What is the best/easiest/lowest cost way to get one tune for my truck. I don't hot rod, just pull 5th. wheel a few thousand miles a year. Total weight, truck+5'er is 21,000#. need a little more jam for the hills and perhaps improved mileage. Want a safe tune that won't increase exhaust temps. Truck is stock except for BTM, 6.0 trans. cooler, inlet air heater removed. Late 99, 7.3. Thanks

 

send the pcm to jody and have it flashed with a tow tune.

 

If you are adding power then you are going to increase egt's. You really need at least a egt gauge before adding more power. I had a 80 tow tune on my pcm and wasn't versatile enough for my needs. I would do it right and get a custom chip. You'll be happier in the long run. You also should upgrade your air intake if you have not already. I got the 6637 kit from Clay (little loud but works for me). The ais is also a good setup. Lots of options for air intakes. Give Clay in my signature a call he'll be glad to help you out.

 

Ditto. And more importantly, even though you are towing as heavy as you are already with stock programming, your EGT's are going up and need to be monitored. The Temp gauge on your dash is insufficient...by the time you see dangerous rises on the dash gauge, your EGTs have been very hot for quite awhile and have already done damage.

Do yourself a favor and buy a temp gauge!!! Heck, a three-pod gauge cluster with the pillar mount can be had for $270. You just need to paint it (another $5?) and install it yourself.

 

From my own personal experience...
You can upload a Bully Dog Power Pup 50hp tow program and use it on an otherwise stock engine. Your EGT's will be fine even at 26,000lbs gross on severe inclines. You will get exactly what you are looking for...a 'little' more power for the hills and slightly better mileage (while not towing). You will not see a mileage increase while towing. In fact, you will see a mileage drop while towing.

The Bully Dog programmer is considered an 'off the shelf' tuner so it's pretty mild and somewhat basic. The Power Pup has 3 program levels. The tow program is useful. The other two are worthless IMO. You can also select a more aggressive shift strategy with the tow program so that is nice as well. I only have experience with the Power Pup model (which I don't think they make any longer...). I have no idea about any of their current offerings.

You can get custom tunes with more performance for about the same money but then you'll need gauges to keep an eye on things. If you opt for one of the more aggressive programs, then you'll need supporting mods as well.

Risk/reward. You will have to find a balance that works for you. Hope this helps.