itilldo

OK you PSD folks. I need info. I just purchased a 2005 Excursion 4wd and I want more power. What is the best way to go about it with out trashing my warranty? Also, what about the these air bags, are they required / necessary? Presently my set up has a factory class 3 hitch and I would assume a class 5 would be the requirement for a bigger boat. Presently I will be pulling a 29 ' Fountain but looking to go bigger, 38' Lightning? I have not pulled my present boat so I do not even know how it is going to handle the 29'? I hope it will just be fine.

I'm not sure what rear end I have. The truck was a program vehicle but where can I find this info?

Any and all comments will be appreciated.

"Remember keep your stick on the ice and we're all in this together".

Chris Sunkin

Air filter and exhaust- anything else is going to void your warranty. If you get a hard-a$$ed tech rep from Ford looking at a smoked motor, they may deny the claim even on those mild mods. These guys aren't stupid nor do they like passing out $13K motors. The 6.0 is from the factory what an aftermarket-tweaked 7.3 was- already pushed up in power. They're not fragile in stock form but they're not going to take a 110+ horsepower boost without consequence. Transmission too. There are lots of internal mods that can be done to the motor/trans internals but you're looking ast some serious $$.

A programmer is an OK mod if you are just interested in blasting away from a stoplight, goofing around with the guy next to you in the Corvette. If you want to pull a 12K boat up a steep grade at 70 mph, buy a medium cause the 6.0 isn't up to it. Even with the EGT, you'll likely pop a head gasket- a common malady with this motor.

Whatever you do, get an EGT gauge for it. There's no gray area with a turbodiesel. The pistons are fine right up to the point where they melt.

wrinkleface

Your X will pull that 29 like it isn't even there! I pulled a 353 Formula for 4 years w/ a 3/4 ton Burb. Did a geat job. I have a 382 now and I am under-trucked but I usually tow only 2-5 miles! Good luck , Wrink

dankerst

I have had three Excursions. First was a 7.3, and the last two have been 6.0s. With them I have towed a 38' Topgun, and with my 2005 6.0 4wd, a new 39' Outerlimits. The most distance I have towed has been about 400 miles, while regularly towing approx 100 miles on some weekends in the summer.

Towing with all these trucks has been great. My latest Excursion has all the Banks upgrades on it, and performs exceptionally well.

With all said above, I am still going to buy a F350 Dually. In a perfect world I will may never have a problem towing with my Excursion. I am buying a bigger truck to increase my safety margin.

Sean H

i just put the edge w/ juice controller, AFE intake and magnoflow exhaust on my 05.... major power increase, the nicest part about it is you have 5 stages on the controller plus you can turn it off if need be.... has a built in EGT, boost, tach, backdown gauges in it... plus will record the highest of those settings.. plus has options for defueling on shifts and backdown... and it does not void your warranty.... it is called the Magnuson-Moss act, they have to prove your products caused the failure, not just say they did..
you throw that phrase out there and 9 times out of 10 they fix it without an arguement....

JPD Motorsports

Do an edge w/juce on it along with a free flowing exhaust set up and a performance filter setup AFE. will really wake the beast up keep the power levels to within reason and every time you take the rig in for service remove the edge.

PMTCHIPS

Check us out at www.pmtdiesel.com
Or call us at 866-768-2447.
Weffer OSO discounts!

Chris Sunkin

I have a good friend and former employee that's a service director at a large Ford store. I hear all the time about voided warranties on Mustangs, Lightnings and diesels from guys screwing around with power outputs. Ford has way more time and resources to fight with than any of us and they don't give away motors without a fight.

In the end, Ford designed the motor to do what it does stock and warrants it as such. If you want to increase it's power by 50 to 100% you should have no expectation that someone else should pay for it if it fails. Remember, it's not a $200 repair. A replacement 6.0 with labor is about the same $$ as a moderately equipped new Taurus. You smoke a motor WITHOUT modifications, be prepared to provide solid documentation on all your maintenance.

Sean H

my dealer does all the maintence on my truck and knows what i have done too it and i have printed off the entire warranty act and keep it in my glovebox and my attorney has one too, the service manager says most people just give in when he threatens that they won't cover stuff... i have no problem if they can PROVE whatever i did caused the warranty issue, but they have to prove it... and that is a hard thing to do... it's a matter of law...

i've had hopped up trucks, vettes, bmw's and benz's and have yet to be turned down for a warranty claim even though most of those cars were heavily modified... it's just hard to prove that any one part caused another parts failure.. afterall, i don't want to pay for 5k transmissions or 15k engines either...

Chris Sunkin

There's an old phrase that comes to mind- "It's better to be a defendant than a plaintiff". In the case of a warranty, you're the plaintiff. All they have to do is say "no". Now you get to start spending $225 an hour with your lawyer. History is full of innocent folks who have depleted fortunes proving it.

As far as proof, in civil court and arbitration it's preponderance of evidence. The mere fact that you made modifications to dramatically increase the power output of an engine is likely to resonate with most reasonable people.


In your case, having a friendly dealer is nice but if you smoke a diesel, it's not going to be up to him. It will be up to a Ford tech rep. Having a close friend as a service manager couldn't get me out of a jam on two different occasions. The TR said no- that was it. Fortunately they were a couple hundred bucks.

In the end, if you can afford the consequences you shouldn't be worried about them.