Wanted to get some opinions from the guru's on an "issue" I'm having when towing uphill and trying to hold any amount of decent speed. First, my specs...

Truck is an '03 CCSD Lariat Short Box. V10 Auto. 3.73 gears. Intake, SCT Tuner using Mike's 5Star 91 octane tow tune with 91 octane gas, y-pipe mod with aero turbine muffler. Stock rim/tire size. Don't think it has a lift....might have a leveling kit. I bought this truck about 18 months ago.

Load is at an estimated 7000lbs...5000lb Jeep/Rock Crawler with an appox 2000lb trailer (bumper pull).

My issue is that I seem to tow fine on reasonably flat to moderate uphill grades. I live in Denver and frequently tow up into the mountains (around 6000 - 9000 feet elevation). Up in the mountains my truck seems to REALLY bog on some of the steeper/longer uphill sections. To the point where i'm only going about 40 MPH.

My questions .... is this normal for a V10/Auto combo? Ideally, i'd like to be able to maintain 60mph. Is that an UNREASONABLE expectation?

$1,000,000 question - would my towing expectations be fulfilled with a 2002 7.3 with manual transmission? I have my eye on one for sale that I may go purchase TODAY. I'd hate to get a new truck only to find out that uphill tows in the mountains with a 7000lb load = 40 mph no matter what truck you have. I've towed this same jeep/trailer set up for a while. This V10 is my first SD .... previous tow rig was a 2010 Tundra.

 

Followup details ... doesn't ever feel like the truck is missing or like anything is wrong...Just lack of speed acceleration on those uphill climbs while towing. I'm assuming that I'm suffering from a lack of gearing (combo of differentials and tranny?) and HP/Torque. Truck has 98,000 miles on it.

 

You're suffering from being close to max GCWR, low amount of oxygen for the engine to breath, and gearing, too. What you are describing seems about normal for a V10.

A diesel will do MUCH better because the turbo will cram more air in the cylinder. This mostly makes up for the reduced oxygen in the air.

 

Thanks! That's what I figured since the truck really does run great during daily driving and towing on relatively flat surfaces. We'll see what happens....I may be the owner of a Manual 7.3TD in a few hours.

 

you didnt say how many miles on your truck. we get a lot of 10+ year old trucks on this forum with a quater of a million miles on them, clogged cats, original plugs, and incorrect rear end ratio for load and road conditions on this forum.

my 08 V-10 4.1 rear with 57K miles while fully loaded, can easily uphill pass vehicles doing 70mph

 

98,000 (had it in my 2nd post) and plugs were changed out about 10 months ago.

It's all moot now....picked this up last night. '02 7.3TD with 6speed manual AND manual XFER case for the 4wd. it's only got 118,000 on it

 

Nice truck, the 7.3 w/turbo will definitely help a lot.

The one thing that would have helped the V10 is 4.30 gears with stock tires.

I don't know why they even put a hitch on a V10 truck with 3.73s

But hey, good luck with the 7.3 - besides the cam sensor (CPS) issue, and not putting it down "wet" (with the turbo still hot), you are all set to enjoy years of Ford towing

I would definitely make sure the CPS has been changed, or at least, keep a spare and the one wrench needed to change it in the glove box. Check out the 7.3 forum, they'll have all the information you'll need to make sure that CPS doesn't bite you in the ***. I seem to remember there was a grey one and a blue one (or something like that) I think the grey one is the "good" one.

 

Krewat, Thanks. I decided a bit ago that I wasn't going to put much more $$$ into the V10 on stuff like gears. I'm sure that would have gotten me into a decent area. I'm with you on the 3.73's....wish they would have gotten the right gearing in there from the start.

PUMPED for sure that I found that 7.3. Thanks for the heads up on the CPS...I'll for sure head over to the 7.3 forum and work to figure out everything I don't know. This is my 2nd Super Duty and first TD so time to get my learn on for all things diesel.