I have both the large trans pan and the 6.0 cooler. The large pan the OP installed. The 6.0 cooler cooled the operating temps significantly, as stated earlier the large pan provides more fluid but still the tranny get up to 180 when towing. That is ok but with the additional cooler I have not seen over 150. An aftermarket gauge is worth the peace of mind and should be the priority.

 

He just got a new BTS.



I run 22-2,300 rpms at 70mph.

 

I have a BTS last year. lol

Hey Marty. We were talking about the RPM with the OD off. I don't know what gear would be equal for you to be in.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. Had me worried there for a minute...lol.

 

Poked around the gage wiring and tranny this weekend. Everything is there but the probe so I ordered one on Saturday. I had no issues towing 3hrs each way to Kershaw, SC this weekend. About half of the drive was rolling hills on country roads, but nothing steep and long. The advice you guys gave on this tread helped a lot, so thank you. Had a chance to test RPM's with the OD off (below). I see why 70-75MPH on the highway at 2800 to 3000 RPM for an hour or so might cause tranny temps to run up.

50 - 2000
55 - 2250
60 - 2500
65 - 2700
70 - 2800
75 - 3000

 

4.88's are the last thing I would do to that truck. He isn't pulling heavy enough to justify those gears. I have a 08 F-450 that has 4.88's and I'm changing them out to 4.30s.. and I guarantee I haul heavier than you guys.

To the OP.. if you need a tranny cooler I got one sitting on my shelf I got in a trade.. shoot me a PM and I'll send it out to you. IIRC it's rated for 32k gross..

 

jkidd_39, I guess I'm from the old school...lol. Put some gear in the rear and take some of the strain off of the rest of the drive-line. Some folks prefer deep gears, and some folks would rather spend their money on engine/transmission repairs and upgrades.

Good luck with your gear change. I sure hope you don't end up disappointed with the weight that you claim to be hauling. My neighbor sure was, so Saturday we will be putting the 4.88's back in(transmission constantly hunting between 60-65).

ih8rainnc, thanks for the update. Glad your trip went as planned...

 

The largest load thus far was a material handler. I was sitting at 44,780 gvw.

The 4.88s just eat fuel. And at his weight levels 4.10s will work great. I never kick out of overdrive on my 7.3 at 24k gross. The price of a gear swap is just so expensive to be locked into 4.88s. If that was what someone wanted to do vs. A built tranny from BTS or JW I would recommend a gearvendors under/over drive. Price would be similar to a 4wd gear swap.

And for instance on my 6.4 I could choose between a 3.73, 4.88, or 5.13 final drive ratio. This would give me great highway gears when empty or the ability to pull a house down with the 5.13s.

Also, changing gears would cost more in the long run verses a trans build because your fuel economy would be terrible. Let's say you loss 5mph. How long does that take to add up to a BTS tranny??

 

Wow, 44780... If DOT caught me like that I wouldn't be having this interesting discussion with you...lol.

Recently went on a 550 mile round trip which included mountainous driving. Two of the other guys were driving F-350's(4.10's) with auto. When we returned there was so little difference in fuel burn that it wasn't even worth calculating. Keep in mind that my trailer is also almost 3' taller than theirs(Hey, maybe that wind-defector on the cab actually does work). Trailer weights about the same 15K to 16K. That's kinda why I mentioned in the previous post that more RPM doesn't necessarily mean worse mileage.

As far as regular highway driving, I do not drive this truck much empty. It is definitely not a daily driver. Now what I would like to see is a 3.73/4.88 2sp. rear from Ford(I know, I'm dreamin' again).

I see your point(to a point...lol) about dropping money in a tranny Vs. a re-gear. Personal preference I guess. When we did the neighbors, I did it here so the labor(the expensive part) was not figured in the cost. The parts weren't that bad, considering...

Interesting discussion, I hope the OP doesn't mind...

 

What mileage are you typically seeing with your truck with a 15k load? I am seeing about 16 mpg with a 24ft tilt deck pintle trailer, my job boxes and skid steer. Mod's are in my sig below. I think modifications that help everything are the way to go. My bts VB helps a ton. 6.0 IC and trans cooler are the best upgrade I've done to my truck. My stage 1 single shots rock as far as increasing fuel mileage. A trans upgrade makes the truck's driveablity improve that much. If you wanna play that's one less thing to worry about.

What prices are you seeing to change gear? A gear vendors set up runs about $3k. The darn Dana S110 gear on my F-450 suck. A gear swap will run about that same amount

The power of my 450 rocks but I hate the gears. I would kill for a gear vendors kit but the switch box on them is large and bulky. It looks like it only belongs in a medium duty truck..

Here is the load... suprisingly still got 7mpg on the way home.. down from 11-12 everywhere else..

 

My truck tranny runs hotter when towing for long distances with the OD off. I always run with OD on, unless I'm approaching a grade, then turn off OD just for the duration of the grade.

Conversely, engine temp runs hotter when pulling at lower RPM and engine temp goes down when RPM's rise.

 

16mpg...lol, I don't even get that empty. I can't wait to show the neighbor this thread. His(Also 2008 F-450 4x4) don't even get 10 empty. I get about 12.5 empty and roughly 10 with the 34' double stack trailer behind it(12.5Tx8.5W front flat wall). On the last trip home I stopped at the Cat Scales and my Total weight was 25,890lbs. I really haven't kept up with loaded mileage but after you asked about it I compared the fuel receipts and odometer reading. MPG's were actually better than I thought.

As for the gear change the rear cost about $600.00 for everything including the install kit, and the front was about 500.00. I'm glad we didn't change out the front yet until he made sure that he liked the new ratio. He gained 1mpg by doing the swap and the truck pulls like dog$***. Gear shops wanted roughly 4 grand to do both rears.

 

You were talking about your 350 in this post not your 450 right? Either way that is pretty incredible I rarely see that empty on the highway in my 250. What do you think helped the most, the injectors? What kind of gains did you see with the injectors and the intercooler. I have always wondered what kind of difference the intercooler would make. I am mostly concerned with mpgs on my truck. I tow 5k or less 90% of the time and 15k 5-10 times a year.

 

Correct. I built my truck for reliabilty and towing. I would say the biggest mileage increase was the injectors. That gained me about 200 miles a tank (roughly 27 gallons, never go below a 1/4)

The intercooler dropped my egts 50 degrees everywhere. My boost raises much faster. I feel and see a huge drop in restriction on my turbo system. Others like Joe (csipsd) dispute this claim as he actually has the gauges to test the restriction drop.

I would say do the ic upgrade if you can do it for cheap. I snagged mine for $150 + $50 for boots.

If your mpg isn't what your expecting check your turbo system. A boost leak kills mileage. I would say new boots. Clay's plenum inserts and new clamps may surprise you. And for a pretty low cost. I can tell when my crummy stock clamps work loose by my mileage loss.

I'm just a bum and haven't swapped to the fancy clamps clay sent me.

 

That's cheap for gears. The last time I priced gears for the 450 it was $2300 for front and rear 4.30s without labor.

What does your neighbor have on his 6.4? A Dpf delete is a must!! I gained a lot of mileage with that. I ran spartan tunes and KEM tunes and I will say the KEM tunes rock. I picked up 2mpg and a ton more drivability and power by switching. If I run empty and in my 345hp tune and keep it below 2500rpm I can see 14mpg.