I bought my F150 to haul a travel trailer but now it is time to trick it out with some GEAR. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Current Stats:

• F150 XLT Royal Red Metallic
• 17" Wheels
• 145" Wheelbase
• Supercrew with 5.5' Bed
• 5.4L V8 w/ E85 Capability\
• 154 HP
• 15.4 MPG Average Calculated by Computer over 1500 Miles
• 6 Speed Auto Transmission with Tow Haul Mode
• GCWR = 15,500#
• Max Trailer Wt: 9,700#
• GAWR= F3750# / R3850#
• GVWR= 7200#
• Tow Package (not MAX)

Mods I am getting or looking into:

• Tekonsha P3 Brake Controller (Saturday)
• K&N Cold Air Intake (Saturday)
• Upgraded Exhaust (Looking for suggestions)
• Edge Evolution Programmer (SOON)
• Jensen Voyager 4 Camera System (3 on trailer, 1 backup)
• Cab Top Marker Lights (Just because they rock)
• ProPride 3p Hitch for the Trailer
• Firestone Airbags for rear suspension assist.

Comments ? Suggestions?

 

I think you will find your truck has a lot more than 154hp.

 

1 - I'd look at installing the factory TBC, rather than an aftermarket. It'll look better in the vehicle and probably work better too.

2 - K&N - why? Air filters for the gas trucks are cheap... the K&Ns aren't going to give you any serious power increase, and overoiling can lead to a damaged mass air flow sensor.

3 - EDGE Evolution. They don't make one for the 2009s yet. When they do, you can kiss your warranty goodbye. If Ford could jack up the power by 25-50HP, or increase mileage by 1-2MPG... don't you think they'd do that from the factory? There has to be some tradeoff... usually, that involves running the crap out of the motor and limiting its life.

 

Three times more expensive. Seriously Ford original parts are stupid high priced. On top of it, it is timing based, not proportional and the manual braking is done by pushing a button? No thanks.

Now I am not a mechanic but what you said makes absolutely no sense. If I was putting on a turbocharger or supercharger than you would have a point but this is just a method to make the engine breathe easier and introduce colder air at the tradeoff of a couple of DB of noise (which sounds great anyway).

No I dont think that. Ford is under regulation from environuts that would see half the world's population exterminated to save a fish species. They are also regulated by idiots that cry like a baby at a couple of decibels of noise increase as if the passing truck will be shattering their glass. They are also under fire from 400,000 lawyers that want to sue because it is raining on tuesday so they make the engines right snugly in the quiet and super-safe range for these reasons. Above and beyond that, they dont want to contract out their exhaust to other poeple that have better products so they put on cheap copy knockoffs and mark them up 1000% over aftermarket.

Case in point, telescoping tow mirrors: from Ford = $1000 installed; aftermarket = $550 installed. Both are .. well some plastic and a mirror for christ's sake.

The long and short of it is that between the stupid lawyers and the stupid environuts and stupid management wanting to make stupid amounts on parts, they put out a product that frankly isn't being all it can be.

 

I think I can live with that.

 

Kraythe the Ford brake controller is a lot more advanced than any other brake controller on the market. It functions with your brake pedal and Trailer sway control instead of just using an accelerometer to adjust amount of braking power. It's also very easy to setup. It takes me all of 2 secs to ajust mine. You wont find a better system on the market at any price.

Also i would stay well clear from the K&N Filters. If you can run them without filter oil then they should be fine but it's not worth the risk. You will gain no more than 1-2bhp and sod all MPG gains. The filter setup the 09 uses is a great setup as it is. No need to change it.

 

I cant imagine what risk the air filter would have. Its not like I am the first person to put one on. And the stock setup is not necessarily so great. I dont know your qualifications but the people I am dealing with are professionals at what they do and would be out of business long ago id they didnt do their job right.

As for the brake controller, the f150 already has anti-sway electronic control built in but the tekonsha will allow adjustment of the brake gain. Even my ford dealer said that it would be the right way to go. It wont interfere with the anti-sway mechanisms in the f150 and will allow manual application of the trailer brakes independent of the truck brakes.

 

Well then you sound like someone who believes the people who sell the stuff over the people who have used the stuff. It's like going into best buy and trying to get accurate valid infomation. They aint gonna tell you it's **** when they sell the stuff. If K&N filters made any difference to MPG and Power then don't you think Ford was use them as they would be a very cheap upgrade to increase power and MPG figures.

Also your dealer don't seem to know what the hell he is talking about. You need to read up your self as the Ford Integrated brake controller does have brake gain. It's also integrated into the trailer sway control so that it works in conjunction with the trucks trailer sway control brakeing system for ABS. Which the tekonsha wont do.

Fords quote

The new factory integrated brake controller uses braking input, Vehicle speed and ABS information to balance the performance of the trucks brakes with the electronic trailer brakes.


No other system on the market will do that. The Ford one is the best. Plus it looks 10x better than after market systems. I have it and i can tell you now that it's the best system.

 

Heres my 2 cents about the K&N.

Installed a cold air ram on my 98 Ranger, At first i liked it, didnt really see any MPG difference, and maybe a lil better throttle response. after about 15K miles my truck was whinning worse than a lil girl. And freaking LOUD!! i could hear it inside with the radio blarring and from a half mile away...

Took it apart, re-oiled and did the normal maintance, didnt do it for about a month.. reoiled again and it has never stopped whinning.

Took everything apart and the mass air flow sensor was trashed, plus the intake...

Lets just say its not going on my 09 or any other truck of mine

 

x2 on the brake controller. If you want to gain some power skip the filter exhaust and programmer and go straight for a blower. I know it sounds spendy but $1500 for a programmer,exhaust, and filter for only 15hp is $100/hp while a blower will net $40/hp figuring $6000/150hp and you keep your warranty with roush!

 

Kraythe - if you already have all the answers, why ask the question? Go install all that stuff on your truck, shorten the life of your motor, get an inferior TBC, and be happy with it. We state our opinions and all we hear is "well, I've already researched it and my idea is better!" out of you.

Also, you don't keep your warranty with Roush. They offer a matching warranty, but I doubt you're going to get just any Ford shop to work on your Roush-equipped truck.

 

Unless Ford made a huge difference in the TBC in the F-150, you can manually apply the trailer brakes and adjust the gain with it also. I can in my F-250 and it's got the TBC. If there was no way to adjust gain and apply the brakes with the TBC, it wouldn't have the little slide on it.

 

Warranty or matching warranty-whats the difference? Someone is picking up the bill right? At least you're still covered. That's more than K&N will give you.

 

ditto on the brake controller and the K&N.

You are being fed rubbish by the sales people. No aftermarket brake controller can work with the truck's brake like the integrated one does....that's why it's as good as it is and is a big selling feature.

The K&N is kind of a cool concept, but the numerous times I've read about people who have done some experiments before/after, and long term, have always shown it's not worth it. If the sound is what you're going for then it might pay off for you.

 

Well, when you're cruising through Bumfark, Montana and something blows up, there's a pretty good chance you can find a Ford dealer in the vicinity. In fact, there are 25 dealers in the capital city. There is one Roush dealer statewide.

There's only one Roush vehicle dealer in the entire Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex... care to take a guess at the number of Ford dealers here?