I am thinking about starting to upgrade my fuel system on my truck. I was going to start in the tank by adding the Riffraff Diesel High-Volume Fuel Pickup adaptor and then adding an in-line filter. I haven't seem much talk about the Riffraff pick up and was wonder if anyone has any positive or negative reviews about the performance and reliability of this upgrade. Any advise would be welcome.

Happy Holiday,
Bryan

 

I am not going off of first hand knowledge of this particular item(s), but I have seen many things that Clay has done in the past. He doesn't half a** any of it. It is thoroughly thought out and beta tested before he offers it up for consumption by the public. You can have confidence in any kit he puts together.

 

Hkusp,

That has been my experience as well. Thanks for the comment.

Bryan

 

What are you doing to your truck to require the extra fuel flow?

I've seen one or two reports where Clay's kit has been well-spoken of, but unless you're really jumping up the horsepower, your stock fuel system can provide what you need. The only "upgrades" that I'm really aware of being based on practical issues are the following (again, without huge horsepower demands -- "huge", IIRC, is in the neighborhood of >600 hp, but that's purely a memory number and may well be off a little in either direction), and some of these "upgrades" are really nothing more than preventative maintenance to restore OEM conditions for our maturing vehicles:

- hutch/harpoon mod
- inline fuel strainer between tank and pump
- rebuild an aged FPR on the fuel bowl
- install an electronic fuel pressure gauge for troubleshooting/monitoring from the cab
- perhaps remove the spring in the inner stem of the fuel bowl
- replace aging o-rings on the fuel bowl
- replace (proactively) the passenger side fuel line in the engine valley
- Regulated Return with a new filter down on the pump discharge to replace the one in the valley
- new fuel pump to replace an aged and "tired" unit
- perhaps up-sized fuel line between the tank and pump suction
- fuel rail crossover to balance pressures between the heads on the engine

Other things people have also drilled out the screens in the fuel line inlet ports (but I'm not convinced this gains very much unless you're hitting those huge horsepower gains previously mentioned).

 

F250,

Good comments - My main thought about this upgrade is that I was planning to do the Hutch and Harpoon mods because I do not know what the condition of my pick-up screen looks like. Plus, I am tired of standing at the fuel pump waiting to top off the tank. I do not have any drop in fuel pressure or performance concerns. The truck runs like a top and this is just part of my preventive maintenance efforts. I have stock injectors and do not plan to upgrade them until they get tired.

I have also done a few minor upgrades that might enhance the future fuel system mods. I have the Riffraff Fuel Crossover (gold spring- I think) and the CCV high flow plugs. The main reason for me adding these mods is that I was trying to quiet down the engine idle noise. So far, so good and I plan to keep this low mileage truck (70k) for many years to come.

Maybe the simplest and best use of time and money would be to replace the OEM fuel pump with the Bosch that Clay sells

Thoughts
Bryan

 

Good... I just couldn't tell how extreme of an effort you were planning to make.

In your case, which is very similar to mine, I would do the following... If I were replacing my existing truck with a lower mileage unit today, these are the exact steps I would perform as a step towards at least 100-200K miles of "no issues" with fuel supply.

1) Hutch and Harpoon (go ahead and replace the pickup foot at the same time)

2) Skip the Baldwin pre-pump filter setup, and instead, use the large Racor PS120 strainer setup (no periodic filter element replacements, virtually no strain on the pump, visible fuel flow condition to observe the presence/absence of contaminants like water & dirt, air bubbles, etc.).

3) Purchase a replacement pump and just carry it with you. If you're over 250K miles, swap the new pump into position in your driveway and carry the older original unit as an emergency spare with the truck, and also carry at least 2-3 small clamps and wrenches to do the swap in a parking lot somewhere.

4) Proactively replace your fuel bowl o-rings (if you haven't already done so)

5) Inspect your passenger side fuel line for any signs of rubbing/wear under the clamp which holds it in place, and replace if necessary (or purchase to carry in the truck for and emergency).

6) Install an electronic in-cab fuel pressure gauge for troubleshooting purposes.

 

OK Great advise - the only question I have is related to the fuel pick up. Are you suggesting that I just replace the screen portion or go with a new drop in like Riffraff offers?

Thanks,
Bryan

 

Pete has put together a very comprehensive list of things for you. I don't believe he is telling you to put screens back in it. The hutch/harpoon mods do away with those.

 

That's a good point. I guess the Hutch does eliminate the screen. Thanks for pointing that out. I will.proceed forward with the Hutch and Harpoon mods and add the Racor and new fuel pump. Thanks everyone for the technical advice and guidance.

Bryan

 

You're more than welcome Bryan. We're here because others have helped us when we were new to the PowerStroke world, and I know for me, I'm still learning lots after being in here for 9 years now.

The screens inside the mixing chamber will go away with the H&H mod.

I am referring to the hard rubber pickup foot itself which begins to crumble with age. It's cheap, and I would personally leave the large mesh screen in the bottom of it just to keep large flaky trash from closing off around the fuel tubing.

Link to Clay's site for this part is here >>> http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/fuel-t...ot-and-screen/

The picture below shows what I'm talking about replacing. One thing to keep in mind is that if you increase the size of your pickup tubing as suggested in the H&H mod, you'll have to drill out the inlet portion of the pickup foot where it slides onto the tube, and you need to do this without a drill... simply turn the properly sized drill bit into the rubber by hand -- it's a little stiff, but not too difficult.

 

After reading about the hutch and harpoon mods on this forum, I decided to do mine a couple of weeks ago. The fuel tank was in better shape than I expected but my pickup foot was broken. I went with the following fuel strainer because it was easy to attach to my frame rail and I didn't have to worry about a plastic case cracking; although I really like the idea of a clear case on a strainer.


I was pleased with the results afterwards. Although there was no performance boost I could notice, knowing that my fuel system was maintained (fuel lines and bowl resealed with the diesel o-ring kit) gives me peace of mind.

It was odd the first time I filled up after the harpoon mod. My fuel gauge stayed passed F for 120+ miles until it finally started to lower to below F then 3/4 tank, etc. I thought for a while that I broke my fuel sender, thankfully I didn't and it was just the benefit of stuffing all that extra fuel in there.

 

Depending on how I'm driving, I'll see anywhere from 95 miles to 130 miles on a tank before the gauge begins to reflect the change.

 

In addition to the fuel gauge staying full for a while, you don't have to fight to put fuel into the tank anymore and when the pump shuts off, it is full. No more back wash diesel all over the place. Also, being able to get 30+ gallons in a 26 gallon tank is a wonderful thing on a short bed truck. The 30+ gallons along with my 45 gallon auxiliary tank gives me just over 75 gallons of diesel fuel to drive from GA to NE if I feel like it...

 

I can still squeeze an additional 0.75-1.0 gallons in my short bed F250 tank after the pump shuts off, and have put as much as 32 gallons in the tank without having run out of fuel before hand. On my Excursion, I can get an additional 1.5 gallons of fuel into it after the pump shuts off. In either case, though, it takes much less time now than it did before.

 

I was instructed to remove the screen from the new fuel pickup pictured ,so if there was anything to get plugged up ,it would be outside of the Fuel tank & in the strainer,which is much easier to service.