2000 Ford F-550 Build

Well, after 25k miles of towing, I finally left her home, due to an issue.

10-15 miles into my drive, I had a boost leak, EGTs skyrocket, I limp it back home. I boost leak detect it, have a leak from the tube exiting the turbo. I tighten it up, test drive, leaks again. Swap the entire boot, still leaked. I lost enough time I said I gotta hit the road, loaded up the expedition (has max tow package) and hit the road.

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I was 1200 over GCWR (15,500 lbs) and like 200-300 lbs over rear GAWR.

It did the job well! Did it have unlimited amounts of power? No but it did the job, and didn’t feel sketchy. Would I want to wear out my wife’s mom mobile? No….so this won’t be a frequent thing but it’s nice to know it can do the job in a pinch.

Now…I still need to go in and figure out what’s leaking. Admittedly, I usually do a test tow run before leaving after major changes and I didn’t this time.

I did valve springs, pushrods, the 11+0 wheel and had many boots off since that work. I usually have to do a test run and readjust boots after work being done

It brings up another question, is it time to go back to the stock drop in turbo?

The T4 setup was top dog because drop in turbos sucked ass for 7.3s for 20+ years. The downside to T4 was usually poor fitment and guys blowing boots (like I did.)

In the last few years KC turbos has been pushing the envelope and doing ground up redesigns with the drop in style turbo and on their 3rd generation stage 1/2 turbo it seems they have finally caught up to or surpassed T4 performance.

I thought my T4 setup with an SXE 363 kicked ass on the top end at from 2200 rpm up, but was laggy, so I further complicated things with a VGT, and then the 11+0 wheel to stop surging issues.

So now I have a poorly fitting, well working, difficult to work on roadside VGT with an SXE363 setup.

Do I find the leak, and move on? Or go with a Gen 3 stage 1 setup. These are bigger injectors than what I have but you can see the difference. (238cc with 100% larger nozzle, and I’m 180cc 30% larger nozzle)

This is also 364.5/73/.91 and I’m 363/73/VGT and my VGT should spool up better than that too.


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I cannot understand how the type of turbo would cause boost leaks?

Can you post a Pic of the boot in question?

There is always the hardcore solution of swapping that connection to a vband.

At what point do you think you're tired of messing with this thing and just get something newer and more practical? You said the plan was to get a travel trailer to tow behind, but it doesn't look like you ever did? Maybe it's time to just grab a typical 1 ton of your choice and keep the project work to the hummers?
 
It’s due to fitment issues, the KC gen 3 stage 1 (or 2) use oem intercooler piping, it all lines up nicely and fits nicely, rarely causing boost leak issues.

Most T4 kits fit like ****, so things move, don’t fit right and the slightest fitment issue usually causes blown boots.

Then the VGT is an absolute nightmare to work on, 1 of the 4 bolts is virtually inaccessible. So if the turbo needs to come off you hate your life. It’s a non issue on a Cummins due to placement but on the 7.3 miserable.

The T4 kit without the VGT is easier to work on, if you ever have a turbo flange gasket leaks or something, it’s easier then the T4 with VGT.

The stock drop in setup is the easiest to deal with
 
Ohh….I totally missed that part. It’s still part of the plan. YotaAtieToo

Am I tired of old ****? No, it’s successfully towed me 25k miles. I do truly enjoy making things better, and this truck is 1000x better then when I got it. It had a barely running motor, failing trans, it was in rough shape. So I’m not really tired of the project. I am probably tired of crappily fitting parts, and I am chasing performance where dollar for dollar, it doesn’t make sense. My buddy did it right, he bought a 2012 e450 U-Haul van, made a flat bed, and is in it 7k and just drives it. The ultimate cheap tow rig, you can’t get a decent tow rig with a decent car trailer for 7k all in nowadays. Anyways, My H3 is an absolute dream to work on because when I cut it all off I made sure it was a serviceable vehicle, unlike oem engineers, who don’t give a ****.This truck isn’t easy to work on, and going to a drop in would make it easier/better to work on. The lack of performance wasn’t worth it but it appears the performance is now there, it only took 25 years for a decent drop in for a 7.3:laughing:

As for the camper, this has still hauled a camper (rented) on 2-3 trips and hauled 2 rigs on 2-3 trips. A camper is still happening, my wife’s bus endedavor delayed it, then we needed a daily for myself and her mom mobile and I only like to pay cash for cars/toys, and when we get to camper time something else takes priority. My daily driver situation is weird, I don’t drive a personal vehicle to work, and I am out of town usually every other week, so in 5 months, I have put 2500 miles on my H3T daily, and that includes driving it 850 miles home from where I bought it. I don’t want a 250k mile “new” diesel truck. I don’t have a problem shelling out 50-60k for a newer truck but I don’t want it to sit 95% of the time, 3-4k miles a year, all short 10 min drives, then another couple thousand miles towing. I worry it’s sitting time won’t be kind to newer diesels.

I still like the flatbed towing experience better than a trailer too and the camper plan is still a goal.

Anyways, I should just leave it the hell alone, but I am chasing performance where it doesn’t make sense. With that said, I could actually make money going to a KC turbo and selling off the VGT and T4 kit with an S363.

So long story longer, I should just leave **** alone
 
Kept losing a boot on mine, I welded a piece of steel on either side of the boot that held the two together. Won’t work the same on the turbo outlet but can be made to work. Weld two tabs on either side with a piece that bolts to the tabs.
 
Kept losing a boot on mine, I welded a piece of steel on either side of the boot that held the two together. Won’t work the same on the turbo outlet but can be made to work. Weld two tabs on either side with a piece that bolts to the tabs.
YotaAtieToo see, this is the T4 life. Performance with side effects lol
 
I just don't see what is so different about this than every other turbo set up? I ran 53 psi on my 1st gen cummins with Amazon boots and home made pipes :flipoff2:

Maybe pics will help us understand
 
I will work on getting some pics but it is a thing, backwoods has a T4 kit and complained about the boot issues, then on my thread on the ford forum multiple guys said, yep, been there done that with blown boots.

Like I said, it usually takes a couple adjustments after taking them off. Once adjusted, then they are happy but it takes a minute to make them happy.

back woods do you feel the 362 is limiting on the upper RPM band? I am running 2500 rpm all day and the 363/73/.91 works awesome there, under 2200 rpm it suffered with EGTs not having enough air to move. The VGT fixed that, it just sucks it a finicky PITA.

Here I am again.... I just said I need to leave it alone but I am addicted to chasing the last bit of performance on this old turd. :flipoff2:
 
Hairspray on the inside of the boot helps them stick too.
I used to do this trick, helps on ones that aren't too stubborn.

For a few years I had a F550 w/ 6.0 I maintained in a small fleet, regularly grossed 30-35k+ lbs. It would blow the boot off at the turbo occasionally. One day my good Ford dealer parts guy told me their guys glue them on with silicone and cut them off when it's time to do service work and consider them a consumable. Started doing that and never had one pop off again. Kept a spare set of boots in the travel kit for the truck, just in case.
 
I thought that wasnt a "thing" to do. I will definitely do that, I already carry 1-2 spare boots for each connection point. Do you guys use regular stuff like this?

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In those days I always had a tube of the motorcraft RTV on hand I would use. But I don't see any reason why permatex or similar wouldn't work.

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Obviously it adds some time cleaning up the turbo or pipe outlet to make sure it's all cleaned off before reinstalling each time. I wouldn't go crazy with it, a few fat drops or a thin bead around was usually plenty.
 
I will work on getting some pics but it is a thing, backwoods has a T4 kit and complained about the boot issues, then on my thread on the ford forum multiple guys said, yep, been there done that with blown boots.

Like I said, it usually takes a couple adjustments after taking them off. Once adjusted, then they are happy but it takes a minute to make them happy.

back woods do you feel the 362 is limiting on the upper RPM band? I am running 2500 rpm all day and the 363/73/.91 works awesome there, under 2200 rpm it suffered with EGTs not having enough air to move. The VGT fixed that, it just sucks it a finicky PITA.

Here I am again.... I just said I need to leave it alone but I am addicted to chasing the last bit of performance on this old turd. :flipoff2:
I often times run it up to 3300rpm and it pulls hard to whole way.

My truck has 4.30 gears so highway speeds are up around 22-2300rpm. I did run a 363/73/.83 for a while but now you couldnt pay me to run anything with a 73mm turbine.
 
That makes me feel better, I run 4.88s so I’m a couple hundred rpm higher than you. And you felt the 362 pulls harder than the 363 with the VGT fully closed?
 
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