Hi, everyone - I've been deadheading my truck since I bought it last December, no loads and mostly repairing, tweaking, and upgrading, and have been happy with its performance. I finally got it set up to haul my camper, and last weekend loaded it up and took it for a shakedown cruise.

Now I first hauled that camper (10 ft slide-in @ about 1400 lbs) with a 1973 F350/460, and last hauled it with a 1989 F250/460. My first impression was: this PSD is 2 times the truck that the '89 was, and at least 4 times the truck that my old '73 was (and I was happy with both of those trucks)! The camper barely even made the PSD squat! And eating highway at 65 mph with the cruise control on seemed effortless - it didn't even downshift going up hills! What a great truck - it surpassed all of my expectations! This'll be one road-tripping rascal!

But, I do have a question: I noticed after my shakedown was done that the exhaust pipe end was blacker than usual, like it's running too rich. I didn't see any black smoke during the trip, but it is definitely blackening the pipe more. The FPR is shimmed and is making about 65 psi, and I suspect that this may be causing it to run rich. It still has the stock exhaust, including a catalytic convertor that has over 200K miles on it. I have a new 3"/4" turbo-back straight exhaust system that I'll be installing soon. Will the new exhaust system correct the richness, or should I back off the FPR shim?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post - I had to add my 2-cents worth of good words for these great machines.

 

You were making the truck work a little for a change. Pretty natural for diesels to smoke a little under those circumstances, just watch the big guys pull a hill. When you put a diesel under load th EGTs start to rise the higher they go the less efficient the fuel burn PSDs most efficient operating EGT is about 650

With the FPR putting out 65 PSI it is below optimum pressure so dont back off the shims you really want somewhere around 75 PSI

 

Get that big exhaust on there and the smoke will dissappear while under load and the turbo is spooled.

 

towing #1400 with a psd...? you'll NEVER know it's there... i used to tow 6k with my psd and it wouldn't shift going up the highway either... it does now that i tow a 10k 5th wheel... but i just ease up a little and let her pull it the way she wants to... i get a little black on the end of the pipe too.. still have the stock pipes on mine... not to worry though... that's just how the psd clears out the soot when she gets a chance to do a little work...!

 

I was hauling a slide-in camper, not towing. But I'm sure you're right - if I was towing, I probably couldn't tell it was there. The biggest difference with the camper on was the effect of the cross-wind I was driving in - about 35 mpg with gusts to over 40. It blew me around a little, but not enough to be scary. I can hardly wait to get going on a real road trip!