New owner, 1999 3500 crew cab 4x4

[la350]

I just purchased a '99 3500 6.5L, auto with 130,000 miles. Main use will be towing our 6000lb travel trailer a few times a year and our ski boat many times a year.

I've checked through the forum for update articles and found a few of interest. I have some questions on what updates I'd want to do to this rig to make it bullet proof for towing. I'm thinking of cooling system, brakes, trans cooler, turbo add ons, chips etc. As I look through the advertisers supporting this group, I haven't found a lot of add on performance products for this year? What gives? Any suggestions? Are the reference books available from this site for $25 worth getting as I try to upgrade this rig?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Lance

[a5150nut]

Are the reference books available from this site for $25 worth getting as I try to upgrade this rig?

The books willl save you more than their cost in repairs/overcharges. Welcome to the forum and congradulations on your new truck.

First GAGES, then make it breath easy, remote mount the FSD, and yours dosn't take a chip, Computer reprogram or swap. Post questions here, hang on, and enjoy your truck! :)

[redbird2]

spend the $25.00 it will be the best money you ever spent. I used a lot of information out of it when building my 98 k3500 in my signture line, there are several great supports of this site that can help you call them and ask they are good about helping out.

good luck and enjoy your new ride

[bcbigfoot]

You have a pretty good year when it comes to cooling mods, there already on there from factory. Larger exhaust would help HP and EGT's. Your year of truck also has the larger round air filter thats good. The books are worth it, lots of good info. Kennedy Diesel, Heath Diesel, and SS Diesel seem to be the main suppliers of 6.5 parts and updates.

[sturgeon-phish]

Your 99 has upgrades from the factory that many of us with earlier models install as aftermarket. Get gauges! A Trans Temp, EGT and Boost will keep you out of trouble, well if you back off when the gauges tell you to, and help troubleshooting. An exhaust upgrade and switching to synthetic oil and trans fluid will also help. Your truck will easily handle the loads you mentioned. Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of good advice and nice people here!
Jim

[DA BIG ONE]

When time comes to rebuild trans consider 4L80e updates, kevlar or carbon fiber clutch packs w/premium steels, synthetic fluid, TransGo offroad/towing kit, finish off w/B&M's supercooler which has a 160 deg stat and cooling fan.

Note: B&M supercooler does not fit behind stock grille w/o modification to inside of grille by grinding backside to allow clearance.

An ECM program update that includes enhanced tranny flash like Heath's MaxiTorq.

[la350]

Ok, so from what I'm hearing, the cooling system should be ok as is.

What about chips/computer upgrades? One of you who replied made it sound as if a chip was not available for this year? If not, is it a complete computer R&R? It did look however, that both Heath and Kennedy have some type of chip/computer upgrades available. I have never looked into something like this as my old diesel was a non computer '89 Ford that I added a Hypermax turbo to. Will a chip adding 50 - 100+ hp kill the longevity of the engine?

Now a gauge question or two. Do you guys run the factory temp and oil pressure gauges or do you add new ones? When adding boost and pyro, where are these installed? Is there a port in the turbo/manifold? How about EGT, where is this installed in a stock system? On my Ford, the Hypermax kit had a threaded boss at the correct location for the sender.

Regarding the year of the truck. I see on the Kennedy and Heath sites that they refer to 99 1/2 as being a point where aftermarket parts change. How do I know if mine is early or late 1999?

Keep the advice coming,

Lance

[sturgeon-phish]

As far as gauges go, I posted some instructions with pics a month or so ago. If you do a search you'll find a lot of info on the gauge intallation.