Who’s still using a 7.3 diesel truck
Who’s still using a 7.3 diesel for there TC? How long have you had it? What TC do you have? What’s are some of the must haves to keep it chugging along happily with TC on top? Cheers
Forum Discussion
Jtime, I had a ‘95 F350 CC DRW that I hauled the camper in my sig for several years with. The model year of yours is a great platform for all kinds of performance enhancing mods.
The best camper hauling specific mods that I did to my truck were:
Better shock absorbers. Rancho 9000’s were what I used, but there are other brands that get good reports as well.
I had a spring shop add two extra leaves under the single-leaf overload spring. I wanted the truck to get on the overloads quickly, and for them to be very firm. This made a huge improvement in the handling while hauling the camper. Much better than the airbags I installed. I was able to reduce the airbag pressure considerably.
I replaced the stock steel wheels with Alcoa Hotshot wheels and two higher rated Acuride steel wheels. The OEM wheels were rated at 2200 lbs each, which wasn’t enough.
Tires: Michelin XPS Traction radials. One of the best tires I’ve ever used. Huge improvement in stability due to their all steel radial construction. They are also all-season, and off road durable. They are NOT “Three Peak Mountain Snowflake” tires, so I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about how terrible they are in snow. They aren’t terrible, they just aren’t as good as 3PMSF tires. Since your location is “North”, you might need a set of winter tires anyway. Your OEM size is one of the few still available for that tire.
Exhaust brake: I installed a USGear D-Celerator Exhaust Brake and really liked it. I’m not sure if they are still in that business or not, but there are a few other brands as well. This really helped the trucks stopping abilities. My truck had drum brakes on the rear axle, and they just weren’t up to the task when we were driving steep grades.
That’s all I can think of at the moment. If something else come to mind I’ll post again.
:):)
The best camper hauling specific mods that I did to my truck were:
Better shock absorbers. Rancho 9000’s were what I used, but there are other brands that get good reports as well.
I had a spring shop add two extra leaves under the single-leaf overload spring. I wanted the truck to get on the overloads quickly, and for them to be very firm. This made a huge improvement in the handling while hauling the camper. Much better than the airbags I installed. I was able to reduce the airbag pressure considerably.
I replaced the stock steel wheels with Alcoa Hotshot wheels and two higher rated Acuride steel wheels. The OEM wheels were rated at 2200 lbs each, which wasn’t enough.
Tires: Michelin XPS Traction radials. One of the best tires I’ve ever used. Huge improvement in stability due to their all steel radial construction. They are also all-season, and off road durable. They are NOT “Three Peak Mountain Snowflake” tires, so I don’t want to hear anyone complaining about how terrible they are in snow. They aren’t terrible, they just aren’t as good as 3PMSF tires. Since your location is “North”, you might need a set of winter tires anyway. Your OEM size is one of the few still available for that tire.
Exhaust brake: I installed a USGear D-Celerator Exhaust Brake and really liked it. I’m not sure if they are still in that business or not, but there are a few other brands as well. This really helped the trucks stopping abilities. My truck had drum brakes on the rear axle, and they just weren’t up to the task when we were driving steep grades.
That’s all I can think of at the moment. If something else come to mind I’ll post again.
:):)
