What’s the general consensus on running a airdog on a 7.3?

helpful or unnecessary?

daily driver. Intake. Exhaust and jelibuilt.

looking for reliability and longevity, not necessarily performance.

thanks in advance.

 

Run...as fast as you can. Bought my 05 Ex 6.0 with the Airdog already on it. I thought it was alittle loud when I had key on. Well a week later I was broke down on the side of the road with a bad pump. Called the guy I bought the truck from and he said it wasn't even a year old. Pulled serial # and called Airdog. Well warranty isn't transferable. $350 later I was back on the road with a new pump and filters. Week later truck starts missing then shuts off. Got it towed home and put a fuel pressure gauge on it and turn the key on. Notice my pressure is bouncing between 55-65 psi thought this is weird... fired truck up and pressure is bouncing between 60-65. Rev truck and it drops to 55-60. Power brake it in the driveway and it's 50-55 psi. Then I start seeing smoke coming from the relay and harness for the Airdog fuel pump. No fuses pop and it the relay almost caught fire. Called up Airdog and they said it could be a bad pump and or fuel pressure regulator on the pump housing. Then they said they will send me a new pump under warranty but I had to pay for a harness and regulator. I asked why do I have to pay for the harness if the new pump is defective? They said I wasn't the original owner but because I paid for the pump they would warranty out a new pump but I had to pay for the harness and regulator. $100 later I get an updated harness and a new regulator. Apond replacing the regulator I found an Oring broken on the regulator. Replaced the whole thing anyway and got the truck running again. Adjusted my pressure to 60psi (have a blue spring on the truck) and she's been running good for 2 weeks now. So I don't feel warm and fuzzy with my truck. I just bought a fuel pressure gauge set to install inside the truck to see pressures while I drive because I don't trust their system but I'm almost $500 into it and it would cost me $500 to go back to oem. Truck is stock with an SCT tuner. Just wanted to share my experience with it.

 

If that isn’t enough reason, the 7.3 comes stock with an excellent pump-water- fuel- air separator system. Unless you are trying to feed 600 hp not mess with it.

 

It always depends on the installer. I worked for a diesel repair shop for a bit during the pandemic and installed quite a few air dog and FASS systems. I've never had one come back period. This is because I took my time and did things right. Did I have a shop owner trying to hurry me along? Yes, but the trucks I did it on never came back.

The other half is the quality of the product. My buddy installed one on his 2007 F350. He was out with some Customers and it left him on the side of the road. Fortunately for him, the oem pump was still there so all he had to do was disconnect the lines from the air dog, put them on the factory pump, and he was back on the road.

I stuck with the factory pump on my 7.3 but put a dual stage filter behind it. It filters down to 2 microns and has already saved me 3 tanks with sediment in them.

 

No need, just get the Driven Diesel pre pump kit and change your regular fuel filter every 10K.