towing woes !

[dizdak]

so i finally put a real load behind the truck this weekend for a 60 mile haul, totally dissappointed!! my trailer is a heavy trailer, about 4k lbs and my play truck is a good 5k-5500lbs i would say so total tow weight was prob near 10k.. the truck held the weight well and handled well, but didn't pull it worth a poop.. 1st issue is anything over 50-55 mph and the temps seem to go up fast, don't have an aftermarket gauge but the factory dummy gauge was sitting at the R of normal, my buddies IDI with and after market gauge says his temps are about 215 or so when the stock one is hitting the R... is 215 too hot for these motor? 2nd issue, i live in FL so mostly flat land with some small hills out where we went, i thought i was gonna have to have my buddies corolla pull me up the hills!! had to down shift to 2nd gear to even keep 20-25mph getting up these hills... i know the motor needs some attention, the injectors are sounding terrible especially after the torture this haul put on it... anyone that knows a little about FL even out in Lake Co where we were knows the hills aren't anything major... was i over expecting of the truck to do better? i read about you fellas up north pulling steep grades with what sounds like relative ease.. maybe my motor is just in that bad of need of some care.. just venting a little frustration and seeing what some of ya'lls thoughts are on the issues at hand.. thanks..

 

[junk]

That doesn't sound right at all considering your factory turbo. Something sounds wrong. It should pull better than that. In my 89 crewcab which was N/A I could pull 75 mph across South dakota which was very flat. I was probably 8,000 lbs though, but 2,000 lb difference shouldn't matter. I definitely wasn't dropping to 2nd to do any hills. Maybe 3rd gear and 50 mph.

I would start looking at a pump and injectors, unless you know the history of them.

 

[diezelcrazee]

It should pull better than that. Do you know if the injectors are original? Do they still have grey paint on them? With 274K on it and if you don't know their history, I would have them pop tested. If they are not holding the correct pop off pressure it just isn't going to perform like it should.

Just FYI, in the mid 90's I had a 1990 F350 N/A IDI and used it to haul hay with. Gooseneck weighs 8k empty and I would load it with 14 - 16K of round bales, not to mention the wind drag. The truck had a fresh pump and injectors and it would pull pretty good, but before they were replaced it was a different story. Buddy had a new stock powerstroke pulling similar load and weight and he could outpull me, especially on the hills, but on flat ground 60 mph wasnt a problem.

Now I have an 89 F250 5 speed, used it about 2 months ago to haul in a 94 Super Duty parts truck 200 miles from Oklahoma. I would guess the S/Duty to weigh 7k and my car hauler weighs about 4k. The old 89 N/A handled it fine. A few hills I had to go to 4th and would drop to 50 - 55, but most of the time it held it a 60 - 65 in O/D without a problem.

 

[dizdak]

i do need to replace the injectors and IP very very soon.. and i want to put a better clutch in, i don't know the prior records on any of them.. so the injectors and IP could be original for all i know.. but i gotta do something!! my buddies 4.6 gasser was running 60mph easy and leaving me in the dust and he had a good 5-6k behind him as well.. guess i need to start securing prices on some good parts and hope for the best.. what about the cooling? is 215 too high? my coolant still looked nice and clean and green when i looked at it.. and unloaded the gauge will barely move and hit the N of normal...

 

[redneckaggie]

get a real gauge. my sisters ford runs on the R all of the time but when you hit the rad with a temp gun it is around 190. my ford Read the N all of the time except when coolant got above 210 then it moved up to the M. I have seen the temp gauges on these trucks all over the place so I dont dare to build a relationship between a letter and a number.

 

[junk]

215 doesn't seem to be a big concern to me. Warm but not critical. I would put a motorcraft thermostat in I when I did the pump and injectors. I just put some Midwest fuel injection pump and injectors in mine. Seem to be working ok. I've only ran it abou 50 miles so far.

 

[typ4]

mine will hit 230 with a real gauge when towing heavy. also do you have a stock muffler, it might be partially plugged.

 

[subway]

i agree get an aftermarket gage, the letter is just an idicator and differant between trucks. you cant count on that as a reliable way to get a number. i would not be scared of 215, we all like to see lower but that is not in the danger zone at all. if you are pushing past 230 i would start to worry. these trucks are netorious for having bad or lazy fan clutches, another thing to look at is how old is the radiator? it might not be doing you any favors if is an old one that has never been flushed out.

i was battling heat issues recently and found my aftermarket themostat to be the issue. it was only opening up partially, running aftermarket thermostats seems to be a crap shoot. i have not confirmed but am suspiceous that they cannot hold up to the flow these water pumps can put out. aftermarket stats open against the coolant flow where the factory ones open with the coolant flow. i believe this kills them, factory thermostat in mine and i was running in the cool again.

get a hold of a IR gun if you can and see whats going on before you start throwing parts at it. it might be ok, it does not help any if your trucks fuel system is worn out and the timing is most likely off. if it is to far retarded that can make you loose power and run hotter in itself.

 

[dizdak]

thanks for some ideas... type4 i have no muffler, i removed it, pretty much a straight flow exhaust now.. i do still have the stock down pipe and i am sure that hurts some performance as well, plan to do a power stroke dp and mod it to fit as the tech article here shows.. want to do that when i replace the clutch since the trans will then be out of the way.. i will pick up an after market temp gauge tis week.. are you fellas running a "T" so the aftermarket and the stock gauge work? i know when i went aftermarket on my bronco and left the factory unhooked it was sending false readins to the computer and it wouldn't start when warm..

 

[icanfixall]

My guess is the pump, injecters and the timing are in need of fixing and replacement. Also what gears are in the differancial. If you have 4.10 then you really have some issues. If they are 3.55 you may have no issues. Anything over 125,000 miles on the pump or injecters is pushing the useable limit of them. That temp is no problem but the down pipe is a limiting problem. What were your exhaust temps showing on the pyro...

 

[dizdak]

still gotta hook up a pyro as well, this truck is virtually bone stock...and it is running 3.55 gears also... guess time to give it some lovin cause i can't afford to get rid of it... will try to post a picture of my truck all loaded down going to the mudhole the other day..

 

[diezelcrazee]

If it has 3.55s its not going to pull like 4.10s, but it still should pull better than having to go to 2nd gear and 20-25 mph on hills. And you said small hills, they can't be to much in Florida....

Plus, 4th with 3.55s is still lower than being in 5th with 4.10s, so I don't think you should have any problem holding 60+ in 4th

 

[Dieselcrawler]

I have had to drop to third on some hills near me with 8000-9000 in tow. I got 4.10 gears and stock size rubber. Def look into pump and injectors. Big time awaking in my rig.

 

[dizdak]

will start sending some *** on parts as it seems i will get better quality parts through members here than local parts stores... i am running 265/75/16 tires so bigger than stock but nothing major in my eyes.. and i have contemplated upgrading to 4.11s.. most of my driving of the truck is hauling.. i usually drive it once a week unloaded and that is just around town.. oh and yeah most of ya'll up north probably have steeper grades on your driveways than our FL hills... another question is where are ya'll putting the after market temp gauges on the motor side? where the stock one sits or another spot?

 

[RLDSL]

Something is BAD wrong there. My truck scales in just under 8k EMPTY. Heck If I ran like that I wouldnt be able to leave the driveway. I regularly gross out at 18-22k and teh thing does fine ( althoug I am getting due for a fresh pump here pretty soon I've got near 100k on this one)
I wouldnt worry about that far down on the gauge though. Get a real one on there and compare, you might be surprised how low it is