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2000 Ford F-550 Build

Probably right, but the 6 speed would be a huuuggge improvement over the 4 speed.

The 3-4 split on the 4r100 was what killed me towing heavy in the hills or wind. I was either screaming at the top of third or lugging 4th. A modern 6 speed would have been a game changer. But the need for ear plugs when you have an exhaust too got old too, especially when you have to drive at WOT so much
 
I havent mentioned it but figured I would since a few people have mentioned how much better the 6.7 is. My end goal is not about making my truck a 6.7 killer and that was never the intention. With that said, I do have intentions to make my truck as good as possible. As mentioned a few pages back I am avoiding the Class 6-7 stuff. It all uses engines with similar power to class 4-5 stuff but with a ton more weight so they are slow as fuck. Class 8 is the way to go or stick with class 4-5 IMO.

I do have my first far away from home trip since April this saturday. That probably explains why I went this route. I put 2200 miles on the truck in 10 days in Feburary. Then it probably was driven 100 miles between that trip and April. In April I did 1000+ miles in 5 days, then it sat again from April till October. I probably put another 200-300 miles on it in 5 months. Now it will get used for 10 days, log about 2000 miles on it. Then it will sit till Thanksgiving get another 2000 miles and thats it for the year.

It probably spends a total of 40-50 days outside of the garage and in use....then it sits....so buying a 5k truck was the reason (even though I have way more then that into it unforunately) Vs. having a 35-40k 2012 truck sitting in my garage (and finding a crew cab 16 ft bed with stretched frame may be more due to the uniqueness) if I drove it daily, it would be a different story but I have a car that work provides and it comes with a gas card.

With all that said, I do love bench racing so talking about 6.7's and 7.3s and types of transmissions I definitely enjoy, I just didnt want people think this is a thread about how I want to make my 7.3 a 6.7....

In the end, I have had 3 long hauls (2 with my rig and 1 with my brothers) with this truck and it seems to be working so far, time will tell. The crawler on the back of a 450-550 truck is getting more and more popular from what I see on social media.

So I leave Saturday, last trip I had the boot issue. I drove it around and it seems fixed. My real concerns for the truck this trip is probably the stock intercooler boots, things like PS hoses, and the big concern is the rear end. Having a total of 13,500 lbs on the rear end that is rating for 13,500 when it has a slow leak around the perches, and has 385k on it has me a bit concerned. With time that will be addressed but hasnt yet.

Motor, Trans, t case and driveshafts have all been gone through.

I do need to check unit bearing play since I havent had the truck off the ground to tell their condition.

I am excited to have a 50 gallon transfer tank to try out and I have new AA Tunes from Andrew Arthur. They are both tow tunes, they definitely seem to accelerate quicker from a stop. Under load and already moving they seem comparable to the 1023 diesel tow tunes I have.



I do find it interesting the newer 450/550s are detuned and the old ones werent. I also wondered the same thing before and searched for info on detuning on grades and found nothing.


I agree, It would be cool if they had a "blackbox" for a gear vendors type deal. where you pull some parts out of a trans like you do for an NP241 and boom, you have a splitter.

With the flat power curve I would almost imagine a 6+ speed trans is even more important for a 7.3 then a 6.7. If a 6.7 had a 4 speed it will stay in the power band longer with the curve it has. With the 7.3 having a "crappier" curve it needs more gear options to stay in the optimal RPM range.

I will say I have talked to some guys that used the 6 speed allison trans swap from CAC Conversions and had nothing but AMAZING things to say, it was like driving a different truck. But at 12-15k for the conversion that would basically be more then my entire truck (including 2 truck purchases, all the mods and headaches) so I didnt go that route.

I will also say that the 7.3 I drive is probably different then what most people are comparing to when they compare their old 7.3 to their new 6.7. I figure most do a tuner and move on.

Between the injectors, tuning and a turbo meant to keep EGT's in check when towing I would guess my truck is different. I cant say I know what it was like as I think my 7.3 was fucked up so stock to now is tough to compare. My 0-60 stock (no brake stand to pre build boost) took 26 fucking seconds. LOL but remember it is 10-11k in weight stock and maybe fucked up. No brake stand to build boost and not on an all out tune or even full throttle launches (just aggressive acceleration) has me under 13 seconds. I am curious what a healthy stock 7.3 0-60 would be if you were pulling a 2-4k load (since thats about what my truck weighs empty.) I really need to be a boosted launch or full throttle non boosted 0-60 but I dont want to hurt things. It would be more for a comparsion on stock vs not...
I am tracking you, and I think you are right on.
I guess I was sort of cheerleading the old 2v T444e, I think there is more there than we were ever really able to get out of it due to technology constraints.

As to the 0-60 times I drive a 21,000 pound International CV (Duramax 6.6/Allison 6 spd) I beat it like it owes me money.
I will gladly get you a non boosted launch 0-60mp to compare to:dustin:
 
We will have to compare at some point! I get nervous doing full throttle from a stop. I worry I will grenade one of my 3 long drive shafts lol

I too am pulling for the 7.3....I think the tuning, injectors, and turbo options have improved greatly just from what I have read on some ford forums. I just like underdogs and is probably why I wheel an oddball rig too.
 
I do find it interesting the newer 450/550s are detuned and the old ones werent. I also wondered the same thing before and searched for info on detuning on grades and found nothing.

If the 7.3 was detuned any more than stock, it wouldn't move :laughing:

I agree, It would be cool if they had a "blackbox" for a gear vendors type deal. where you pull some parts out of a trans like you do for an NP241 and boom, you have a splitter.

Wouldn't be a great splitter though because it would have the same OD as the stock trans. So 3rd with aux OD would be exactly the same as the stock OD.

If you look at the new 6+ speeds. They have a short ~0.85 and a tall ~0.65 OD.

Some type of useful splitter would be cool, but who's going to buy it? Almost anyone really towing is just going to newer stuff, or bigger trucks. Or the people still towing with old junk have just came to terms with it. :laughing:
 
IF someone ever figured a cost effective way to mate a 6r140 to the 7.3 diesel they would sell like crazy.

I prefer the 6 over the 10, the 10 auto works great behind the gassers with the narrower power band, its overkill and annoying behind the 6.7 if you have driven a 6.7/6r140.:stirthepot:
 
Not to change topics but are the F550s unit bearing or traditional bearing/spindle on a 2x4 front beam?

One side is wasted....

Other side is good, that side has a giant dent in the fender and door which is probably when the previous owner replaced the other side....when the fucking tire fell off.
 
Not to change topics but are the F550s unit bearing or traditional bearing/spindle on a 2x4 front beam?

One side is wasted....

Other side is good, that side has a giant dent in the fender and door which is probably when the previous owner replaced the other side....when the fucking tire fell off.
The trucks are unit bearing. The vans and "van like stripped chassis" are traditional. Ford did a lot of weird shit with the E-4/550 so there's probably a unit bearing van out there somewhere too.
 
I’ll have to pull the tire off and look to see if it’s just a regular ole unit bearing with an adapter on it or what.
 
Your 2wd should be a tapered roller bearing on a spindle. 4wd’s were unit bearing only
 
I just looked at it again, the lower ball joint is wasted. I doubt it was ever changed.

I did see the 4 nuts on the back of the knuckle making it seem like a unit bearing.
 
Update...I made the 850ish mile trek down to the hammers.

Here is a continuation of the conversation earlier on why 6-8-10 speeds rock! Lol coming into CA from Nevada by Bishop, CA you come to a stop sign to turn onto highway 6. Your at 6k feet elevation. You hit the summit at 7,100 very quickly! It’s steep and since you come from a stop there is no time to build up speed.

So I hit the grade accelerating....I feel my best power and EGTs are around 2200-2700 rpm. I get up to 55 mph at around 2800 rpm. I am just exiting my sweet spot and nearing redline. So I shift into OD. RPMs tank to 1900 rpm. Now I’m lugging the motor and EGTs sky rocket. If I had a .85 between .7 and 1:1 that would have put me right back in the sweet spot of 2350ish rpm. I’m not saying I could have continued to accelerate in a .85 gear but my chances would have been possible. So instead I just downshifted back to 3rd and stayed at 55 up the grade.

Then the grade outside of Barstow on the 247 headed to hammers there is a decent grade. My buddy wanted to see how the trucks compared. He said his dads 6.0 would slow down to 25mph grossing 25k. His 6.7 grossing 26k pulled the same load (But heavier truck) up the grade at 45 mph. He said that’s as hard as he wanted to push it without gauges even though it’s a stock truck. I bet it could do any speed up the grade.

My slowest was at 54.8 mph I was in the same boat as above, lugging or revving. I was only grossing 20k so I’m sure the extra 6k would have slowed me down more but I imagine I would have better then a Banks tuned 6.0.

Lastly, we went to town to grab some food and took a ride in my buddy’s 2021 Ford F-150 and holy shit. That thing is QUIET, it basically steers for you, brakes for you, etc. it must have been a luxurious ride down to the hammers. He said towing his 1 ton Jeep it has enough power to pull it at any speed but it’s the braking, trailer dictating what the truck is doing, etc. but man you compare that to my old truck it’s much more tiring to drive mine lol. I am not saying I will ever get to that level of comfort but I need to dynamat mine, maybe put a muffler on it, get some damn cruise control, etc.

He basically could fall asleep while making the drive down from NorCal. I definitely could not lol

The drive through Nevada just sucks. There is no way around it.
 
get some damn cruise control, etc.
cruise should be just a steering wheel swap away, what with how it is drive by wire and all
they used to use the horn wires for the CC buttons on the older trucks, dunno if they kept that with the superduties
 
cruise should be just a steering wheel swap away, what with how it is drive by wire and all
they used to use the horn wires for the CC buttons on the older trucks, dunno if they kept that with the superduties

7.3 requires a brake master with a cruise control sensor. It's a back up for the pedal switch. The one I did, I made a jumper wire.

6.0 requires a ecu reflash.
 
I noticed very little reduction in noise on my 7.3 when I added sound deadening. I did the doors, floor and as far as I would get up the firewall with the weighted mat and sticky deadening. Measured on my phone, it was a 3 db drop IIRC. It didn't pass the wife test of if she noticed or not without me saying anything. I had an MBRP exhaust with a muffler and my next mod was going to be a bigger muffler if I had kept the truck. The exhaust noise was tough on long drives pulling heavy when the engine was under load the entire time. Pulling the open car hauler grossing 14k wasn't as bad, but the extra load from my gooseneck enclosed really turned up the volume at 24k.
 
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06 does your truck have the insulation on the underside of the hood still? that helps a decent bit
 
Problem with the DIY gear splitter idea is normal range box's usually dont like being shifted other than at a stop or very slow roll, whereas the gear vendor's unit is made to be shifted at speed. There was a guy running a 203 range box backwards as a OD unit but I'm not sure how well it would work on a heavy street truck. Not really a splitter since you would have to just select OD before setting off or at very low speed but would allow for super low axle gearing.
 
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I’ll have to pull the tire off and look to see if it’s just a regular ole unit bearing with an adapter on it or what.

If its anything like a 450 it's your standard 8x170 UB with an adapter. Looks like you have the goofy 8 lug, so I'm 99% sure.

2wd TTB axles are spindle and bearing.
 
Problem with the DIY gear splitter idea is normal range box's usually dont like being shifted other than at a stop or very slow roll, whereas the gear vendor's unit is made to be shifted at speed. There was a guy running a 203 range box backwards as a OD unit but I'm not sure how well it would work on a heavy street truck. Not really a splitter since you would have to just select OD before setting off or at very low speed but would allow for super low axle gearing.
try playing twin stick supertrucker some time, if you've got a tcase that shifts nice like a 205 with the interlocks took out
fuck trying it with something that shifts like a stock-shift-linkage 205 or d24
 
Problem with the DIY gear splitter idea is normal range box's usually dont like being shifted other than at a stop or very slow roll, whereas the gear vendor's unit is made to be shifted at speed. There was a guy running a 203 range box backwards as a OD unit but I'm not sure how well it would work on a heavy street truck. Not really a splitter since you would have to just select OD before setting off or at very low speed but would allow for super low axle gearing.

You're completely wrong.

It's a splitter box from a big truck, it's made exactly for what he's doing but on a larger scale. Down shifting may require some throttle modulation to match gears, but it should be pretty easy once you get used to it.
 
Its a bummer that there isn't a DIYish OD box.

I always thought it should be easy to make a DIY gear venders type deal with OEM parts, just needing a housing of some sort.

You're completely wrong.

It's a splitter box from a big truck, it's made exactly for what he's doing but on a larger scale. Down shifting may require some throttle modulation to match gears, but it should be pretty easy once you get used to it.
I was continuing the line of thought here, guess I should have quoted him.
 
I agree, It would be cool if they had a "blackbox" for a gear vendors type deal. where you pull some parts out of a trans like you do for an NP241 and boom, you have a splitter.
Also this convo, I'm not real good with the multi quote
 
I was continuing the line of thought here, guess I should have quoted him.

My bad, forgot all about that part. :laughing:

I shift my 4runner from high to low all the time while moving, but not a 60 mph :laughing:

If it did indeed use an OD from an oem trans, I'd think that it would be able to be shifted on the fly.
 
The ass end of a 48RFE is what got me thinking.

It really seems pretty separate from the trans but like others have said if it doesn't have ratio options it doesn't help a lot.

s-l1000.jpg
 
The ass end of a 48RFE is what got me thinking.

It really seems pretty separate from the trans but like others have said if it doesn't have ratio options it doesn't help a lot.

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it... kind of is separate from the trans, but it's hydraulically operated which would be a little complex because all the ports are passages in the coaxial input shaft
iirc it defaults to direct, hydraulically releases the clutch which makes it run in OD, don't remember if the reaction member for the gears is in the rear of that housing or if it is part of the... output of the three speed it is behind

maybe use an electric ps pump?
 
Ah I was thinking range box in reverse and you were thinking auto trans OD....hmm wasn't the ram 47re basically a overdrive unit on back of a 727?

Sorry for further Derail OP, interesting topic though, maybe make a new thread for it lol. If you start making ton of money from the idea I'll take a 5% cut for my super helpful contribution. :flipoff2:
 
it... kind of is separate from the trans, but it's hydraulically operated which would be a little complex because all the ports are passages in the coaxial input shaft
iirc it defaults to direct, hydraulically releases the clutch which makes it run in OD, don't remember if the reaction member for the gears is in the rear of that housing or if it is part of the... output of the three speed it is behind

maybe use an electric ps pump?
Yeah I am little to no help on this deal, I know nothing about the Dodge autos or how to make the gizmo I desire I just felt like there is a sort of need for it.

If behind a Auto trans already though the oil pressure is already present and a return hose to the pan could complete the loop.
It has a .69 OD ratio so slightly different than the .71 of the 4r100 but not sure of that helps ultimately.

Where the ratios of the brownie box posted yet?
Some body good with spreadsheets and graphs needs to make some charts :homer:
 
Ah I was thinking range box in reverse and you were thinking auto trans OD....hmm wasn't the ram 47re basically a overdrive unit on back of a 727?

Sorry for further Derail OP, interesting topic though, maybe make a new thread for it lol. If you start making ton of money from the idea I'll take a 5% cut for my super helpful contribution. :flipoff2:
That's why it's good to hash these things out, none of us is as good as all of us for speed of a design.

You are right I think about the tail housing of the 727 and 47RE being a add on OD unit.

It doesn't even help the OP outside of having two OD's if that is even desirable...
 
Yeah other than double OD lowering RPM on highway and opening the door for ludicrously deep axle ratio's (which would help with pulling power in the lower gears) the gear splits of the 4r100 aren't great even trying to use the .69. Heck double OD with 4.88's would act on interstate like 3.42's

I'm now thinking about SM465 with that .69 OD and pull knob on shifter (old school 2spd rear style), the gear splits look promising. Mainly would just use it as straight OD on interstate in 4th but still.
1st--------6.56
1st-OD--4.53
2nd-------3.58
2nd-OD-2.47
3rd-------1.70
3rd-OD--1.17
4th-------1.00
4th-OD--.69
 
I'm now thinking about SM465 with that .69 OD and pull knob on shifter (old school 2spd rear style), the gear splits look promising. Mainly would just use it as straight OD on interstate in 4th but still.
1st--------6.56
1st-OD--4.53
2nd-------3.58
2nd-OD-2.47
3rd-------1.70
3rd-OD--1.17
4th-------1.00
4th-OD--.69
That's what started this my sons 65' F100 has a T18 with no OD and it needs one bad.
 
Yeah other than double OD lowering RPM on highway and opening the door for ludicrously deep axle ratio's (which would help with pulling power in the lower gears) the gear splits of the 4r100 aren't great even trying to use the .69. Heck double OD with 4.88's would act on interstate like 3.42's

I'm now thinking about SM465 with that .69 OD and pull knob on shifter (old school 2spd rear style), the gear splits look promising. Mainly would just use it as straight OD on interstate in 4th but still.
1st--------6.56
1st-OD--4.53
2nd-------3.58
2nd-OD-2.47
3rd-------1.70
3rd-OD--1.17
4th-------1.00
4th-OD--.69
dunno how well it'd do being fed reduction gear type input torque
in the factory application it is only active with the trans in direct
 
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