That's what I was afraid of! Back to shopping around....

 

Still waiting to get over the money I've spent on my new to me truck in the first coupla' months of ownership. I was thinking the next and last thing I would do is a chip. I don't have a RV, yet, but that's my next purchase....probably a 30ish foot toy hauler or 5th wheel I can install a m/c lift on, so I'll likely be pulling around 12k. Do I need a chip? A decel tune is what attracts me to the dp chip. I do not want a great deal of speed...mostly because when I've got it I use it. I just want durable, strong pulling, economical [relatively] tunes with decel. All this talk about the merits of different tuners confuses me. I had decided that dp was the best tuner for what I wanted. After reading all y'alls stuff, I'm not as sure. Are you saying, Joe, that I don't need or wouldn't benefit from an 80 economy and a 40 or 60 tow? That one or the other would be enough? Do other tuners offer the decel tune, cheaper/as good as dp? I thought I'd be seeing mileage gains from the 6637 and 4" straight thru exhaust...but, I may have lost a coupla' mpg because it runs so much stronger and my foot slips into it a little. I'm trying to soft pedal it, but, damn...it's hard. Can one of you tell me, simply, what would be good and best bang for buck for my goal?

 

A well tuned chip with a few good tunes on it is all you need. Having 15 different tow tunes is just... well... dumb.

If you cant control your EGT's with your right foot, you should not be driving. I know that sounds harsh but come on people, you have gauges, use them.

I drag this set up...





all over the country. In all weather and run 95% of the time in a tune that would dyno 400-440hp. About the only time I turn it down is in snow and ice, just too much tq.

When I had a stock or stockish turbo I ran an SP Diesel exhaust brake setup. LOVED it.

SP Diesel Main

Its all run thru the cruise buttons on the steering wheel, you can set and change your TC lock up speeds at any point... Was a great set up.

 

So I guess tunes are an important add on. Is there a cost/benefit advantage to getting like a 60 economy and a 40 tow? Or would one of them be adequate for both goals bearing in mind each additional tune costs money, which I'm not awash in...Also, I'm 66 and not going to be racing anyone or trying to impress anyone. Just trying to get simple here.

 

Honestly... I hate all the econo tunes, tow tunes this tune and that tune...

Give me a 60hp tune, 80hp tune and so on. Leave all the shifting alone. All there doing with there econo and tow tunes is changing shift points and selling you another tune. I know, a DP drum thumper will come in and say that fueling maps and all are changed, but the point is...

Give me a tune I can use for EVERYTHING.

On a stockish truck like yours...

Intake, Exhaust, Gauges, Valve body and a good tuned chip is all I would do. If your towing a heavy rv, maybe look at water injection down the road.

At 66 I am assuming you dont care to be there first, just not the last one to the top.

Hell a Superchips programer might give you all the bump you need, easy on the pocket book and about dummy proof (not saying your a dummy...LOL)

 

While I don’t consider myself a “DP drum thumper” I recently installed my DP Tuner and I am very happy with it so far. In my case, I did not want one specific tune for everything as I need different tunes depending upon what I am doing. The 80hp is my daily driver, the stock tune is there for our required smog stuff, my high idle tune is great for my welder or when I am out of the truck for an extended time on a dive call and I am sure it will come in handy when I drive across WY and I am stuck on a closed interstate and I won’t have to keep messing with the throttle waiting for the interstate to open and last night I used my quit tune for the first time and I did not have to shut the truck down to place an order in the Panera drive-thru. It’s all good; these kinds of debates never go anywhere because each person likes what they have and criticizes any other.

 

Ok, I kinda' get it...there seem to be no hard and fast guidelines, so, I'll just get what I get and go on from there. Thanks Dan and Joe for your input.

 

I don't criticize others...

I simply make the facts be known.

You don't need a quite tune, if your tuner would leave everything stock at idle settings...

About the only one I agree is the high idle.

But if you gave me three settings...

High Idle, 100hp, and all out...

Thats all you need.

Smog... pull the chip, I can have it out in under 15 seconds... maybe less then that.

 

I never needed a quiet tune with the stock injectors, I could order at the drive through just fine. Now with the single shots my idle is much louder, I can't hear them and they can't hear me. Does the tuner have something to do with this? Its possible. One of these days I am going to pull the chip and see what it sounds like with the single shots and no tuner.

 

Fact: I like Miller Lite!

 

Lartross I have a superchips programer I ran for a couple of years,If you would like I could send it to you and you could run it for awhile and see if your happy with it. And it's a good code reader too,if you don't like it just send it back or i will sell it to you for $125.

 

Thats a great offer!!!

 

Joe that looks just like my trailer,30 foot bunkhouse.

 

Just be careful with the superchips programmer... I ran the cortex for about 4 years before switching to DP about 2 years ago... guess who has been running around on a "cooked" tranny for the last 2 years?

I tow an 18,000 lb toy hauler though and I was doing it without gauges to monitor things

 

Sorry, I call bull on this, Joe will take any opertunity to bash DP he can get his hands on. Joe once a upon a time blew his motor, Joe was running DP, Joe now blames DP, because Joe can not or will not accept that he may have had something to do with it..

So, Joe is here, as he always is, bashing what he feels was the cause of the early demise of his motor, cant be Joes fault, has to be DP's.. Now you know Joes story.

This may not be EXACT in story, but it is close enough for you to know that his opinion is most likely way further biased then most.

Now, If you wish to really ask about the different tuners, Might I suggest you watch the signature lines, send a PM, ask them what they know, might know, could know, or even if they jumped on a bandwagon 10 years ago (because it was popular at the time) and see what people think, one on one.

I have met a couple of the "tuners" out there, the two I have met, I would trust, the funny thing about it, the two I have met, say nothing bad about the other, and actually spend a little time passing a bit of complamints to each other, it is only a forum I think you will get this much drama out of a Tuner question.

To the person who asked about tuners for his towing vehical, and not wanting much more, Look into the Hypertech, It was the ONLY tuner at the time that promised you could tow ANYTHING at the 100hp setting with out gages. It was a plug and play ( sorry, a plug, wait 15 mins, then play), and I never regretted that purchase. I ran it from 550 miles, to 110,000 before I went into the Tuners.

I am going back to my beer.

I do want to say this, JOE is Very Bright when it comes to these trucks, and I dont wish to take from him whatsoever in his knowledge, I just feel he is a bit bitter..