Mods for 7.3 Excursion??

[Chromedome]

Hello all,

I'm the proud owner of a truck I absolutely love. I got It a year ago, with 300,000 on the clock. It runs great and my independent diesel mechanic said he's never seen such clean oil, even on a almost new motor.

We recently traded a 27' trailer with no slides, about 6000 lbs, for a '17 keystone which is listed at 8600 lbs but feels totally different to pull. We are taking s month long trip this summer from Florida to New Mexico and Colorado (but with no major grades to climb hopefully). Now my question, what should I do to get the truck up to the job?

I put new tires (E Load) and added Air Bags today, but that is where opinions start to differ. Some say add a programmer for more power and to monitor EGT, while others say the motor is too high mileage for a tuner. I've also had ppl suggest a second tranny cooler, but the guys at 4 wheel parts today said keep it as is.

I realize I could go and buy a newish F250 and solve a lot of my issues, but aside from this one big trip it's really only used once a month for local tows to campgrounds in the flat South. So for that reason I'd rather not buy a new truck. Besides, the wife wants a wrangler this summer...

[Chromedome]

Thanks all! I'll l look into the larger cooler for sure. Yes I have a 4 point equalizer WD hitch but no rear sway bar. I think they came standard when they switched to the 6.0. Never really had a sway issue so never looked into it.

[zombojoe]

Chromedome wrote:
Hello all,

I'm the proud owner of a truck I absolutely love. I got It a year ago, with 300,000 on the clock. It runs great and my independent diesel mechanic said he's never seen such clean oil, even on a almost new motor.

It's great to hear that the engine's been so well taken care of, but I'd suggest you go out and get some diesel fuel additive (I highly recommend Opti-Lube summer blend). With the mileage on the vehicle, it would probably do it well to clean out the injectors and any other gunk that's collected in the fuel system over the years and miles. Who knows what quality of diesel fuel it has had over the years, and it should help get the engine somewhere close to the peak operating efficiency it had when it was new.

[dodge_guy]

The only thing I would do is change out the trans cooler to the larger 6.0 cooler. Otherwise I agree to keep it as is.

Get a good WD hitch with sway control. I love my Dual Cam. Does your X have a rear sway bar? It was an option even with a tow pkg. if not a Hellwig rear bar will be a good addition.

[brianpearce]

Keep it as it is since it has been going strong for 300k.