Improve towing performance

[sritter]

I tow a 23' travel trailer with my bone stock 2002 4.6L, I'd say the trailer around 4800 loaded. I'm pretty happy with the performance as far as hitch set up and stuff, I have no problems with sway or rear end sag, etc.

I'm looking for ideas to improve the performance going up hills, I was thinking of a 70mm throttle body, the K&N cold air intake, and possibly magnaflow cat back. Are these the best bang for the buck?

 

[zoso1030]

A custom tune will help out a lot.

 

[bamnq6]

I 2nd a tune. That should definately help out with towing. You should double check that you have a trans-cooler. Otherwise, I'd start there.

What gear ratio do you have?

 

[Limited02]

I tow a 23' travel trailer with my bone stock 2002 4.6L, I'd say the trailer around 4800 loaded. I'm pretty happy with the performance as far as hitch set up and stuff, I have no problems with sway or rear end sag, etc.

I'm looking for ideas to improve the performance going up hills, I was thinking of a 70mm throttle body, the K&N cold air intake, and possibly magnaflow cat back. Are these the best bang for the buck?

The mods you mentioned with a SCTX3 tuner from hensonperformance.com would have you set

 

[sritter]

The gears are 3.73, I considered 4.10's but with the AWD's it seems almost impossible.

I think I will go with what I have listed then do the SCTX3 and a custom tune from henson later. I see the SCTX3 on the site, but what does the custom tune cost?

 

[Limited02]

Tuner will cost about $400 to your door and comes with 3 tunes of your choice. You will need to contact James Henson to see what tunes he recommends for your needs with whatever mods you do. The tuner is the last thing you want to do after you have done the CAI, exhaust, throttle body, etc.

 

[CALDWELL]

agreed... those mods will greatly improve the overall performance of your X, and keep it very reliable

 

[sritter]

Thanks everyone, the exhaust, throttle body and k&n cai are on the way.

 

[CALDWELL]

heres my suggestion in order of install...

INTAKE - EXHAUST... or EXHAUST - INTAKE... either order is fine...

THOTTLE BODY + TUNE... ( at the same time )

this way james can make you TUNES for all 4 mods at once for optimum performance...

i would guess that the 4 mods for a V8 would give you like 25-40 HP/ 30 TQ ?

I could be off in my estimates so please, and V8 guys correct me if im wrong.

 

[sritter]

What are some good headers to look into? I read they give a nice boost to torque also.

 

[bamnq6]

I'd give the intake / exhaust / throttle body a whack 1st. A tune will totally change your truck and James Henson will customise your tune to the modifications you've made to your vehicle. Then see if you need/want headers...

my $0.02.

Also, I'm pretty sure the AWD exp's still have ford 8.8 differentials. So, a gear swap shouldn't be a big issue. You'll just havta replace the ring and pinion in both the front and the back. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here...

 

[zerodevil]

avoid headers, they will cost you low end torque

which you need while towing ^.^