I was wondering what things should I do first on the truck. Its stock, 2005, 4.7, 4x4, factory tow pkg, quad cab. It's my daily driver but we plan on picking up a travel trailer to do some camping next year so we will be towing with it.

I dont want to be pulling over 5000 lbs and by my calculations the truck itself weighs right around 4775 lbs so that should give room for gear and not max everything out.

I've been watching another "newbie build thread" and most of the thread was about a superchip, but I wanted to know what should I do first. CAI? replace the rear shocks? 180 thermostat? 2" leveling kit? etc?

The previous owner was already running synthetic oil and I will keep up with that, but I'm not sure if all the fluids are/were synthetic.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

 

The first mod I did was to add a CAI. Your engine will feel more responsive and you will love the sound these V8s make.

I swapped to a 180 thermostat, and I can't say I notice much of a difference. Although on really hot days when my temp needle reaches the middle mark, or climbs a bit over it, it makes me wonder how much hotter it would have gotten with the stock stat..

For towing you might also want to consider adding an external transmission cooler, very simple to install (15mins or so) and relatively cheap( about $60 bucks off autozone)

 

definitely change out the thermostat for a 180, and save your money. dont bother with superchips if you plan on towing, I am guessing your truck has the 3.55 gears like mine, spend the money on gears, it will be well worth it, you can spend up to 2000.00 on mods and not get the effect gears give you. I went with the 4.10 and love them

 

I have to agree with superdak. If you plan on towing, gears are going to be your best mod. External transmission cooler, 180 t-stat and gears.

 

Thanks so far guys, looks like a new T stat is certain. In in Michigan so the engine running cooler in our cold winters won't be a problem will it?

As far as the gears go because of the factory tow package it came with 3.92 axle ratio and an auxiliary transmission oil cooler. Should I still be looking to add an external tranny cooler on top of that? With that package everything I came across was saying I should be able to tow around 7000 lbs. Is it still in my best interest to put 4.10 in it?

 

hmm...not much difference between 3.92 and 4.10....might want to rethink the superchips idea....

 

agreed! is it an LSD?

 

Having the tow package doesn't mean that you have 3.92 gears, that was a separate option that was available, not included with the tow package.
Unless you're sure about the 3.92 gears, you could have 3.55 gears. You could find out for sure with a build sheet.

 

^^ what he said. I mis-read, thought he said factory tow package AND 3.92 gears. I have the factory tow package, but 3.55 gears and an open diff....grrr...you would think they would actually make the Laramie package "fully" loaded....lol

 

My mistake I thought the factory tow came with the 3.92 gears. Either way I am certain that I have the 3.92 gears I checked the glove box and a print out from compnine website that state 3.92.

I'm pretty sure I do have a LSD, my print out says "Anti-Spin Differential Rear axle".

Does this all lean me toward T stat, then SuperChip?

What else? Should I change out spark plugs to something different? I'd like to do the things a couple hundred bucks and cheaper first. I gotta slowly get my wife on board with spending the cash.