My new tow rig...

CarnationSensation · Apr 29, 2014

hlb3 said:
I've been making a shopping list of various parts to buy and looked at PHP chips. Apparently they aren't selling the 6-position chip anymore, which sucks because the $295 price looked good. I'll probably end up going with their Hydra chip when its time for a chip, seems like a pretty good deal for the money. Most of the mods will probably wait for a while so I can pay off some stuff. I figure to start with I will just throw a Walker muffler on it to open up the exhaust on the cheap and do an intake.

Since your on Powerstroke.org im sure you have seen the 6637 everyone does for an air filter. Cheap and effective. But if your looking for more of a factory look or a nicer setup i have an AIS system i pulled off my truck when i bought it. I thought it was the stock system before even opening it up and replaced it so its sitting in my garage. The filter still looks fairly new. Let me know if your interested and we can talk about a price and get you pics.

I did not know they dont offer that chip any more that is a huge bummer. It was a great deal! The Hydra is a nice unit, i will get one some day when i really start modding the truck. I would like to be able to run multiple companies tunes to see which works best with my setup. And just loading from your laptop is convenient!

If your going to do an exhaust system some day look on Amazon, they have good deals and can get a full 4" turbo back system for under $300. These trucks straight piped aren't that bad but with your gearing you might not like it doing freeway driving. You will probably like the muffler on there.

hlb3 · Apr 29, 2014

I saw some posts about the 6637 intake, I'm thinking about going that route with it. I figure I'll see how much cash I have left after getting new tires and go from there.

Yeah, I went to the order page to see what they charged for shipping and it went to a page saying they are not offering it anymore due to issues with the supplier and to check out their Hydra chip instead. I do like that you can load all the tunes yourself with the Hydra, plus that it can hold so many of them. Seems like a good bang for your buck.

When I did the exhaust on my OBS I picked up a 4" AFE kit for $150 on Amazon. :redneck: I havent looked around too much yet, some exhaust kits say they will also work on the F550 also, but a lot won't. The exhaust routes a little different on the cab and chassis rigs, plus the rear axle is 4" farther back. I'd also have to add another $80-$100 to get some 4" adapters for the exhaust brake.

That's why I'm kind of thinking I'll just go with the muffler for now. From a lot of the reading I have done about the muffler, guys that have ran the stock exhaust and that muffler and then went to a 4" exhaust on their rigs and they said they really didn't notice a whole lot of difference between the 2 as long as you just have stock injectors, turbo, and no crazy tunes.

DHR Darren · Apr 29, 2014

Nice score!!
I saw a Protech flatbed in the Portland CL last week that came off of a 550 like yours. They were asking $1500 I believe.
You could always adapt a 2,3 or 4 speed brownie to it someday for lower rpm.

DHR Darren · Apr 29, 2014

HEY!! Be nice to that plush, one owner, never seen gravel hotrod!! :redneck::beer:

rkburg said:
2800 RPM damn that's super high. for a motor that falls on its face after 3k. Its likely gonna drive you nuts.but then again I'm typically running 80mph for most of my towing.Nice rig wish I had 80 gallons of fuel onboard.

CarnationSensation · Apr 29, 2014

hlb3 said:
I saw some posts about the 6637 intake, I'm thinking about going that route with it. I figure I'll see how much cash I have left after getting new tires and go from there.

Yeah, I went to the order page to see what they charged for shipping and it went to a page saying they are not offering it anymore due to issues with the supplier and to check out their Hydra chip instead. I do like that you can load all the tunes yourself with the Hydra, plus that it can hold so many of them. Seems like a good bang for your buck.

When I did the exhaust on my OBS I picked up a 4" AFE kit for $150 on Amazon. :redneck: I havent looked around too much yet, some exhaust kits say they will also work on the F550 also, but a lot won't. The exhaust routes a little different on the cab and chassis rigs, plus the rear axle is 4" farther back. I'd also have to add another $80-$100 to get some 4" adapters for the exhaust brake.

That's why I'm kind of thinking I'll just go with the muffler for now. From a lot of the reading I have done about the muffler, guys that have ran the stock exhaust and that muffler and then went to a 4" exhaust on their rigs and they said they really didn't notice a whole lot of difference between the 2 as long as you just have stock injectors, turbo, and no crazy tunes.

The 6637 is a good filter. Got about 15k on mine so far and its holding up great. No dust between the filter and turbo so its doing its job.

Thats a great deal on the AFE exhaust! And your right with the exhaust brake, it will be easier just to leave it as is and do a muffler. The PO of my truck switched the EBPV over to a manual switch so it acts like an exhaust brake and works ok but its blowing out my up-pipe donuts. Time for bellowed up pipes. I think once you start getting up into the 400 HP range is when the truck will actually notice a difference in exhaust size. You might see a little lower EGT's with the 4" over 3.5" but not a huge difference. I believe most people do it for the tone difference as there are not may 400+ HP 7.3's running around.

hlb3 · Apr 29, 2014

Good to know you are having good luck with that filter setup!

Yeah, I think for what I'll be doing with the truck the muffler swap should be more than enough, the truck doesn't have a cat on it either, so it should be plenty open.

I'm not planning on trying to make huge power, with the stupid low gearing it can tow anything as is. Doing the basic intake/exhaust/chip should make her run better and make it a little more drivable.

hlb3 · Apr 29, 2014

So the truck is officially mine now. Between insurance and the loan, this has been the biggest PITA car deal I have ever done. Its worth it though because I finally have my dream truck I've been drooling over for the last 6-7 years. :redneck:

DHR Darren · Apr 29, 2014

Congrats man!!:awesomework:

hlb3 · Apr 29, 2014

Going to buy new tires on Thursday. As much as it pains me to do it, Les Schwab's has the best price locally. I absolutely hate them, but I have found there are not many options for places that sell 19.5 tires.

Lucky Jeff · Apr 29, 2014

I'll check with a buddy of mine tomorrow on some tires.

DHR Darren · Apr 30, 2014

hlb3 said:
Going to buy new tires on Thursday. As much as it pains me to do it, Les Schwab's has the best price locally. I absolutely hate them, but I have found there are not many options for places that sell 19.5 tires.

Check Tires Inc in Chehalis and Tire Factory in Centralia. Both have done our company well.

ain'tstuckjustresting · Apr 30, 2014

I buy all of our 19.5's from S&S Tire in Puyallup. They have always beat Schwabs. Plus they aren't douches.

hlb3 · Apr 30, 2014

Lucky Jeff said:
I'll check with a buddy of mine tomorrow on some tires.

Cool, thanks Jeff.

DHR Darren said:
Check Tires Inc in Chehalis and Tire Factory in Centralia. Both have done our company well.

I'll have to check Tires Inc. I went into Tire Factory the other day and the prices on the few they quoted me were better than the same tires at Schwab's, but they were all higher end tires.

ain'tstuckjustresting said:
I buy all of our 19.5's from S&S Tire in Puyallup. They have always beat Schwabs. Plus they aren't douches.

Thanks, I'll have to give them a call also.

hlb3 · Apr 30, 2014

Ordered an air filter, went with an AFE (the same filter that came with my OBS intake), had some Summit Bucks so I was able to get it for less than the 6637 would cost and its reusable. I also ordered the Walker muffler.

hlb3 · May 1, 2014

Looks like my vacuum pump is going to need replaced in the near future. I drove the truck to town to fill it up and the blower was stuck on defrost. It had been working just fine the last time I drove the truck. I checked the vacuum pump and it wasn't running. I unhooked the house and thumped the pump with a screwdriver a few times and it started running, as soon as I hooked the hose back up it stopped. This morning I drove the truck to work and everything is working fine again, so I'm thinking it is on its way out and it isn't liking the heat, so I got a new one ordered. Its supposed to be hot again this afternoon, so I'm curious if it will quit again.

hlb3 · May 3, 2014

The vacuum pump was sitting on my doorstep when I got home, so I've got working vents again.

Yesterday my muffler and air filter showed up, Summit got it here overnight with their free shipping, can't beat that! If I can find enough free time this weekend I am going to try to get the muffler put on.

hlb3 · May 10, 2014

I was curious what kind of mileage the 550 was getting, so I topped it off today. With mostly highway driving and a little freeway and city driving, got 11.3 mpg. Not terrible for what it is, that's the high end of what most people are getting, so I'm happy with it.