Tuning instead of regear

[HammaMan]

read
https://www.americantrucks.com/yukon-975-rear-373-1114-manu-install.html

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[amschind]

What do you mean by grabbing the differential for tightening? Not familiar with what backlash is either, nor torsen

The rear diff you can access pretty easily apart from the stupid spare tire frame member.....it's just a question of removing the diff cover and you're there. The front is a far bigger issue for two reasons:
1) you have to pull the EPS OUT of the vehicle to get to it because the EPS sits about 0.6" in front of the diff cover; you can't even remove the cover without pulling the EPS out.
2) Most DEALERs cannot reset camber/castor on the new EPS systems because it requires a big and expensive machine that smaller dealers don't have. So once you're gone through the pain of item 1, you're still on the hook for a highly specialized operation so that your truck drives straight when you're done.

This is why I so strongly recommend a front diff cover with a drain port. It's nuts that Ford omitted this from the back (which also needs a drain plug), but it's even worse that they omitted it from the front. There's a video of a guy with a last gen Raptor on YT sucking the gear oil out of the fill port with a brake purge system, so it's doable, but unscrewing a drain plug is infinitely easier. $35 worth of gear oil is pretty cheap compared to the "Where is that howling noise at highway speeds coming from?" game. You don't want to play that game, and every time you submerge your pumpkin, you are buying a raffle ticket.....you don't want the prize.

 

[konoplya]

The rear diff you can access pretty easily apart from the stupid spare tire frame member.....it's just a question of removing the diff cover and you're there. The front is a far bigger issue for two reasons:
1) you have to pull the EPS OUT of the vehicle to get to it because the EPS sits about 0.6" in front of the diff cover; you can't even remove the cover without pulling the EPS out.
2) Most DEALERs cannot reset camber/castor on the new EPS systems because it requires a big and expensive machine that smaller dealers don't have. So once you're gone through the pain of item 1, you're still on the hook for a highly specialized operation so that your truck drives straight when you're done.

This is why I so strongly recommend a front diff cover with a drain port. It's nuts that Ford omitted this from the back (which also needs a drain plug), but it's even worse that they omitted it from the front. There's a video of a guy with a last gen Raptor on YT sucking the gear oil out of the fill port with a brake purge system, so it's doable, but unscrewing a drain plug is infinitely easier. $35 worth of gear oil is pretty cheap compared to the "Where is that howling noise at highway speeds coming from?" game. You don't want to play that game, and every time you submerge your pumpkin, you are buying a raffle ticket.....you don't want the prize.

oh man, i have to pull the steering rack out? i've replaced a steering rack on a camry once, that was a pain, i then had to take it to my mechanic just to make sure everything is good, which it was, then do alignment. I imagine its much more of a pain doing on a truck. makes sense to add a drain port to the front. this is my first truck ever so i'm new to truck repairs and not sure i want to undertake this as my first major project on it.

my rear diff has a drain port on it, however, which has a slow leak around it already for some reason. its not dripping, but there's wetness around the plug on the pumpkin and the truck only has about 18k on it.

i don't have any e-lockers on my truck either. i have the XL model with STX and the tailgate package, with a 36 gal tank, but otherwise pretty bare bones. i have 4H, 4L, and 2H modes only also.

i've read that people have put an LSD while doing regear, but i'm not sure if that would work with my truck options as they are (again, i'm a noob to trucks still).

read
https://www.americantrucks.com/yukon-975-rear-373-1114-manu-install.html

thank you for this.

 

[tony72cutlass's']

I know budgets are constrained but after being down the rabbit hole of watching a badly build diff blow up on a track in the 90's, i would probably custom order an F-150 before i'd trust anyone to build me a good drivetrain unless i could verify clearances as mentioned above. '

I ordered my F-150 exactly how i wanted it, 5.0 W/ 3.73 + e-locker, zero regrets so far. I think i paid under 46 grand at the time. 4A would have been nice, but not worth the price for me to go up vehicle levels.

 

[Calson]

In deciding which F-150 truck to buy in 2022 I bought a 4WD crew cab one that I hate with its length, but did have the 3.55 electronic locking rear differential. This added $470 to the price of the truck which was not excessive.

Not the cab I wanted or the color I would have liked, but it did have the larger fuel tank and the differential I wanted with the gears I wanted.

 

[konoplya]

So as far as tuners go, i've been seeing Cobb and Banks are the go to brands?

 

[konoplya]

I mean yes, I aware of that, but it is what it is. Just looking to remedy as others do in this situation.

 

[SALEEN961]

So as far as tuners go, i've been seeing Cobb and Banks are the go to brands?

I would consider HP Tuners and SCT to be the go to brands for newer Fords as they seem to offer the most widely supported devices that are used by most tuning shops.

 

[konoplya]

I would consider HP Tuners and SCT to be the go to brands for newer Fords as they seem to offer the most widely supported devices that are used by most tuning shops.

Are those plug and play type where you just plug it in to OBD port and upload the tune or do you have to change other parts of the vehicle like intercooler, intake, etc? From my understanding, some box tuners work if you replace other parts first?

 

[Eighthtry]

A 10-speed transmission is quite the equalizer on a modern vehicle. At least for the typical use case.

As for fuel economy, that's a monetary value equation, right?
So it might take 100,000 miles to get a return on the $investment in regearing?

Factory gears not enough to take your oversized mods. You must regear if you use this truck like it is now set up.

Use Ford factory parts. 4.10's are the best choice given your today mods.

I suspect Your truck was rated power wise with premium gas. That will also make a difference. I was shocked when I used premium for the first time in my 195,000 mile GMC Denali 6.2 It woke it up substantially in passing mode on two lane highways. Fuel door says "reccomend premium" Still run regular now unless I hit the open road, but just saying.....when you run with the big dogs expect to pay.

 

[SALEEN961]

Are those plug and play type where you just plug it in to OBD port and upload the tune or do you have to change other parts of the vehicle like intercooler, intake, etc? From my understanding, some box tuners work if you replace other parts first?

It varies depending on which company you decide to go with, but it's rare for them to require extra modifications unless you're buying something like an E85 tune where you would need to upgrade your fuel system. Things like intercoolers and intakes are often recommended, but I haven't seen them listed as a requirement for basic tunes. If you want to set records and get a very aggressive tune that runs very high boost, they could be legitimate requirements at that point.

Some companies like Cobb and HP tuners will require you to remove your PCM and mail it to them to be unlocked before you can use their products. After that you would need to read the factory file from your truck and either send it to a tuning shop to have it modified, or modify it yourself.

I'm not sure how things are being handled with Banks, Livernois, or SCT devices on these trucks, but the process of reading you stock file or at least the stock calibration code and sending it to your tuner is fairly standard.

Some devices will have "canned tunes" preloaded onto them and they won't require you to send you factory tune file or strategy code to a tuner, but these tunes usually leave a lot to be desired. There is also a huge variance between different custom tuning shops like 5 Star, Oz Tuning, MPT, ect. If you aren't happy with how things are going and you've already had your tune revised a few times, don't be afraid to jump ship and try a different tuning shop. I tried 3 before I was happy with the results on my 2014 5.0 F150. I'm also extremely picky, so I'm trying to tune my own truck this time around.

 

[konoplya]

It varies depending on which company you decide to go with, but it's rare for them to require extra modifications unless you're buying something like an E85 tune where you would need to upgrade your fuel system. Things like intercoolers and intakes are often recommended, but I haven't seen them listed as a requirement for basic tunes. If you want to set records and get a very aggressive tune that runs very high boost, they could be legitimate requirements at that point.

Some companies like Cobb and HP tuners will require you to remove your PCM and mail it to them to be unlocked before you can use their products. After that you would need to read the factory file from your truck and either send it to a tuning shop to have it modified, or modify it yourself.

I'm not sure how things are being handled with Banks, Livernois, or SCT devices on these trucks, but the process of reading you stock file or at least the stock calibration code and sending it to your tuner is fairly standard.

Some devices will have "canned tunes" preloaded onto them and they won't require you to send you factory tune file or strategy code to a tuner, but these tunes usually leave a lot to be desired. There is also a huge variance between different custom tuning shops like 5 Star, Oz Tuning, MPT, ect. If you aren't happy with how things are going and you've already had your tune revised a few times, don't be afraid to jump ship and try a different tuning shop. I tried 3 before I was happy with the results on my 2014 5.0 F150. I'm also extremely picky, so I'm trying to tune my own truck this time around.

I've looked into Cobb and they require to send an ECU to them to unlock it, then send it back to you. My goal is to alleviate hard downshifting, which I've had even before lifting the truck (as seen in this video, the guy uses Cobb Accessport to alleviate his issues: ). My other goal is to perhaps have the tune change the shifting points perhaps (not sure if I'm using correct terminology) to have the gears run at higher rpms and not use as much boost, without me having to lock the gears our manually constantly. I've tried the tow mode, but its not as precise as I'd like.

Can you expand on reading the factory file part? What does that mean? Would that be after the ECU is sent to them or is that the same thing?

 

[konoplya]

Factory gears not enough to take your oversized mods. You must regear if you use this truck like it is now set up.

Use Ford factory parts. 4.10's are the best choice given your today mods.

I suspect Your truck was rated power wise with premium gas. That will also make a difference. I was shocked when I used premium for the first time in my 195,000 mile GMC Denali 6.2 It woke it up substantially in passing mode on two lane highways. Fuel door says "reccomend premium" Still run regular now unless I hit the open road, but just saying.....when you run with the big dogs expect to pay.

So the raptor 4.10's will fit the standard F150 then? My truck isn't rated for premium, its just regular unleaded

 

[SALEEN961]

So the raptor 4.10's will fit the standard F150 then? My truck isn't rated for premium, its just regular unleaded

Raptor 4.10 gears should fit without any issue if you have a 9.75" semi-float rear axle, they may also fit the 9.75" 3/4 float rear axle, but I haven't seen anyone try it yet. I swapped factory 4.10 gears into my 2014 F150, and I'm using the same limited slip carrier in my 2021 F150.

At the risk of sending the thread off topic, your truck is rated for a minimum of 87 octane and Ford recommends using 91 octane or higher "for best overall vehicle and engine performance". The factory calibration on my 2021 3.5EB starts out with an inferred octane of 89.2 at 0.0 OAR, when the OAR adjusts to -1.0 the inferred octane rating is 98.

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