Solar07

Forum friends,

I have been on a few f150 forums for awhile and I have been reading tons and tons about what really adds usable power to the 5.0. I use my truck to tow (18 ft trailer with 3800 kubota) (hopefully a camper soon) and haul a decent bit, and I take it on trips and such. I don't currently daily drive it and don't track race it or anything like that but I do enjoy smashing that throttle a good bit...

I'm trying to get a true idea of what is going to add usable gains to my truck. Things I will really feel and use when towing, hauling, etc. I recent leveled it and put 34s on it (I know not ideal for towing but it looks amazing and goes so much better in the snow and hunting trails now) and the power loss with those bigger tires is noticeable. I use to be able to go up decent grades on the highway at 70 without down shifitng and now it down shifts often even with the 3:73 gears. Aside from all that, I do love smashing the throttle on this truck and have as much fun as u can, I mean it's a 5.0 and I'm a gear head. Nothing I own is stock.

That said, all the forums I read there is always half and half on those who believe something gains or has losses. I started off thinking CAI, exhaust, tune, maybe a boss intake and a throttle body. Unsure of headers as I'm not sure how much a pita it is to do that job and haven't made any fellow wrenching friends here in columbus Ohio Grove city area yet. . The more I read most don't believe the boss intake adds much if any gains for those of us who really want low end power to keep shifts to a minimum when cruising and to haul trailers at low rpm.

The same for CAI. It seems some prove that the stock air box with a good drop in filter is the way to go over CAI. Same for exhaust, some day we have the best airflow output you can get without losing power, but is this true if you add air input.

Everyone seems to agree tunes are amazing.

So I would like to ask you your personal knowledge on all this and as usual proof or experience would be great. Is there a perfect combination of parts for what I am looking for? Is there a logic in a cai and boss intake is worthless without tune but maybe great with a tune, or maybe a tune and a good drop in filter is about the best we can do. Things like that. I would appreciate to hear your thoughts and what actually does what.

Thanks for your time. Sorry so long. Been a frustrating search for weeks.

msilver

I have a 2014 xlt reg cab 5.0 with 3.55 and elocker and I have added a magnaflow cat back system, its a 3" single in to 2-2.5" duals out passenger side behind the wheel. Just recently added a afe magnumforce ais stage 2 CAI with dry air filter and a SCT x4 programmer that was programmed by 5star tuning. I have stock tires still which are 265-70/17's and I've only ran the 87 octane per/tow tune and it has opened the 5.0 up tremendously. Programmer changes the shift points in the trans which is a major plus for me. I am very pleased with this setup. I have no dyno numbers but I do know for the 1400 dollars I've got in this setup I've gained my money worth.

Scuba_Dave

The only real mod I have made is the SCT X4 tuner from Stage 3 w/5 star tuning
Really wakes the truck, better shifting & more power
I went from 255 70R17 tires to 265's, other then that its stock

RLXXI

Truck already has a cai, I put a Magnaflow cat back exhaust on but no gain there except ear candy, hands down the best bang for the buck is a tuner, I have 6 custom tunes from 5* and MPT currently running 93 race tune and switch up between that and 93 performance/tow, when I would tow my boat before tune you could really feel it back there dragging the truck down, not anymore.


The only other thing that would be even better is a super charger. Big $$$