like the previous owner had taken the turbo apart to replace the bearings but didn't change the wheel.

Green coolant flushed out and refilled with ELC. I considered going with Evans coolant but I couldn't find any in my area. I only had a week to get the truck ready so I had to give ELC a try.

Also replaced the IPR coil since it failed just after the injectors were re-installed. I am not sure if the coil was contributing to the towing issue or not but I thought I'd mention it just so all the facts are on the table...

This time I was most likely loaded a bit heavier than before. We had a total of 14 people in our group so the RV was loaded with all their stuff. 6 passengers in the 450 and 8 in the Expedition. Was quite a load.

I used the 20hp tow tune for half of the way up and the truck did fine. Reasonable power, which was much improved compared to the same pull back in June. No overheating issues at all. The OEM temp gauge in the instrument cluster never moved off of normal. The Isspro gauge did move around quite a bit but the temps seemed to stay in reasonable limits. I could tell the recovery time with the ELC coolant is much quicker compared to the conventional green. The fan clutch would cycle on and off on some of the medium size hills and I would watch the needle drop once the fan engaged.

As I approached Payson, I decided to try the 60hp tow tune and the truck had enough additional power to pull the hill in the next higher gear (3rd gear). For comparison, I had just pulled Mt Ord and Rye in 2nd gear in the 20hp setting. All are 6% grade climbs. The drive on 260 up to the rim was quite easy. Seemed pretty easy to carry the speed limit (varies from 55mph-65mph) all the way to the beginning of the last major climb which is a 7% grade for about 4-5 miles. About half way up that last climb, I noticed the engine temps were about 10 degrees higher than the hills earlier in the trip so I figured that was due to the steeper grade or the higher hp setting on the PHP chip....so I flipped it back to the 20 hp tune and the temps dropped back down after a minute or so. Prior to changing the setting on the chip, the dash mounted gauge in the instrument cluster did move to the next position which is about 3/4 mark.

While pulling the steep hills, I would apply the necessary throttle to keep the engine around the 2800-2900 rpm range. Since this truck has 4.30 gears, that works out to about 41-42 mph in 2nd gear. The truck did not seem to be working very hard. Boost was down a couple of psi and throttle input was around 60-70% (guestimate)

Mild climbs were hardly noticeable. All I had to do was give a bit more throttle to maintain speed.

Medium climbs were also much improved. I would have to get into the throttle pretty hard but the truck pulled the hills very well....even accelerating on some of them

Overall, I am very pleased with the results so far. My driving style is adjusting to the different truck and I am leaning what it does well and how to take advantage of the extra capabilities without being reckless. I used the 40hp tow setting on the way home and it seemed to be a good balance. With time, as I become a better driver, then I can probably leave the chip in the 60hp tune and discipline my right foot to keep the temps in line (engine coolant and exhaust gasses).