It isnt necessarily bad hardware Justin. Most excellant thread and here is my take on it. I believe many ditch the Lightning 90 mm mass air meter prematurely. Tuners like to sell parts for varying reasons, under certain circumstances new bigger MAFs do not need to go on trucks with certain combinations. Example is my own truck. It is an '01 with 4lb lower, eaton ported blower, LFP air filter, tuned by myself with a Tweecer tuning device.
I have done much data logging and find that with my tune I had to pull fuel from the mass air function to lean to the correct A/F which is quite common, but reduces the range at the top end of the meter at the same time. To counter act that the MAF meter's range can be extended up from the preset of 4.78V to just under 5V in the EEC but that will only have a negligible effect overall. With my individual tune, the meter is just beginning to peg on a very cold day at the last couple hundred rpm before shift point, however without any leaning on the wideband air/fuel. Many tuners would see this case as a candidate for a bigger MAF, when in reality the stocker should stay on the truck. Another thing worth mentioning here, is fueling the engine with the "WOT Fuel Multiplier vs RPM" function. It is generally considered taboo on a mass air vehicle to add fuel by this means because it adds fuel by multiplying a coefficient against the stabilized fuel tables and is rpm based not based by the air flow needs of the engine. Small adjustments can be made using this method in lieu of swapping out the meter and it is perfectly OK to do that. The only down side is fueling is now accomplished in a less exacting science. I have been adding fuel this way on a much greater scale with EEC IV speed density systems for years with very good results. With MAF vehicles adding fuel by this method should be done with care and definately not indicated for all. I'm not advocating to not buy a bigger air meter but merely pointing out that in lieu of that it can be done safely on certain combos that are nearing the peak of the meter.
Steve