I just bought a 2002 F350 with 169k. I am considering some mods. It came with an larger air intake, I was thinking of 4" exhaust and a PHP tune. What does everyone think?
I will be pulling 12k trailer over a few mountain passes. Or should I just leave everything stock?

 

A Hydra is a great upgrade but keep in mind you will need gauges especially if your pulling 12000 lbs. it all adds up quick it just depends on what your budget is. Another thing you will need if you get the Hydra is a billet compressor wheel because your truck will probably start surging on hard pulls. Welcome to the world of PMS ( powerstroke mod syndrome). Personally I would start with a set of gauges, and a OBD-II Bluetooth dongle with the four scan app. It's not a matter of if but when you will need both. Then I would rebuild the turbo with billet compressor wheel, 360 degree rebuild kit , and the kc s300 turbine. Then you will be all set for your Hydra. But before all the fun stuff make sure you put in bellowed up pipes and at least get rid of the stock muffler as it is restrictive. Oh and do the hutch and harpoon mod, in my opinion this is a must. That's just me ,everybody has their own opinions though. I'm sure others will be a long shortly

 

Oh you are starting on a slippery slope. PMS (Powerstroke Modification Syndrome) is a real thing.

There are lots of things you can do. Let’s get started first by adding at least a pyrometer. When you start adding fuel you’ll need a way to monitor the exhaust temps.

Next up would be an almost free Hutch and Harpoon mod. These are fuel tank mods. The Hutch made a noticeable difference in the noise level of my engine (no air in fuel = quieter). https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post19216921

There is lots of information in the sticky tech folder at the top of our forum. Here’s a link. You could snoop in there for days. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-7-3l-psd.html

The Hydra is pretty much the standard for chips now days. It comes with access to the entire PHP normal tune library and tuners can send you custom files for you to load on yourself.

Oh yes, and welcome to FTE!

Edit: jstihl posted while it was typing my reply. I agree with all he is saying but was just keeping it more to the initial stuff first. Until we get him hooked on the PMS.

 

If you look at recent posts, I just started one today about initial turbo upgrades. I can vouch for turbo surge being a real thing when you get loaded with a tune. If you are looking for all at once, then turbo mods, gauges, exhaust and tuner. If you are looking to do a step at a time, start with exhaust. Then move to turbo mods, and tuner last. My truck came with a hypertech, and while it makes daily driving more enjoyable, I am going to have to start putting it back to stock or stage 1 when pulling my 5er to avoid surge land. Good luck, welcome, and enjoy your ride!

 

All the suggestions above are good places to start. Just be sure that the baseline truck is 100% before you get going with the power adders. Getting a complete set of gauges, an OBD dongle and FORScan (that's what jstihl meant with four scan) will help you with that. Look in the Tech Folder for information on reliability mods.

 

The truck came with pyrometer and tranny temp gauges. It has a transmission cooler on it also.

 

Ok, let's back up! Do I need to do any mods to pull 12k up a pass? Not racing, just want to get their reliably.

 

It depends in what speed you want to maintain going up that pass with the 12k and how steep the climb over the pass is. You will make it up that pass for sure. You may be doing it in second or first gear though.

 

It sounds like you have a major box checked off already! You should have no problems pulling your load, just remember that, as you stated, it is not a race. You are driving a 20 year old rig with 250 horsepower. Patience is your friend! Watch your gauges, and if you note any problems with your temperatures, or drivability issues, those will dictate where you start. As Noob pointed out, you need to make sure the truck is completely sorted in its current state before adding more power. I had a friend with a 6.0 F550 make this mistake. He brought it to me to build a hitch tail plate on the flat bed. While I had it, we had a friend come over and throw a tune in the truck with HP Tuners. Nothing wild, just give it a little more oomph. What I was not told was the passenger floor was getting extremely hot, before the tune. After the tune, major problems, as he put it to work hauling tiny houses. Not only were the up pipes leaking severely, but it had a fan clutch that was shot, failed egr delete kit, and possible head gasket issues. So now he is mad about the tune, but the tune just amplified the problems, it didn't cause them. So if it was me, I would make your intended run with a bone stock truck and see if you sniff out any problems. Had my buddy done that, we would have definitely waited to tune his rig.

 

That’s great!
Question is which trans cooler? I’m assuming you mean an upgraded version?
They came factory with a small cooler. A typical and very good upgrade is using a cooler for a 6.0. It’s about 3 times as large as the 7.3 version and is almost a bolt in item.

 

Completely stock you do not need anything to pull 12k up any grade. You'll just do it at 25 mph cuz Ford engineers erred on the safe side.

But there is so much more that truck can do.

What exactly is the air intake? Got pics?

If you are thinking PHP tunes you need gauges. EGT, boost, trans temp and maybe more.

 

The fellas have you pointed in the right direction, and have asked some great questions of you. They are looking for your specific details regarding budget, time allowed, effort allowed and desired end result.

So many choices available to you going forward. As Jason said, PMS is a slippery slope and "mission creep" is a real threat. As David said, the 7.3L in stock configuration is more than capable of doing what you have stated, as long as it is in good running order.

I would invite you to take some time, answer the questions from the fellas with as much detail as you can muster. Then, spend some time going through the 7.3L PSD Tech Folder and familiarizing yourself with some of the things we and many others have done over the past 2 decades.

Take your time, set a course of action and go for it! Have fun, that is what these things are all about, well a bit of working too, but mostly fun!

 

Best mod starting from scratch would be the Hutch and Harpoon tank mods, with reaming out the fuel tank filler blocking plate to fit the big rig hoses while you have the tank down and able to clean the shavings out of the tube. That will be a favorite mod come long distance towing time when you can use the truck lanes to refuel. Plus as mentioned it will make the engine run quieter

You have gauges so you are set for the prerequisite mod before adding tunes.

If you have an auto transmission you should look at replacing the cooler with one for a 6.0

​​​​​​Next would probably be plugging the wastegate redline, just unhook it from the wastegate actuator and tuck it under an intake boot clamp and retighten it, then perform a boost leak test. If you really want to notice the effects do the 7 turn mod to the actuator rod, but it's way easier with the turbo removed, otherwise you are blindly feeling for the reinstall of the tiny c-clip on the wastegate rod. If you are going whole hog with turbo mods that's not a problem tho. Tho I'm biased and would definitely recommend the KC SXE drop in turbine when you upgrade your turbo wheel for the surge you will get running tunes

Bellowed uppipes as mentioned. Do em right and wrap them tho, it will help slightly with turbo efficiency, but will also keep your feet and legs cooler reducing the in cab heat

One thing others haven't mentioned yet I will. The best mileage I ever got towing our 5th wheels was actually heading West out of Denver on i70 climbing up and over the Eisenhower pass going to Utah. How do you get the best towing milage ever towing up the Rockies at 65mph? Quite simple really. Half the time you are going downhill, injectors shut off on those downhill multi mile descents, shooting up that mpg. Make sure you have a good trailer brake controller and your truck brakes are up to snuff. Some on here recommend the EBC yellow pads for towing heavy, I'll probably try them when it's time to replace my pads and rotors. Make sure and lube your caliper slide pins which have a tendency to seize.
​​​​​​
A lot of the things you can do to make it a better experience is like others said, get the truck to 100%. Change allll the fluids, grease and lube everything, grab a comb and straighten your condenser fins from the decades of bugs and bird strikes, you'll be amazed how many sand pebbles you pick out, then shoot a degreaser in there and rinse it all out with a pressure washer taking care to hit the fins head on to not bend them back over, that will help with your cooling system's health.

Carry a spare serpentine belt. Get the updated upper radiator hose that doesn't require removal to replace the belt.

Make sure all your trucks tires and the spare are E load rated, moronic PO had C load tires on mine, go with G on your 12k# 5th wheel if you can. Our last 5th wheel had C load tires on it, massive ride improvement when I changed them to E

The 6637 air filter is probably the lowest cost/improvement upgrade you can get over the stock air filter.

Led trailer light bulbs will be a big improvement in your lighting, plus not pull as much power, potentially decreasing your alternator and engine load a very unnoticed amount on a long haul.

05 headlight housings will project your trucks beams better should you tow at night

If your hpop hoses are original replace them, the go to is CNC fab's

 

I agree with Wes here, he is pointing you to the Reliability direction for what you want to do with the truck, Make sure the truck is sound and strong, then you can enjoy some of the fun updates
I need to do the 05 headlights myself still!

 

Welcome to the world of PMS ( powerstroke mod syndrome).
lmfao.. Love it..!