Well we just got back from Lake Tahoe, (Live in southern Ca.) and I must say that my 2002 F250 CC LB V10 3.73LS exceeded all of my expectations. In the past when towing with my 97 F250LD 5.4 SC 4.56LS I avoided Grapevine, (US 5) and always had a knot in my stomach when climing steep grades at WFO.
My 5.4 always came through but it cannot compair with this V10! After reading many posts I had some good knowlege of the powerband. I was considering a 4.30 diff swap but decieded to see how the stock set-up worked. Going north with O/D off bigest grade 55mph@3,200-3,300 RPM. As I decended into the valley I set the CC at 60 and the RPM was about 2,400-2,500. I have always been told to tow with O/D off at all times but this truck seemed so comfortable with the load that I decided to try it, RPM,s went to 1,700-1,800 no downshifting, no increase in trans temp, so I used O/D on the flat lands. Highway 80 saw 4,000 RPM briefly but again 55MPH@3,300 was the normal. If you have traveled Grapevine you know that the first 5-10miles southbound is the most intense. I was slowed by a U-haul that refused to enter the truck lane so I had go WFO to pass in the 3rd lane but after passing I let up to about 50MPH@4,000-4,100 RPM. Still had much throttle left but 50 seemed fast enough for me. Only one thing to report: I insalled a Bank's Stinger sys. before I left and now the tailpipe after the muffler is blue, Is this normal? Seems like a whole bunch of heat to me but my gauges never moved, my oil is still transparent and smells fresh, and my coolent level is fine.
What a great truck!

 

no thats normal. its just heat of the exhaust changing the color thats all. happens alot on high performance exhausts for 4 cyl's

 

Congrats on the succesful trip. I had a breif interlude towing with an 01 F-250 with the V10, it was pretty amazing. I would have liked to own it, but couldn't cover the huge payments my sister had wrangled herself into.

 

Nice work with the V10. I've towed my horse trailer from Denver to Oregon a few times, over some decent grades in Wyoming and eastern Oregon and have been really impressed with the V10s abilities. On those interstates the speed limit is often 75 and the V10 would have no trouble holding 65-70 on all but the steepest of hills. Heading east out of Laramie I-80 climbs Telegraph Hill, from about 7,200ft at Laramie to 8,600ft at the crest, in about 5 miles. Roughly 5% grade at those altitudes, and my rig did 70MPH up that towing a 10,000LB 4 horse gooseneck (loaded with a bunch of my stuff as we were moving...weighed on the CAT scales in Cheyenne). A little lower in altitude but higher in grade, it climbed Emmigrant Hill by Pendleton, OR with peddle to spare at 65MPH. That's a 6% 7 mile pull. The best part was that I slowed to 50-55MPH for some of the tight curves on that climb and the V10 had no trouble regaining to 65MPH.

 

Congratulations and well done!

Yep, that Grapvine grade coming home is a chug, alright. I did it one time with my old rig years ago. You might enjoy my report here:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ml#post3826400