hello everyone im new to the fourms...i live in houston Tx. area and have a 2008 F-450 crew cab with a 12 foot flat bed on the back. I am a owner operator in the hot shot biz and i haul alot of oil field equipment. i recently decided its time to remove the dpf and put a tuner in (livewire) and also i am replacing the intake with a AFE phase 2. i currently only recieve 8-10 mpg unloaded.... the truck weighs 10,000 lbs empty....

I have got all the parts on order and will recieve all parts by thursday. Im looking forward to posting and sharing the results with you. im hoping i can squeeze 15 mpg out of it but i guess we will see.


update coming soon

texas450

 

Hi Texas. welcome. There are lots of folks on here with DPF deleted and a tuner. Mostly spartan I think. You can read the threads and catch up, DPF delete is the most talked about subject on this forum. BTW, how many miles on your truck?

 

thanks stanley.....my truck has 68,000 miles on it. i bought it 2 weeks ago for work. the mileage is crushing me. so i hope and pray making a few changes will bring more desirable results....my other truck is a 2000 7,3 drw f350 single cab....it has 375000 miles on it and gets around 16-18 mpg....how do i see what rear diff gear ratio i have? and is it easy to change?

 

the stock ratio is listed on the white door tag at the drivers door, last row under AXLE. the list of what they mean (mine is 4N = 4.10 limited slip)
is in the tech folder item at the top of this section. (sticky it will always be listed at the top).

15 seems very optimistic.. 8-10 empty at 10,000lbs dry weight seems about expected..

14.5 on the highway empty.
I get 12.5 empty around town, at 8000lb empty.
9mpg towing 7000lbs on the highway.. (50% better than my gas suburban tho)

mine is a 4x2 DRW

Sam

 

If you have the 4.88 diff, you can change it to 4.30. That ought to help MPG's a bit too. Change over should be fairly easy. You didn't mention if your truck is 4x4 or 4x2. Obviously, if it's 4x4 you'll need to change ratios in both diffs.

 

you can go ahead and kiss your mileage goodbye with the 6.4. especially if you have a 450 witht the 4.88 gears. I get about 12-13 in town running a spartan 250hp tune with the DPF off. highway mileage is about 16-17 but im running an F-250 with 3.73 gears in it. Those numbers are completely unloaded and hand calculated.

 

I installed 3.73 gears in my 2008 F450, it helps the mileage.

 

Just an fyi, you don't want to tow with a hot tune otherwise you'll do what most 6.4 users can't: destroy their engine.

Weekendwarrior32 actually blew the headgaskets on his 6.4 F450 towing while tuned. A mild tune won't hurt, but just keep an eye on things...

 

How much did it improve and did it impact the power of the truck.

 

i dont tow alot. when i do its no more than 15000 lbs maybe once a month.....i mainly just use the 12 food flat bet to haul my cargo....most legally im aloud to carry on the bed is 6000lbs on avg i carry 3000 to 5000 per trip.....what is the lowest set of gears i could go with and not have a issue?

also to awnser a previous question ...my truck is 4x2......

i should have everything installed by the weekend....i hope i get at least some improvement in the mpg .....

also is it important to use a additive like diesel kleen? if so please tell me why.

thanks

tex450

 

how do you feel about your current ability to accelerate from stop with a load, and or pass someone with a load.. the lower the gear, the harder the drivetrain has to work.. and slower the change will happen..

so you wil be max, 10+6k, or 16k.. double the typical truck weight (F350 I mean)..
I wouldn't go less than 3.73

sam

 

Have you run the 275 tune? I have run both the 250 and the 275 and the 275 gets me another 1-2 mpg. I know that the 275 disables the EGR valve which adds to the MPG. I however, get tired of the firm shifting and prefer the softer 210. Just a thought.

Hey Texas,
Good luck with the new truck. Not trying to rain on your parade since I am not familiar with the livewire tuning, but I am familiar with Spartan. The majority of the forum members who are tuned are running the Spartan tunes, and all are extremely happy with them. I don't know of any guys who were tuned by spartan switch to a different company's tune, however, I know of many who dumped their current tune to go with spartan.

So to get the best results I would remove the DPF and the DOC (cat), run a spartan tune (or whatever tune your prefer) and be easy on the 'go' peddle. I think adding the stage II AFE intake will give you a nice sound and maybe a quicker throttle response but in terms of MPG it may actually hurt you slightly. The stock intake is actually a terrifically designed intake, and the main reason anyone removes them is if they are pushing really hot tunes that need a lot of air.
Well good luck and welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place, there are a lot of good people here who will love to help ya out. Now post some pics of the new truck!

 

not sure about the 250 tune but i know for sure the 210 disables the egr valve as well except at idle.

 

thanks LAX i guess as far as the mpg goes as long as these mods increase it slightly then anthing more than that is gravy....like i said in my OP i would love to get 15mpg but anthing better than 8-10 will be a welcome improvement.

I get paid to drive my truck all over the USA so when i can save on mpg its like getting a raise.

I drive it easy....always the slowest one when the light turns green. i drive alot of highway miles and usually dont take it over 65 no matter what....i guess i do have my hopes up this weekend when i install everything cause then i will know how much of a raise im going to get this year.....also i drive 50k-75k a year.....

 

we are very interested to hear how it works out for you too.. many of us are anxious to try it as well..

Sam