judy&frank
Seattle, WA
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Joined: 06/03/2007
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We will be crossing several mountain area in the next several months. Our 5th wheel weighs aprox. 10,000 lbs. Our truck has 150,000 miles on it and no transmission cooler or gauges. On steep climbs, we drop to about 48 MPH at 3000RPM. What major problems should I watch out for and what would the symptoms be?
Judy and Frank and Missy (purr-person)
2001 Ford F-250 4X4 Powerstroke 7.3L Extended Cab Long Bed
Crossroads Cruiser 28RL double slide 5th wheel
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Paul B
Daytona Beach, Florida
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Joined: 09/10/2004
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Sounds good to me. Keeping the R's up actually helpls keep things cool in a diesel. Going over to www.dieselstop.com and asking there will probably get you more answers. They live,bleed, and sleep ford diesels over there.
Paul B
2001 Excursion-Powerstroke Diesel
2000 Honda CRV
2006 Flagstaff 31' - 7.5k lbs.
2004 Two Honda EU2000i's/parallel cables/extra fuel tank
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coolbreeze01
Redding, Ca
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Joined: 08/24/2006
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Have an eye on your temp gauge, pay attention to how hard your transmission is working, and keep your fingers crossed. I hope you have a great trip.
2008 Dodge 3500 CTD LB SRW 4X4 6-Speed Auto
P3 Blue Ox Sway Pro
2007 Komfort 212
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Dick_B
Palos Heights, IL USA
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Joined: 07/10/2002
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I think the temperature gauge to watch is the transmission temperature.
Dick_B
2003 SunnyBrook 27FKS
2003 3/4 T Chevrolet Suburban
Equal-i-zer Hitch
One wife, two bikes (both Electric Schwinn's with motor assist)
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mtlogger
Montana/Guatemala
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Joined: 05/26/2008
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I find it hard to believe your '01 Ford doesn't have a tranny cooler. Mine did and it had an oil cooler too.
Your experience will be with what mountain ranges you're travelling thru. The Rockies are different from the Cascades, from the Alleghenies. Can you be a little more specific?
Matt J - 1956 416 Unimog w/32ft Jamco and two mules in MT;
- Unimog 1750L camper in Guatemala
Bert - '08 Dakota 4.7, 19ft Airstream
My best friend Wolf died in Panama - 16 Nov
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The HitchHikers
Gold Bar, WA
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Joined: 09/04/2003
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Additionally interstate grades are different than secondary road grades.
Steve and Gayle
2004.5 Dodge 3500 4X4, SRW, QC, SLT, LB, NV-5600, 3.73 AS, 325/600 Cummins
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Ozimo
Resolute/Oz
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Joined: 02/04/2006
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Yeah, they are usually 7% or less.
Capt. Abraham Quasuittuq, Jr
Mourning the loss of my brother Sam and best friend Wolf, who died this month
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GGoodsell
Fairfield, CA
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Joined: 11/25/2007
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The transmission cooler on the 7.3 engines was not nearly as good as the ones on the later 6.0 engines. I had a '99 7.3 and easily installed a plate-type transmission cooler immediately behind the front grille, in front of the AC condenser and installed a transmission temp gauge in a deep capacity transmission pan. I felt that all three helped. I strongly suggest the addition of the cooler at least. Keep an eye on your transmission fluid level, make sure it does not look brown or smell burnt. Look for leaks on the ground after hard uphill pulls and possible leakage from the dipstick tube which can occur with overheating and expansion of the fluid. Carry additional transmission fluid to top up if you lose any. Keep the revs up while climbing, it helps to circulate the fluid better.
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Fulltimer50
Eloy, AZ
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Joined: 07/07/2001
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Judy and Frank
All PSDs have a tranny cooler. As long as you are not pulling slow up a long grade (low air flow)you should have no problem. Gauges are not that hard to install nor that $$ to buy. A tranny temp gauge should be a minimum.
George
99F250XLT/SC/LB/4x2/3.73LS/gauges/JNB BypassReg/ Airlifts/Rancho 9000s/DS Predator Tuner/203*TS/Coolant filter/Jimmyjammers/Oilguard/4"turbo back/Suncoast tranny/BD EBrake.
06 Newmar Cypress 29KSRE 5th wheel, Mor/Ryde IS, Kodiac disk brakes
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LarryJM
NoVa
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Joined: 11/09/2007
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mtlogger wrote:I find it hard to believe your '01 Ford doesn't have a tranny cooler. Mine did and it had an oil cooler too.
Your experience will be with what mountain ranges you're travelling thru. The Rockies are different from the Cascades, from the Alleghenies. Can you be a little more specific?
I also think the 2001 has both the OTW and OTA tranny coolers, but some of the F-series folks have gone to the large V10 or 6.0L OTA coolers. The earlier PSDs only had the OTA cooler and they experienced overheating problems and FORD retrofitted a lot of the earlier PSDs with the OTW cooler and included it as a standard sometime around 2000 or early 2001 IIRC. If you have a line going into the bottom of the radiator on each side on the bottom that go from to the tranny then you have the OTW cooler which helps during low flow over the OTA cooler under higher loads. Your tranny temp gauge is useless IMHO and the best thing you can do for around $75 is to get a real tranny temp gauge. The factory gauge basically says you're O.K. or "TOO LATE YOU'RE TOAST" 
Larry
2001 standard box 7.3L E-350 PSD Van with 4.10 rear and 2007 Holiday Rambler Aluma-Lite 8306S Been RV'ing since 1974. TRAILER MODS
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