# Towing With The 7.3 Not To Happy.



## Duanesz

Well took the new to me f-250 on a 600mi run this weekend down to S.E. Ohio. The truck is a disappointment to me I was climbing some hills in Ohio and this thing wont pull. I weighted the truck with the 4 of us in the truck mountain bikes, cooler, trailer loaded truck full of fuel Gross wt was 13940lbs Steer axle 4480lbs Drive axle 4040lbs trailer axles 5420lbs I had the trailer weighed last year and it was 5600lbs with only a couple of lawn chairs in it.

I have no reference of how big the hill was I am guessing the hill was about 1 mile long pretty good grade. I hit the bottom of the hill about 66mph by the top of the hill I was in 3rd gear 2700rpm 14 lbs of boost and I was wide open 62mph going over the top. I was hoping this thing would do better than that. Even small gradual hills this thing just labors. Lugging around like 55mph 1600rpm it will pull pretty good but once you get up to like 66-68mph around 2000 rpm this truck has no legs. The egts never got over 1100deg at any time. Trans temp is good. I even tried running a 40hp tow tune and it did not help all that much. I have a cold air intake on it with stock exhaust on it. Some people on powerstroke.org say the stock muffler is is really restrictive but I cant see it making that much difference.

People always make comments about oh with that truck you wont even know its back there towing. Well all I can say its back there and it feels like a parachute.


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## Collinsfam_WY

The 7.3 was built before the hp/tq wars started heating up. In your truck, I think the power ratings are 250hp and 525tq (later versions made 275hp/550tq). I would venture to guess from dyno graphs that my V10 makes that much torque (it makes over 100hp more) with the tuner (91 oct. tune), cai and muffler replacement. You could have some diesel guys give you some suggestions in case the motor isn't making the power it should but from what you are saying, it sounds pretty good. If you want a mountain of power such that it literally feels like nothing is back there, you are probably going to have to get a Ford 6.7l Scorpion or the latest incarnation of the Duramax. Could some folks have exaggerated the 7.3's power to you or maybe that is how it felt to them compared to a previous motor they had? My V10 makes plenty of power for us and we do hope to upgrade to a light 5'er (8-9.5k lbs range) at some point. I am sure the oil burner crowd will chime in with some good suggestions







Good luck with the 7.3!

-CC


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## GO WEST

I am reading this post, because I had been considering a 97 F250 with 7.3L and I believe that motor makes only 235 hp. Yes I understand it is very durable, but that's almost 100 hp less than the current diesels. I am thinking that sailing up mountains at 70 mph is not going to be something this truck can do. Still, comparing to a half ton it has a stronger frame, higher payload, stronger brakes, etc so I don't think you made a bad decision in your upgrade. Does one really need to be towing a camper 26 feet long over about 60-65 mph anyway, I mean, it gets more unsafe the faster you drive, and what's the rush?


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## Tangooutback

7.3L in F250 rating is 235 hp and 500 ft-lbs torque for 1999-2002 models.

You can mod a 7.3 to boost hp and torque, but it is not going to be a simple addition of an aftermarket chip. It takes a beefed up transmission, a 6.0 tranny cooler, injector upgrade, new and more powerful fuel pump...etc... to get top performance out of it.


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## Carey

Sounds about right.

I have a friend with a tweaked 7.3.. I think my dodge will still outpull it.

7.3's are great engines. Its just they are old tech.

You will have to buy a much newer truck to do 70 up the hills. I know I can pull many hills in high gear, cruise on and 60-63 while weighing in the 20000lb range. But over 20000lbs and Im down to 45-50, sometimes even less.


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## huntr70

14 lbs of boost seems awfully low to me....

Typically, on long hills, I can pull 26-30 lbs of boost on the top. If I really get into the go pedal, I can top 40.

Steve


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## outback loft

I had the chance to put the 7.3 (with some work done to it) against my stock Chevy 6.0 vortec max(gas) motor a few weeks ago. I did a trip with the trailer that I have done in the past with my own truck. I did the same route, hit the same kind of traffic, etc. I found that I actually preferred my Chevy gas over the 7.3 diesel, not only because it was quieter, but I got better gas mileage and had a much better overall towing uphill and overall. When the 7.3 is empty and not towing it hauls a$$, but once I hook the trailer to it, that is the end of it.


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## Duanesz

outback loft said:


> I had the chance to put the 7.3 (with some work done to it) against my stock Chevy 6.0 vortec max(gas) motor a few weeks ago. I did a trip with the trailer that I have done in the past with my own truck. I did the same route, hit the same kind of traffic, etc. I found that I actually preferred my Chevy gas over the 7.3 diesel, not only because it was quieter, but I got better gas mileage and had a much better overall towing uphill and overall. When the 7.3 is empty and not towing it hauls a$$, but once I hook the trailer to it, that is the end of it.


Thats what my truck feels like unloaded it runs great but hook a trailer to it and thats it you have a big anchor.


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## Fanatical1

If the hill your talking about is on Hwy 33 about 15 miles or so northwest of Hocking Hills, I know it well. That hill is steeper than it appears and is the only grade that I have ever hit (so far)that causes my truck to downshift from 6th to 5th gear while towing at highway speeds. Try towing up and down those hills off 664 and 374 by the caves! Crazy steep!









My buddy has a 7.3 and he drops to second gear when towing that grade on 33. I think the trip you made to that area would make almost anyone question the ability of their tow vehicle.


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## Nathan

I've talked to several people with chips and they are much happier with the 7.3L after that. Be careful of the trans though....


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## Duanesz

Fanatical1 said:


> If the hill your talking about is on Hwy 33 about 15 miles or so northwest of Hocking Hills, I know it well. That hill is steeper than it appears and is the only grade that I have ever hit (so far)that causes my truck to downshift from 6th to 5th gear while towing at highway speeds. Try towing up and down those hills off 664 and 374 by the caves! Crazy steep!
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> My buddy has a 7.3 and he drops to second gear when towing that grade on 33. I think the trip you made to that area would make almost anyone question the ability of their tow vehicle.


That was the hill. And yes I was on 664 too. slower speeds truck does well lugging around 1500-1600rpm truck does good but as soon as rpm gets to 2000rpm then it feels like it hits the wall. I think an exhaust system will help.

I put my scanguage on today and exhaust back pressure at wot was 30bar. so I think thats 30- 14.7 so about 15psi back pressure. Also my High pressure oil pump is 2800psi at wot.

I also made a stop by the muffler shop today too. I am going to pick up a 4in turbo back set up and have him install it.

Also some people swear by some of the custom chips on the market now after I try the exhaust set up then I will get one of those 6 position change on the fly chips.

I have 12000 into this truck and for me to get a newer 6.0 I would still be at the 20000 mark so I have a some room to work in the mod department. I have see some nice trans set ups for 3000-3500 if I break that too.


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## Nathan

1 Bar = 14.5psi


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## Duanesz

well at idle no boost its like 14.2-14.7 then goes to 30. So its reading atmosphere also not gauge pressure.


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## Duanesz

Well I have been doing some digging and looked at my boots going to the inter-cooler and they are pretty soaked with oil. So I am going to make up a cap so I can pressurize the IC tubes and see if I have a boost leak. The high pressure oil pump seems to be ok making like 2800psi. I am looking for a turbo back exhaust set up and get it ordered.


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## rsm7

Duanesz said:


> Well took the new to me f-250 on a 600mi run this weekend down to S.E. Ohio. The truck is a disappointment to me I was climbing some hills in Ohio and this thing wont pull. I weighted the truck with the 4 of us in the truck mountain bikes, cooler, trailer loaded truck full of fuel Gross wt was 13940lbs Steer axle 4480lbs Drive axle 4040lbs trailer axles 5420lbs I had the trailer weighed last year and it was 5600lbs with only a couple of lawn chairs in it.
> 
> I have no reference of how big the hill was I am guessing the hill was about 1 mile long pretty good grade. I hit the bottom of the hill about 66mph by the top of the hill I was in 3rd gear 2700rpm 14 lbs of boost and I was wide open 62mph going over the top. I was hoping this thing would do better than that. Even small gradual hills this thing just labors. Lugging around like 55mph 1600rpm it will pull pretty good but once you get up to like 66-68mph around 2000 rpm this truck has no legs. The egts never got over 1100deg at any time. Trans temp is good. I even tried running a 40hp tow tune and it did not help all that much. I have a cold air intake on it with stock exhaust on it. Some people on powerstroke.org say the stock muffler is is really restrictive but I cant see it making that much difference.
> 
> People always make comments about oh with that truck you wont even know its back there towing. Well all I can say its back there and it feels like a parachute.


I don't have any experience with your motor so I wont say it's normal but it all makes sense. Looking at the specs on that engine, peak torque is at 1600 rpms. Once you pass peak torque power start's going down. It's rated at 505 lbs-ft, compared to current motors which are more like 650lbs-ft. Then take into consideration it's 10 years old so it will lose a little power with age. It's really not much stronger than a V10. The advantages are mpg's and durability. They are known to be loud also which makes it sound like it's laboring more. I drive a semi and it will pull a medium hill at 80,000lbs around 50 mph no matter if I'm in 10th gear @ 1300 rpm or 9th gear @ 1800rpm (more or less). 1800 is way past peak torque so power is actually less. The only difference is it makes more noise LOL! The hill you're talking about is pretty steep. I'll let you know how the 6.4 does in late July when we go down there. Keep investigating and let us know what you come up with. It's possible that it is operating normally.


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## heron

Duanesz said:


> If the hill your talking about is on Hwy 33 about 15 miles or so northwest of Hocking Hills, I know it well. That hill is steeper than it appears and is the only grade that I have ever hit (so far)that causes my truck to downshift from 6th to 5th gear while towing at highway speeds. Try towing up and down those hills off 664 and 374 by the caves! Crazy steep!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My buddy has a 7.3 and he drops to second gear when towing that grade on 33. I think the trip you made to that area would make almost anyone question the ability of their tow vehicle.


That was the hill. And yes I was on 664 too. slower speeds truck does well lugging around 1500-1600rpm truck does good but as soon as rpm gets to 2000rpm then it feels like it hits the wall. I think an exhaust system will help.

I put my scanguage on today and exhaust back pressure at wot was 30bar. so I think thats 30- 14.7 so about 15psi back pressure. Also my High pressure oil pump is 2800psi at wot.

I also made a stop by the muffler shop today too. I am going to pick up a 4in turbo back set up and have him install it.

Also some people swear by some of the custom chips on the market now after I try the exhaust set up then I will get one of those 6 position change on the fly chips.

I have 12000 into this truck and for me to get a newer 6.0 I would still be at the 20000 mark so I have a some room to work in the mod department. I have see some nice trans set ups for 3000-3500 if I break that too.
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First off, when was the fuel filter changed last? Start with some simple power robbers first. Don't go high power chip or you'll really have to build the tranny...not sure how much those old trannies will take but I don't run my truck over 50hp stock and my tranny is modified...
Also, be careful with the exhaust. Turbo back with downpipe and all may make the truck so loud you will hate traveling with it...could cause lots of DRONE. If you do it buy your exhaust online. You'll save a ton of money and most you can bolt up with simple tools. My full exhaust took me about 1 hour to install and that counted using a sawzall to cut off my stock exhaust. I did my exhaust the first month I had my truck . My motor is very quiet for a diesel but I would not have a turbo back. Mine is aftermarket from downpipe back with no kitty. Not sure again on the 7.3 but diesels love air in(air box mod) and the least restrictive the outward flow is the better but again you still have to be able to talk in the cabin. That 7.3 is loud to begin with but even being a GM guy if I had my choice for the older PROVEN engines the 7.3 would be at the top in the Ford clan. The new stuff coming out is powerful but my feeling is as the power increases in these diesels the long term durability goes down... I could setup my Duramax easily to pull 500 RWHP but I'd never run it. Yes, if were street racing and I wanted to eat up a few corvettes or Mustangs light to light it might be fun but I don't think anyone doing this plans on keeping the motor intact for 300-500K miles. Just my 2c


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## Duanesz

I am going to do the fuel filter this weekend I just had some cement work done and cant get in the garage for a couple more days.


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## cwh

This spring I decided to set my '97 powerstroke up for towing our 5th wheel "just in case" the '08 powerstoke had to go for repair work. Well the '08 has been in the shop for the better part of the last 2 months. Has a surging issue that they can't figure out. Anyway, the last two camping trips we've made have been with the old '97. It's not a power house by any means but I run it with the OD off and it'll run 60-65 all day long. When I hit the real steep grades it will lug down to 40-45. I'm real happy about how the truck pulls. It's bone stock in the power department. The only upgrade that I did was a second tran cooler in series with the stock unit and drill a few holes in the trans valve body for firmer shifts. My next mod is to go with a NAPA 6637 aircleaner and a gutted catalytic converter. That should add a few foot pounds of torque.

Happy Towing!

Chris


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## rsm7

As an update to your topic Duane I just did a 4 day weekend at Hocking Hills (had a great time BTW). I had 3 adults, 3 kids, 2 dobermans, and firewood in the truck. Trailer was stuffed with normal things plus cornhole game, 2 coolers, folding table, a bike etc. I bet I was grossing 16ish? The 6.4 eats up hills and spits them out with ease. Actually I pulled bigger hills in Maryland back in June. I still havent touched the floor with the accelerator. I've never pulled with a 7.3 to compare the 2. I think this motor is rated for 350hp 650lbs/ft torque?


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