Last Saturday I replaced my stock air filter with an AIRAID unit (still not sure if it was worth it).

I noticed the approx. 2" dia. rubber hose coming out of the front of the airbox has a noticeable restriction where it makes a sharp left 90 along the front support. It's not kinked shut, but it definitely ain't round. Is this normal?

BTW, this is on an '03 6.0 250.

 

Did you put in an Airaid replacement filter or the whole Airaid intake system.

 

Just the replacement filter...I'm thinking maybe it would have been best to just replace the whole intake, as it was a royal pain getting the stock filter box out between the front cover and the coolant tank!

 

IMO it is best to leave the stock intake on the truck. It is a good design and the donaldson filter is the best one for the truck. There are lots of threads on here about it. I don't believe the rubber hose on mine is kinked at all but I will take a look after work. As far as gettng that filter box out, it is a pain. I usually just unhook the MAF sensor and the rubber hose that is attached and then loosen the hose clamp on the back of it before the turbo and then I pull the whole thing out at once. This only takes a minute longer and it is sooooooooooo much easier. It takes me about 5 minutes to pull the whole thing out.

 

That's what I ended up doing to mine, too. It made it much easier to remove in the tight confines of that engine bay.

Concerning the Airaid filter, I have not noticed any difference in performance or MPG, so I may go back to the OEM filter.

That intake hose (it's the rubber top one that goes to the left fender IIRC) on mine is definitely tight!

 

I looked at mine and it does make a 90 degree turn out of the air box but it isn't kinked in anyway. By the way this is on an 04.

 

Thanks for looking....I suppose it doesn't harm anything (other than not allowing quite as much air in).