Hi, I see a bunch of talk about all this stuff but not sure what it all is, but no where does it show what they paid for these things... I have a 97 CCLB 7.3L F-350 that has a problem no one can figure out what is causing it... (Quits while driving down the road,then won't start for 30 minutes to an hour, then sometimes it will only go 1/4 mile and quit again, then after 30 minutes it will go 200+ miles and sometimes more... but if you shut it off it won't starter 2 hours...) I need to know what upgrades (BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK) items to get a little more power but I need the absolute BEST MPG This truck can get, as I need to drive across the country 2 to 4 times a year now... "NV TO MAINE"... I need prices for a new trans as I was told that this should be able to pull up to 5000lbs on Drive, but after towing 4800lbs half way across the country, it started slipping, but if I use the tow button I can't go over 50 MPH!! It's like driving in 2nd gear!! (Also goes from getting 15MPG in Drive to 8MPG in Tow mode only towing 4800lbs!!) I'm also looking to get someone to build gears for the rear end and transfer case to somewhere around 2:78 or as close to that as possible, I know one place that can do 3:55 but I was hoping for less to get better MPG... Not looking for 1000HP but what ever will make the best MPG Towing 5000 to 10,000lbs (99% of towing will be a Jeep either on a dolly or on a car trailer across the country, or an old side by side,(4,000lbs on car hauler trailer) and once in a while my farm TLB that weighs about 7500+trailer is 2k) So can someone please help with this build?? I'm handicapped so most everything will have to be done for me, but I might be able to do some work like new air intake and such... Everything is completely Stock and it now has 251,000 on it... So Please recommend items that I won't have to pay 4 or 5 times to take it apart and put back together, because I'm on SSD (Social Security Disability) I'm getting $168.00 per month but fighting for more, so I can't afford a penny more than what is necessary, I don't care about "Name Brands" I just need it to work properly cheap!! I'm going to be doing some work for a friend that needs Backhoe work done, he is going to get prices from contractors and give me that price... So I may have to do some now then a little more, or maybe just order all the stuff until I get everything and just put it all on at once? I don't know... But first I need someone that knows how to get the best MPG out of these 97 7.3L Diesels... Please help... Thanks!

P.S. Has anyone been able to put the newer 10 speeds on these older trucks?? If so how much??

 

In Las Vegas NV if he is caught Spewing Black smoke like that it's a $1,000. fine first time and it will go up to $10,000.00 if repeated...

 

MadMaxx

Welcome to the forum!

First you have to start your own thread.
Site moderator can remove your post from this thread and make it as your first post there,then we can start to figure it out.

 

Quite a few different things going on in this post but I'll give my .02 cents and derail @Dmco's thread for a minute as it doesn't look like anyone has helped you out.

1.) Start your own post in the future, a mod might move this anyway. This way your question(s) get more visibility and doesn't get lost in Dmco's thread.

2.) MPG is subjective in these rigs. Alot of this depends on what kind of weight you're towing, as well as gearing, tire size, etc. There isn't enough info to really push you in one direction or another, however the 90cc injectors or 160/30's will yield the same mpg depending on how much throttle you're giving it.

3.) Depending on the state of your current transmission, I would look into a decent low stall Torque Converter, and the Tugger kit to start with. That will fix alot of issues with the E4OD and help with towing immensely.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/t...RoCDj8QAvD_BwE

4.) Gauges. This is very important given you're putting your 97 to work it's entire life. This will help you monitor your trans temp on long/steep grades, as well as exhaust gas temps. I would suggest a minimum of trans temp, egt, and fuel pressure to start with.

5.) Since you pointed out intakes, I would look at the Riff Raff 6637 to start with. If not going with the kit, you can piece together your own as you said money is tight. I have this kit and noise doesn't bother me.
https://www.riffraffdiesel.com/riffr...37-filter-kit/

6.) I haven't seen many people adapt anything other than an Allison 1000 to our rigs. That being said, there is nothing wrong with a built E4OD or 4R100. @oldbird1965 puts his E4OD through it's paces overloaded regularly with no issue.

 

Yes please, I tried to open my own thread twice, spending 6-1/2 hours each time typing my problems with my truck, as I'm handicapped, but they never went through... Please post as a new thread so maybe I can get someone to help me figure out what will fix this problem, and then tell me what parts I will need to get the MAX MPG with this truck...

 

@Y2KW57 can you help this fellow out and move his posts to his own thread please?
Or contact the OBS moderator for support? Sorry, don’t know who that is over here.

Hang on MadMaxx. Help is on its way.
Just a little tip that I use at times. When doing a super long post I will write it in Word or some other software first. Then I can save and easily see and make changes. I’ve also lost my post before getting it to take. This way I have my working copy and don’t have to start over. Good luck sir!

 

ask politely, and ye shall receive!!

 

I'm a little late to this party but here it goes......

After reading your post's.... One word comes to mind: DEPENDABILITY

You can have a truck that gets 50 miles / Gallon.... But if it breaks down and leaves you on the side of the road then the MPG does not mean anything...

Take your 97 CCLB 7.3L F-350 and build it back to the condition it was in when it rolled off the show room floor.......

Use Ford parts, drain all the fluids and refill with the best quality oil / grease / antifreeze you can afford.

I have been in Maine in the winter... Get the fuel treatment started early on, yes, even in Nevada.

Get the block heater functional.

Put all season tires on it . Go with a standard size so if you blow out a tire on the road you can get one locally and not be waiting a week for it to be shipped in. Tires fail in the middle of the night in the most awful places... Murphy's Law.

Best of Luck... Keep us posted.

Hobo

 

Thanks, Most weight I would tow with this truck is my tractor, total of 10k once in a great while, but 99% of the towing is going to be about 5k (JEEP & TRAILER or DOLLY) and I use standard size tires and use "All season" HWY tires and not MUD tires... Yes I want Dependability, but need to get at least 20MPG Not towing and 12-15MPG Towing the Jeep... Or it won't be worth even fixing this thing... I know I could find a 2012 Ram 3/4 ton that would get at least that stock... But, I don't want to deal with starting over, as I have already completely rebuilt the front end with all new bearings and seals brakes and rotors, sending unit and fuel switch, and got a cap for the bed which gained me about 2MPG over having the open bed... I just had a 17,500lbs hitch installed and had to remove the low bumper and had to buy a used short bumper, and had it installed... I have spent Thousands over the last few years fixing it up to this point, oh also I had the trans rebuilt, and paid over 5k for a "Custom built" with a billet torque converter, but I think they charged me all that money and just went to the junk yard and put a used one in it... I won't know until I replace this one... But what I'm looking for is the best "DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR" setup, Best DFD 4" exhaust, best DFD Chip, Best DFD injectors, oil pumps, intake and so forth, all to get better MPG.... I need to know how much all that will cost and how much more MPG it will give me... And if it cost 30k or more then I may just have to settle with a "Half Truck" and get a New Chevy or Ram 1/2-ton Diesel as they both get over 30MPG not towing... Been trying to get them to build a Real 1/2-ton truck sense 2001... So any help getting all the parts and numbers, as well as prices that I will need to get the max MPG I would appreciate it...

 

Do you do the work on your truck yourself or do you send it out to a shop to have the work done?

Hobo

 

For my inputs, only know what is in this thread and have not followed any other thread that apparently was referenced as a starting point.

First order of business is to figure out the random stall / no-start issue if not already done.

Best economy is going to come from improving the intake (as already mentioned) along with exhaust upgrades and using synthetic fluids (if not already done). You apparently are using highway tires and avoiding mudders, so that is a good thing for fuel economy.

For commentary about a 2.78 rear, this is going to need some puny tires and possible remapping of the shift curves in order to keep the engine RPMs out of lugging territory and actually hurting overall performance and fuel economy. My vote is to go no taller than 3.55. A 3.55 rear will raise the question of whether to get slightly larger injectors, but this can probably wait.

For the torque converter, am going to buck the conventional wisdom of a low stall and recommend doing homework on a high stall. Cliff notes version is that this immediately jumps the motor up to the RPM sweet spot. I heard first hand from a couple of guys who went this route (on SOB IDI diesels) and reported that the trucks got better all-around fuel economy in addition to towing better. Off-roaders love low stall converters, but this truck is for highway use, so no need for sticking with low stall.

Another possibility for better fuel burn is to convert over to a 7.3 SuperDuty PCM as it has a faster processor than what is in the OBS and allows for more tuning options do dial-in the behaviors that you want.

Regarding transmission swaps, the 5+1 speed gets my vote over the 10 speed, but am not certain that either of these will physically mate to the 7.3. Even if they will mate, will likely need a stand-alone controller as the 7.3's PCM only knows about 4 gears, not 5+1 or 10. Stand-alone controllers are not cheap.

Regarding the idea of looking into 'baby' diesels in the current 1/2 ton class as an alternative to keeping the 7.3, I would go gas long before I touched one of those things. Current diesels are extremely complex in comparison to the 7.3's HEUI system. As a reference point, I recently had an Expedition with the 3.5L EcoBoost gas motor and it was nearly equal to diesel performance. Only reason I got rid of the EcoBoost was that Ford made the suspension too soft to confidently handle loads at the upper end of its tow rating. So that is another factor to consider when looking at a current generation 1/2 ton class: can the vehicle confidently handle the load, or did somebody 'bake' the ratings a bit.

 

$30,000 will buy a lot of fuel. Personally I don’t see the requirement for 20mph when wanting to spend so much money to get there.

At $3.50 per gallon you’re looking at 8,571 gallons of fuel to break even.
With a 5mpg improvement it would take 514,288 miles to break even.

Hoping my math holds true here.
$3.50/gallon at 15mpg = $0.2333 per mile
$3.50/gallon at 20mpg= $0.175 per mile
This is a net improvement of $0.058333 per mile.
$30,000/$0.058333 = 514,288 miles

To double check my work
514,288 miles / 15mpg = 34,285 gallons of fuel
514,288 miles / 20mpg = 25,714 gallons
improvement of 8,571 gallons
8,571 gallons x $3.50 per gallon = $29,998.50

Your cost/benefit just doesn’t work out.

 

That is a very high budget. You need about 10% of that. Turbo back exhaust. Get rid of the pankake downpipe. 6637 filter setup. Maybe a wicked wheel and turbo rebuild. Set of 160/0 or 160/30 injectors and a hydra chip. You’ll have an excellent towing setup and great mileage for $3-4k

 

Well, basic stuff I can do, But I'm Handicapped, and I'm limited to what I can do, so I have to have someone else do anything more than Change oil/filters and such... That's why I need to know what ever I need to do everything at once, Fuel pump, oil pump, injectors, and any upgrades that can be done paying only "once" to take it apart... Someone said that it most likely needs a High pressure oil pump and new O-rings on the injectors to solve my quitting problem... Someone else said that I should get NEW injectors and pump, because these have over 250k on them and because I can't do the work myself, he said that it would't be good to put the old ones back in and have one injector quit in a month and then a month later, and so on... So, I need to know if a 2003 High pressure oil pump will fit on my older 97 (built in 9/96) or what pump would be the best to work with a chip... Also need to know if I should change to an electric fuel pump, or replace my fuel pump while I have it apart? And anyone know where I can get the best Dollar for Dollar deal on the parts, because I know that some aftermarket parts are way better than "Ford" parts, (like turbos) and some parts are China JUNK... Please send links... Ford dealers won't even talk to me! So I need try to get as many view points and parts and prices as possible... But would like part numbers and prices and places, so that I see if I can afford it and know where to get the best prices and parts...

 

____________________
Understood.....
What is the closest MAJOR city to your location ? I ask that because you will have somewhat of a choice when searching for a shop to do the work on your truck. I love small town America but there is usually only one or two qualified shops and the wait on parts can be a killer.

Hobo