So like many powerstroke owners I have looked into a chip for my truck, and like many others I have found whirlwinds of info that leave you thinking that they all suck and all rule simultaniously.

I want to get imporved fuel economy on regular drives

I want to have more pulling power both in town and when I am in the mountains 4000' elevation

I pull almost exclusively 7500-11000 lbs and no more or less than that

I am a hot rodder so I do flog the truck when its empty so I am looking for a tuner that won't cause janky/chattering shifts

I want my trans to live a long happy life

I want my engine to enjoy that same quality of life

I am not interested in a lope idle or "rollin coal"... obviously some smoke is fine but I am not trying to show off.

any personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

stock truck except full intake and full exhaust

 

Get gauges first. Then call or email the tuners you have in mind and go from there. It is all personal opinion. Get ahold of each one and see which you would prefer. Never know when you might need a reburn or not like a certain thing and want them to change it. Most of the popular tuners have great reliable tunes. I wouldn't be scared to run any of them.

 

^^^I'm with him^^^

Only other thing is if you're a hotrodder with an auto trans, the more power you put to it, the quicker you WILL be fixing it.

 

I've talked to a few and none sounded inadequate - the only thing about the wildman tunes is the mystery of what your going to get. I get the "it's cool just trust me" vibe from them and DP seems to be the only one who explains in detail what you're getting into. The trans is new and I'm sure with me piloting it there's a 80k mile expiration date on it which I am at peace with - however I have read that with some of the ts and wildman burned ts chips you end up with chunky shifts, not firm but crashing shifts and burned up transmissions prematurely...

 

everyone has a favorite tuner, and some will bash other tuners because a friend of a friends friends friend said he had bad luck with that tuners product.

i personally run the DP tuner in my truck. very highly recommended by everyone i talked to at the time i bought it, so that was good enough for me.
as far as the Wildman chips go, i have not heard of any problems with them either.

 

Tony, Jody or Cale.

Jody has more time live tuning than anyone else, he knows whats up.

Tony's and Cale's tunes are going to be hot.

 

Pick your poison doc... I am perfectly happy with my wildman tunes. I have had them reburned for a couple different set ups and never had any problems. Not with heat, not with my auto trans.... They have been great...

 

i cant compare....but what i do know is that i love my DP tuner.

 

Im very happy with my PHP. For 268 bucks its the best bang for your buck. Once i do stage II's and such i may try dp but PHP has good customer service as they're a smaller company.

 

I think Im gonna go the route of DP-Tuner. Just out of curiousity what tunes are you running? how much difference did you notice when towing?
Right now I am disappointed with getting up to speed while towing - with only 4000lbs on the back a few weeks ago I had to really hammer on it to get down the on-ramp. my old '68 F250 with a 390 would probably outrun it onto the interstate.

 

i have 60 tow, 80 economy, and either 120 or 140 race for playing on the track.

99% of my driving is done in 80 econo, because i usually forget to reset it to tow mode. i really don't see any difference with the tow mode unless i am in hilly areas.

even in 80 econo i have to backpedal, because if i floor it the tires go up in smoke.

 

I have PHP's tunes and am VERY happy with all of them! Wakes the truck up!

 

The only thing some may dislike is that you can make nearly the same amount of smoke in daily driver than you can with the smoke tune when you get on it. But that dont bother me

 

I recently ordered a PHP tuner. I talked to PHP, Beans & DP Tuner about it all. The consensus is that without upgraded injectors you will only see a max of 75hp out of any tuner.

Mods I did prior to the tuner were Exhaust and Pyro/Boost gauges first. Then ordered the chip. I figured that with stock injectors, I would start with the cheaper PHP tuner, and then when the mods include larger injectors, HPOP, clutch, and intercooler, I would have the tuner reburned to suit. This way its basically about the same cost as some of the other custom tuners prices to start with.

I went with the following tunes:
1. Stock
2. 80hp DD/Economy
3. 100hp performance
4. 80hp light tow (up to 7500lbs)
5. 65hp moderate tow (7500-10K/lbs)
6. High idle 1100rpms (for morning warm ups)

I know the 100hp performance tune won't yield 100hp, but I figured that when I drop Stage 1's into the truck, it would be a nice addition without an immediate reburn.

I can currently hit 19psi of boost with a stock tune and 3" downpipe, into 4" MBRP exhaust with straight thru muffler. I do have a 6637 filter as well.

While I hope the fuel economy goes up a little, I am still very happy with what I am getting currently. Especially with 35s.

 

I have run TW tunes, DP and Beans tunes.
If you are ordering DP you will not be disappointed. The economy tunes have more HP than the aggressive settings most of the time so get one setting with Economy. Also get a Tow tune for shift points etc.