I have a ton of questions I would like to ask but I'll refrain from going crazy all at once.

Other than a trans cooler from a 6.0, I have a stock 2001 7.3 that has had no suspension mods or additions and it goes down the road with our Jayco 28RBS just fine. Last year two successful trips on two different routes from Jacksonville NC to Houston Texas and points south. The guy who does my annual state safety inspection has recommended a Hypertech programmer which appears to be the safest way to go on my, stock motor/turbo/exhaust/etc. vehicle.

I just want to be able to reprogram the pcm, then go back to monitoring some things while I tow with Torque pro.
I'll save suspension-WD hitch/tow questions for future posts but am interested in any thoughts on a "safe" programmer that might make towing and fuel mileage a little better than stock.

Thanks again for the info here.

V/R,
George Mason

 

George I cut your post from the thread you posted in and moved it here because your question is better posed in the 7.3L PSD tech forum.

Stewart

 

I would skip the Hypertech programmer. The Hydra is the best tuner for the 7.3L on the market today. Some people use the free tunes that come with the programmer; I have been very happy with the gearhead tunes that I bought on mine. I got the whole package from them and installed the tuner myself. It requires removing the PCM, which is actually pretty easy.

I tow a 30' trailer that weighs between 8000 and 8500 lbs. The transmission shifting is much improved with the tuner. Honestly, I found that to have been more beneficial than anything else it did.

 

Grab your beverage of choice, sit back and search Hydra in the 99-03 7.3 section on the FTE (this forum).

I too am a big supporter of Hydra and Gear Head tunes. It woke my truck up like I didn't think it would. With my heavy tow tune, my EGT's rarely get above 1000 and are normally around 800 when on flat ground towing an 12K lbs 5th wheel. I get 13 MPG towing that home on wheels too.

The Hydra or GearHead may not be the right choice for you, so the best advice I can offer is take some time and figure out how to spend your money best.

Gauges are a must if you are going to start tuning. Adds a bit more cost, but brings a lot more safety.

 

The truck in my sig is a work truck that tows almost daily.
On a light day, it tows 10-11k and on other days up to 16.5k including the 40' trailer that the load sits on. It seldom sees flat and level ground and does most of its work in the mountains.

PHP Hydra(Chip) with Gearhead tunes loaded is the "SAFEST" combination that you can run. I have run ALL of the major brand names.

When utilizing the "Heavy Tow Tune" I cannot get EGT's above 1100 degrees. I have tried and failed during a test to see if it would be safe to allow a family member to drive my truck.

Having stated all of this, my truck is healthy, no codes, no boost or exhaust leaks, etc. Make sure your truck is healthy also and as has been suggested above, you need to be able to monitor EGT's at a minimum.

Also, 80% nozzles offer a huge improvement in EGT's also. Gearhead tunes kept all of the other injectors that have been run in this truck in check.

 

Thanks for these responses. I guess I should look into an EGT probe and gauge along with the Hydra. Making the trip to Houston next month and would welcome some better performance with the tunes.

R/
George

 

I've got an Edge Insight CTS to monitor the engine. You will need to drill and tap one of the manifolds for the EGT probe. And there's also a port to hook up a boost sensor which I have tapped into the port where the Air Intake Heater was. The Edge plugs into the OBD2 port and can monitor anything in the truck that has a sensor. It can read and clear codes if/when necessary.

As for tunes, I agree with the Hydra. It comes with 6 tunes from Power Hungary Performance, but I found that Gearhead worked best for me when running the HD4R100 tranny. I have since installed a Swamps tranny and I prefer their tunes with that transmission. Actually, it seems that getting the tranny to shift like the owner prefers is the "trick" when it comes to tuning these trucks. (hand shakers don't have anybody to blame but themselves if their trucks don't shift right!) Having run PHP, Swamps, and Gearhead, I'd pick Gearhead with a stock transmission.

Now, I don't believe anyone has mentioned it yet, but the transmission is the weak link in your truck, especially if you bump the power. Installing the 6.0 cooler like you did is a big help. And, I'd say running a tow tune with everything else being stock, you should be fine. I'm not saying this to scare you. I'm saying this just so you know of what could happen. Mine worked fine until I installed bigger injectors. I put over 80,000 miles on a basically stock tranny (tugger kit was installed) with tunes. The bigger injectors showed that the stock tranny would not hold up.