This may be a little OT but I would appreciate your advice.
I recently sold my '08 6.4 due to the lousy mileage and the time it spent in the shop with the radiator, intercooler and all the emissions stuff. I bought a '01 SC, LB, Lariet, 2WD. I am very pleased with the 7.3 mileage but the tranny situation bothers me as I pull two different 5ers. One is 8800 and the other is 11,000#. I just took my first trip pulling the smaller one from central Cali to the Oregon coast. It seemed to pull the mountians OK but seemed a little weak on the downhill side out of OD and even dropping it down a gear.
I know a stock 7.3 going uphill at maybe 20 lbs. of boost can't be compared with the 6.4 at 37 or 38 lbs and the 6.4 with the tow/haul feature coming down. I am not putting down the 7.3 in any way I just would feel a little more at ease, while in the mountians with a little tighter rein on this horse.
As soon as I got home, after reading many posts on this great thread, I called John Wood and made an appointment for the 13th of this month. He assures me that downshifting his tranny is fine. He is rebuilding my tranny, installing a 6.0 cooler and installing the IH bellowed up pipes.
My question for you folks is: With what I have said above, What tunes would you get? I'm an old guy, I pretty much drive the speed limit and am getting another 5er that will be about 13,500#
Thanks in advance, Bill

 

I would address the turbo, intake, & exhaust situation. Pulling heavy up hills *will* result in surge, unless you take steps to cure it. Most slap a Wicked Wheel on and call it a day. Less than $100 and it works. Open up the intake & exhaust to keep the EGTs down, and put on gauges if you haven't already. Once you do that, you can bump the power up a bit with some tunes. A properly mod'ed truck will have no problems keeping up with 6.0s, and at least do well against 6.4s. I would also look into upgraded brakes, just because you can't be too careful with heavy loads down a long mountain. I upgraded mine just because I needed rotors anyway, and my truck accelerates pretty quick, so I figured stopping quick is more important....

As far as which tunes, get a tow, heavy tow, daily/econo. If you don't care about maxing out the HP, skip the performance tunes. I run stock, daily driver, tow, heavy tow, extreme, and high idle....

 

haha yea oops had a momet i really thought a 6.0 ic dur da dur. ok sweet so napa has the 6.0 trans cooler. i just tell them a tranny cooler for a 6.0 ford? and hows the install on that fairly easy? and special things i may need to get or do or dose it just bolt right up?

 

Thanks Joe, I did install a 4" turbo back exhaust. I don't have gauges yet, only a Scangauge. I don't know how accurate they are but at least you can see a trend watching the TFT and EOT. I never gave the brake upgrade a thought. I guess because with the 6.4 you seldom had to use them when going downhill. Now a question for my fellow Californians from a slightly senile senior: Do you have to remove the DP Tuner chip to pass the CARB emissions test?

 

getting back to the OP, dude, how could you spend the money to rebuild your tranny and not put on an aftermarket tranny cooler. Especially if you plan on towing. DO IT NOW! Today! go get one and put it on. Ok, off my high horse now. Just giving you a hard time. Really though, I towed my fifth wheel and boat about 12,000lbs at 3,500 ft altitude 106* outside temp and my tranny temps never got over 180*. Not until I pulled off the freeway and had to sit at a light after towing 160 miles did the temps even see 190.

 

John Wood has a new 6.0 cooler he will install when he rebuilds the tranny.
Also, while the tranny is out of the truck he is replacing the up pipes with the IH bellowed ones.

 

i just tell them a tranny cooler for a 6.0 ford? and hows the install on that fairly easy? and special things i may need to get or do or dose it just bolt right up? <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->