Needing more uphill pulling power out of my V10 ???

[HPJ]

I have a 2000 E450 C Class V10 Ford motorhome.

Drives nice pulling trailer with one Side by Side, until, l start going uphill on these 30 minute inclines on the Interstate, when we are on vacation in the Rocky Mountains.

Would a rear end gear change be an improvement to put a bigger gear in it?

Does a K&N air filter make any significant difference in uphill pulling power?

Does a SCT programmer make any significant difference?

I don't want to put headers on it, but does a straight pipe in place of a cat converter make any significant difference?


Any suggestions or recommendations will be very appreciated!


.

[sibe]

5 star tuning or Banks... Air intake may help...

I have done Free Flow cat back ( leaves cats) but smoother from there back.. I have dumped out pipe infront of wheels/ but some hate that.. I have 3 45 bends only .. 3 .5 in stainless pipe and flow master muffler good for 350HP..
Not any real MPG but way better pull as the V10 makes power higher RPM that older 460 or a 454 gm...

My older RV with 460 30ft and trailer weighing 6000 ish. tows well.. I did part of rockys with no trailer.. and no issues held speed, down hills worried more,,

[GypsyR]

I understand wanting more hill climb power.
A rear gear change doesn't give more power, just moves your power band around. A lower gear would basically mean you could climb the same hill at the same speed but in third gear instead of second. (Exaggerated example). In other words, no real help.

I can't believe that over the years K&N hasn't been sued out of business for false advertising. IE, no, their filters are awful. Last I heard "Delco" had THE best performing "paper" style filters out there. I'm very much a Ford guy and Delco is sort of GM but that's what I use. The best is the best. But unless your air filter is horribly dirty and plugged, changing to ANY other filter isn't going to add performance of any measure.

I can't say about SCT, but a "5 star tune" many folks here beleive was not a waste of money. Maybe start a new thread with that in the title to get more input?

Unless your converter is plugged up or otherwise internally damaged, replacing/removing it won't help.

Headers AND a free-flowing dual exhaust sytem WILL give you a smidge of extra power. Whether enough to be worth the trouble and expense, now that is debatable. I admit, even though I'm a big fan of headers, I put them on everything. My RV has some, along with most of the pipe to do a complete exhaust. But awaiting a few more pipes with bends, times to do it, and me to overcome my lack of desire to crawl around under a vehicle these days.

[hastemaker]

Not trying to be a smart butt here, but you are driving a small house that is going to be slow going up hill, you can spent ton's of money on different things,
I would say, just sit back & enjoy the ride...after all you are on vacation right.

[TruckinRound]

Yes a K&N cold air intake (not a filter element) makes a difference. If you look at their dyno chart for the 6.8 V10 it shows not only increased hp and torque , but more effectively, a wider power band.

https://www.knfilters.com/77-2570ktk...-intake-system

We travel primarily in the mountain west. With the CAI the V10 pulls like a locomotive at 3300 rpm. Like the OP, mine has the 4 speed 700R4 transmission. If I drive by the tachometer it can pull long uphill grades in 3rd gear, and on the highway it doesn’t even downshift on minor grades. That sure beats screaming uphill at 5400 rpm in 2nd gear getting 4mpg.

Take a look at the diameter of the air intake elbow on left side of the air box on your E450. It’s the same one that Ford put in E150 vans with 5.4 liter V8 engines.

[Mike8253]

Part of your issue is you have the original 2-valve version of the V10, so putting a more free flowing air filter isn't going to make a discernable difference. When I had my 2004 Class A (also 2-vlv), I put a Banks system on it along with a tune from Brazels (predates 5-Star) and that did make a positive difference. But it did cost $'s. Kind of up to you how much you really want to do to feel an improvement.

[DarkSideJeep]

Originally Posted by HPJ

I have a 2000 E450 C Class V10 Ford motorhome.

Drives nice pulling trailer with one Side by Side, until, l start going uphill on these 30 minute inclines on the Interstate, when we are on vacation in the Rocky Mountains.

Would a rear end gear change be an improvement to put a bigger gear in it?

Does a K&N air filter make any significant difference in uphill pulling power?

Does a SCT programmer make any significant difference?

I don't want to put headers on it, but does a straight pipe in place of a cat converter make any significant difference?


Any suggestions or recommendations will be very appreciated!


.

Need more pulling power, get a diesel. The 6.9L diesel engines in a diesel-powered Class C will have somewhere between 2 and 3 times the toque (pulling power) than your V10 gasser. Things like free flow intake and exhaust do more for HP output but not so much for torque. Changing your rear axle ratio would help but that will have a downside in fuel milage even on flat highways.

[TruckinRound]

The 3 valve cylinder heads won’t fit in E- series cutaway vans. The K&N CAI dyno chart is from a 2006 E350 with 2 valve heads. It shows documented gains as well as a flatter torque curve and wider power band.

Diesel certainly is the better way to go, but avoid the problematic 6.0 and 6.4 engines like the plague. It’s too bad Ford can’t build a 6.7 Powerstroke E450, but you can get that in a F550 Super C.

[MooseCountry]

We live in the Rockies at a high elevation. Don't own a motorhome, but...

Horsepower loss on all naturally aspirated gas engines is substainal versus at sea level.

We have a turbo diesel and gas to tow our travel trailers with. No noticeable power loss with the turbo diesel as compared to our gas at above our local 10K feet elevations. Feel the difference when we're passing slower vehicles. Ram 6.4L gas truck versus our Ram 6.7L diesel. The 6.4L has 4.10-1 rear axle gears versus 3.73 gears on the diesel. Both 6 speeds. The HO turbo makes the main difference here towing. You can't make up for the gas horsepower loss except by tossing out and reducing the weight.

Ford suggests to reduce your Gross Combined Vehicle Weight when towing by 2% for every 1,000 feet elevation to maintain the same feel of performance.

I'm currently writing this from a family's home in Wyoming out on some very flat high plains at an elevation of 8K feet. Kind of looks like Kansas. You'll lose from 24% to 32% of your horsepower out here. Rear axle gear changes aren't going to fix that, but on our steepest Rocky Mountain grades it helps once you're down to the lowest transmission gear.

Elevation tools like altimeters are nice to check since the high plains flat terrain of Wyoming doesn't look as being higher than all of the tallest mountains east of the Mississippi. High altitude is why there's power loss from what you're use to. For us it's just the normal gas engine performance.

[Dodge Guy]

I had a 2002 Excursion with the V-10 towing a 9500lb TT. IIRC I was around 17,500lbs. I had 4.30 gears, K&N cold air intake SPD Y pipe mod and a tune from 5 star. I never had a problem maintaining 50mph uphill in the mountains. Keep in mind the engine does need to rev above 4k rpm I always ran around 45-4700 in the mountains.
The gearing is the biggest change with the 4 speed auto. I don’t know what you have now but whatever it is I would change it by 2 ratios. So if it’s 4.10, got to 4.56. 4.30 got to 4.88 etc.

[Flyer15015]

OP,
For a flatlander, driving our mountains can be quite intimidating.
For your normally aspirated gasser, you will lose about 3% of your power for every thousand feet you go up. Even starting in Denver @5K' you have lost 15% now you have to go even higher to cross Colorado.
I drive Monarch Pass @ 11K+ feet at 25 MPH in first or second at 2400 RPM with my GM 8.1 and we watch the chipmunks outrun us, when we are pulling our 7K# enclosed car hauler over to the Gunnison car show.

Just sit back and enjoy the view.

Mike in Colorado

[gatorb8]

Originally Posted by Flyer15015

OP,
For a flatlander, driving our mountains can be quite intimidating.
For your normally aspirated gasser, you will lose about 3% of your power for every thousand feet you go up. Even starting in Denver @5K' you have lost 15% now you have to go even higher to cross Colorado.
I drive Monarch Pass @ 11K+ feet at 25 MPH in first or second at 2400 RPM with my GM 8.1 and we watch the chipmunks outrun us, when we are pulling our 7K# enclosed car hauler over to the Gunnison car show.

Just sit back and enjoy the view.

Mike in Colorado

and don’t ride the brakes on the way down! That’s a steep one! What time of year is the car show?

[Unplanned Tourist]

Want and need are two different things. We all want more, but do we really need it?

I put intake and exhaust (Banks) systems on our rig simply because I didn't want to deal with the exhaust manifold leaks. Sure it helped give me a little more power, but if you use it, you burn more gas. It's a 2 way street.

Lower gears will possibly help, but you'll be spinning higher on the level, so fuel milage will drop. And it would be a gamble as to how much of a change to make.

Stop playing ACDC and switch to Willie Nelson on your tunes and enjoy the ride!

[Flyer15015]

Originally Posted by gatorb8

and don’t ride the brakes on the way down! That’s a steep one! What time of year is the car show?

My entry for this year says August 15 - 17.
Old Jezebel, thanks to Ultra RV ECM / TCM mod's does Monarch, but she doesn't like it. We just go slow in the right lane. Coming back to BV is even worse. You can't get a run coming out of Sargent's.
Our package.........

Mike in Colorado