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2000 Ford F-550 Build

Weird how this is the only place I hear about cp4 failures. I know so many 6.7s just chugging along.

Sorry to break it to you, but that 6.7 will own your 7.3. Not just the engine, but the trans is just so much better.

If you want to upgrade, I'd go to something bigger, get an F650-750, equivalent or just go right to a semi. I think you're pushing even the F550 capacity with a trailer behind you.

The trans is a huge difference. The 4R100 was a great trans but it is nothing compared to the spreads of the 6R140 and I imagine the 10R is even more impressive.
 
Weird how this is the only place I hear about cp4 failures. I know so many 6.7s just chugging along.

Sorry to break it to you, but that 6.7 will own your 7.3. Not just the engine, but the trans is just so much better.

If you want to upgrade, I'd go to something bigger, get an F650-750, equivalent or just go right to a semi. I think you're pushing even the F550 capacity with a trailer behind you.
That wouldn’t surprise me. I am a huge fan on 6-8-10 speed transmissions. I know another solid axle swapped H3 guy that swapped his 4 speed auto for a 6L80E. He said even though his motor stayed exactly the same (5.3) it felt like he did an engine swap, the truck was so much more drivable and always in the powerband. More gears the better, within reason. I am shocked at how slow the aftermarket is to allow standalone setups on these newer transmissions.
 
4wd on a truck that size does help, but if you're stuck in the sand or mud on the lake bed, I'd be surprised if the front tires pulled you through.
 
YotaAtieToo

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Is that the one from Craigslist?

Could have said you were coming up, I would have maybe heckled you while you tried to cram that thing in your wife's car :flipoff2:
 
Is that the one from Craigslist?

Could have said you were coming up, I would have maybe heckled you while you tried to cram that thing in your wife's car :flipoff2:
I didn’t get the one up by you, I got the 4 speed in Kennewick
 
This 4 speed unit will follow the gear ratios I posted on the site a few posts back.

Since I have an auto, shifting will be done by “floating” the gears. I have seen it done with a bus conversion who had an Allison 5 speed auto with one of these behind it.

I still need 2 yokes, a way to setup the shift linkage, and a seal housing for the back.

I wish I had one complete but this one hasn’t been run. (Or so I’m told, and by looking at it I do believe it has had very little to no use) so that was the driver in this purchase.

I can get 2 yikes made to accept 1410 stuff or find some yokes on eBay they use the 1600,1700 or 1800 series yokes. As for the seal housing, I will get that online or scour some yards as I have heard they can still be found in Idaho, just in old rough shape.

it will primarily be used with the auto in overdrive then the aux box is .86:1, 1:1, or 1.21:1 so that gives me a combined .61:1 (double overdrive for unloaded) .71:1 overdrive for hauling around 70 mph and a very useful ratio to lessen the 3-4 split on the auto, a .86
 
The trans is a huge difference. The 4R100 was a great trans but it is nothing compared to the spreads of the 6R140 and I imagine the 10R is even more impressive.

The 10 speed is a game changer for sure; especially for the gas trucks.

*Thread Hijack

My cousin bought a new 2020 F350 6.7L (475HP bone stock :grinpimp:) with the 10 speed and I rode passenger out to Sand Hollow with him pulling this:
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That is right around 26,000Lbs gross (Truck, trailer, and slide-in alone weighed 18,900Lbs according to the CAT scale), and from the passenger seat, it felt like the truck was pulling about as well as my tuned & mildly modified 7.3L does just pulling my Bronco II :eek:. For reference, I gross right around 13,000 Lbs. pulling the Bronco II and my truck makes about 280HP at the wheels in my tow tune. He did get right around 6 MPG for most of the trip if I recall correctly though :laughing:

\Thread Hijack
 
Damn, that's lighter than I thought it'd be. I'm about 25k gross with my setup loaded.

Looking forward to the brownie box install. It's going to be super cool to see in action.
 
The 10 speed is a game changer for sure; especially for the gas trucks.

*Thread Hijack

My cousin bought a new 2020 F350 6.7L (475HP bone stock :grinpimp:) with the 10 speed and I rode passenger out to Sand Hollow with him pulling this:
IMG_5338.jpg


That is right around 26,000Lbs gross (Truck, trailer, and slide-in alone weighed 18,900Lbs according to the CAT scale), and from the passenger seat, it felt like the truck was pulling about as well as my tuned & mildly modified 7.3L does just pulling my Bronco II :eek:. For reference, I gross right around 13,000 Lbs. pulling the Bronco II and my truck makes about 280HP at the wheels in my tow tune. He did get right around 6 MPG for most of the trip if I recall correctly though :laughing:

\Thread Hijack
That is a BADASS setup! I thought that would be more then 26k.
 
Since I have an auto, shifting will be done by “floating” the gears. I have seen it done with a bus conversion who had an Allison 5 speed auto with one of these behind it.
it really ain't terrible to do, it'll be loud sometimes but that's kinda how mdt stuff is
you'll really have to try hard to wear it out while 'grinding em to find em'
 
This 4 speed unit will follow the gear ratios I posted on the site a few posts back.

Since I have an auto, shifting will be done by “floating” the gears. I have seen it done with a bus conversion who had an Allison 5 speed auto with one of these behind it.

I still need 2 yokes, a way to setup the shift linkage, and a seal housing for the back.

I wish I had one complete but this one hasn’t been run. (Or so I’m told, and by looking at it I do believe it has had very little to no use) so that was the driver in this purchase.

I can get 2 yikes made to accept 1410 stuff or find some yokes on eBay they use the 1600,1700 or 1800 series yokes. As for the seal housing, I will get that online or scour some yards as I have heard they can still be found in Idaho, just in old rough shape.

it will primarily be used with the auto in overdrive then the aux box is .86:1, 1:1, or 1.21:1 so that gives me a combined .61:1 (double overdrive for unloaded) .71:1 overdrive for hauling around 70 mph and a very useful ratio to lessen the 3-4 split on the auto, a .86

I would try to keep the auto in 3rd (1:1) and play with the box as much as possible when pulling grades.

Also, 0.86x4.88 is still only 4.20, so I wouldn't be afraid to run the box in OD when empty or light.



I really want one of these for my 97, I'll let you be the Guinea pig though :flipoff2:
 
Update:

I got the 50 gallon transfer tank in.

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It is a transfer flow unit that came off my friends 2012 F450. He was doing a truck bed camper so sold this and will get an extended range tank that goes under the truck.

I called transfer flow and they said I can send them the little computer readout monitor in the last pic and they can reprogram it for a 2000 F 550 but I might just leave it and wire in a switch to dump fuel. If I wire it into the sending unit it does it automatically. All I care about is how many gallons are in the aux tank (which it still reads that) and then I can wire it in myself to a switch and take control over how much dumps into the main tank and when.

As for the Aux trans I am missing the cast seal housing on the one side so I need to track one down....that will be fun.

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Right now some cardboard is covering it. Then I need flanges and figure out a shifter so I can get that in.
 
As for the Aux trans I am missing the cast seal housing on the one side so I need to track one down....that will be fun.

Right now some cardboard is covering it. Then I need flanges and figure out a shifter so I can get that in.
Unless you get lucky and happen across one for $50 or something like that you will be time and money ahead to just use a chunk of plate steel with holes drilled where needed and a bearing bore turned into it.
 
Unless you get lucky and happen across one for $50 or something like that you will be time and money ahead to just use a chunk of plate steel with holes drilled where needed and a bearing bore turned into it.
That is a great point and I didn’t think about that. I will just need to make sure I can have a seal in there too.
 
I will just need to make sure I can have a seal in there too.
Ok, so turn two bores instead of one.

Seal manufacturer probably has info on their website that tells you what bore to shoot for and what the tolerance on the bore should be for a given product line and diameter.

Bearing bore should be a fairly tight slip fit but still an easy slip fit. The case aligns the bearing with the other bearings. The bore in the "tailhousing" (for lack of a better term) simply locates the tailhousing so that your seal bore is in line with the bearing and shaft.
 
You're a glutton for punishment to go through all this work on a 400k 7.3 work truck but I'm happy to spectate and enjoy the process!

I went from a 7.3 in a F250 grossing 24k hooked up to my gooseneck to a 6.7 F350 DRW and the difference is insane in pulling power and comfort. I really appreciated the 250 for what it was as an inexpensive tow rig that worked great for the 100k I had it, but I have zero regrets going 6.7 now...especially putting 14k total miles on it in the first year and 9k of those hooked to the gooseneck
 
You're a glutton for punishment to go through all this work on a 400k 7.3 work truck but I'm happy to spectate and enjoy the process!

I went from a 7.3 in a F250 grossing 24k hooked up to my gooseneck to a 6.7 F350 DRW and the difference is insane in pulling power and comfort. I really appreciated the 250 for what it was as an inexpensive tow rig that worked great for the 100k I had it, but I have zero regrets going 6.7 now...especially putting 14k total miles on it in the first year and 9k of those hooked to the gooseneck
I can't help but wonder what the 10 speed trans would be like behind a SXE turbo'd 7.3.
 
You're a glutton for punishment to go through all this work on a 400k 7.3 work truck but I'm happy to spectate and enjoy the process!

I went from a 7.3 in a F250 grossing 24k hooked up to my gooseneck to a 6.7 F350 DRW and the difference is insane in pulling power and comfort. I really appreciated the 250 for what it was as an inexpensive tow rig that worked great for the 100k I had it, but I have zero regrets going 6.7 now...especially putting 14k total miles on it in the first year and 9k of those hooked to the gooseneck
LOL, Looking back I am a fucking idiot to go through the hell I went through but what’s the saying? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger?

Unfortunately stories like this truck follow me. Like the time I wrapped up a 2000 mile road trip from Nor cal to So cal for Christmas, then So cal to Sand Hollow for wheeling, then back to So cal for New Year’s Eve. Then back to Nor cal. I felt like a badass for doing all that driving and wheeling in my home built rig on 40s....15 miles from home I hear a knocking noise. Get home fine but I had to pull the motor, find out a chunk of metal mysteriously got in the between the piston and head. So by the time I found that out I had to find a motor and I had little time before KOH, a used 6.2L LS shows up to my door 3 days before KOH and I was traveling for work quite a bit at that time. I get home with a day to go, slap in the motor, gingerly drive it to the tuner so it can be retuned for the 6.2L (had a 5.3 in it before) and then immediately drive it 350 miles to hammers

Or when my buddy spent 6 months building his TJ to race in 4500. He had very little sponsors or support so he had to leave his Dana 44 in after the big rebuild. He raced on it before and jumped it with no issue but he barely gets it done in time, he takes a 5 min drive, hits a G out, cracked the cast center section where the tubes go in. So he finds a G2 housing which is just different enough to cause problems, we scramble, find out G2 44s only have 35 spline shafts, not 30 spline, so there is no inner axle seal for it. So we find out a big bearing 31 spline ford 9in seal should in theory work and I can go on about the oddities to make the axle work with just a day or two before KOH, lack of sleep and scrambling is always a joy....

Anyways, I guess my point is this pure misery is nothing new.
 
I can't help but wonder what the 10 speed trans would be like behind a SXE turbo'd 7.3.

Heck, even a stock or lightly modded 7.3.
I can’t agree more, I think the differences are obviously in the motor and trans comparing stock to stock but if you can get good useable power the differences may be more in the trans. I reached out to a guy with a dyno to see if I can get my truck dynoed. He is moving his diesel shop to a new location but said I can once he’s settled in.

Honestly, I don’t give two shits what power # I put down, it’s more curiosity and it’s more about TOWING power.

What power will it put down on a heavy tow tune with the bigger injectors, SXE turbo, and what does that put down when I am actually using the truck for truck stuff. Not on a some all out tune to catch a riced out civic.

That tow tune with that turbo is a setup that should run cool enough EGT wise that it’s an honest number for real useable power when I’m towing heavy. For arguments sake, if it made the same wheel hp/Tq as a stock 2011-2015 6.7 all differences are in the trans then.

I’ll throw this tidbit of info in. I know another solid axle swapped H3 that’s on 40s, 1 tons and has a stock 5.3L and 4L60E. He swapped into a 6L80E and he said it was literally like driving a completely new vehicle. The lower first gear helps take off. The added ratios between a traditional 4 speed avoid lugging or screaming....3-4 ratios on a 4L60E and 4R100 and almost identical. When you hit a hill and slow down a little you either lug or rev the fuck out. That was gone with double overdrive.

The 3.5 5 cylinder H3s are anemic piles with 35s on them. I bet a 6-8-10 speed would make it so much better.

I’m not saying old motors would out run new motors and would never make that claim but I will claim that I believe a big improvement in the ability to climb grades, accelerate, etc. is the transmission, not just the motor.
 
The 6.7's have almost double the 7.3 peak torque ratings and its flat over
900+ RPM.
If that torque curve has an advantage with a 6+ geared trans the 7.3 to.
A 400 "towing" hp 7.3 with a better gear split trans would be awesome I am pretty convinced.

with the caveat that it had forged rods and good tuning.
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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.
 
C&c were not near those numbers.

I also wonder how much the ecu detunes them when they are on a long grade.

Very true, I purposely didn't attach those because people seldom say CC trucks tow good. I was trying to give us a feel for "awesome" power in a graph.

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I can't help but wonder what the 10 speed trans would be like behind a SXE turbo'd 7.3.

probably a solid "meh" for day to day, depending on programming. The most interesting thing to me with the 10-speed is how it chooses gears... 1,2,3,5,6,8,9 or 1,2,4,6,7,9,10, etc... and i absolutely hate 3rd gear in the thing.

Lock out that gear-skip programming, I bet it'd be interesting.
 
probably a solid "meh" for day to day, depending on programming. The most interesting thing to me with the 10-speed is how it chooses gears... 1,2,3,5,6,8,9 or 1,2,4,6,7,9,10, etc... and i absolutely hate 3rd gear in the thing.

Lock out that gear-skip programming, I bet it'd be interesting.
Probably right, but the 6 speed would be a huuuggge improvement over the 4 speed.
 
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.

C&c were not near those numbers.

I also wonder how much the ecu detunes them when they are on a long grade.

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.

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.
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.
Very true, I purposely didn't attach those because people seldom say CC trucks tow good. I was trying to give us a feel for "awesome" power in a graph.

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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...
 
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