When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am going to be hauling a 36' triple axle 18,000# trailer to Northern CA. Looking for a little help on the best upgrades to install for the power to go through the mountains the easiest. I have 110K on an o4' 6L, superduty F350 crewcab dually 4X4.
Gauges or, easier yet, an OBDII monitor is excellent advice. As far as upgrades for more power, I would say none. You want to concentrate on reliability, not adding power. Your 6.0 will have plenty of power in stock form to do the job, and adding power will in my opinion necessarily make the truck less reliable.
So do all your maintenance. If it's due, do a coolant flush and change. You could add a coolant filter, and it's never too late, but it won't really help on any particulary trip. It's more of a long term prophylactic. Get a pressure test on the cooling system. Have the dealer do a power tranny flush and fill. At 110k, if you haven't done it already, change the diff oil front and rear. Change the transfer case oil. In short, ALL the maintenance possible.
adding power will in my opinion necessarily make the truck less reliable.
Like so many things, that all depends on how you do things. You can add power and make it reliable as well. Now it takes money and time, but it can be done.
All in all though, I would agree that gauges are the way to go. OBD-II monitors will get most of your needs in one shot, but they don't have Fuel PSI(except DashDAQ does have an expansion for it, like you have to do for EGT gauge and the CTS is rumored to be able to do have that option in a few months as well) and that is something that I would consider worth monitoring.