I am considering one of the other. I am sure some of you performance
guru's have tried them. Which one is performing the best with the
2003 6.0 PSD with the OCT flash? The only other mods I have
done to my beast is the AFE PG7 and the cat-back Hog Exhaust.
Need some input guys. Getting ready for a long trip to the coast
towing a TT that weighs about 8000 lbs loaded.
Thanks, EJ

 

One thing to take into consideration when you are looking at the two is to make your comparison based on YOUR needs.

Most of the folks seem to have two principal goals; performance, i.e., hot rodding the truck, and improved power and mileage for towing large loads.

There have been a couple of posts by the SCMT guys with 1/4 mile times, but I don't think that I've yet seen a dyno curve for the SCMT. The Predator folks on the other hand have posted a few dyno charts, but I don't recall seeing any 1/4 mile times - though a number of guys have posted 1/8 mile times.

There have been complaints from some SCMT owners about harsh shifting and too high of shift points under light throttle driving. Those who have sent their units back to SC were pleased with the reprogramming. Vic from SC is a regular on the board.

The Predator seems to offer most posters good driveability out of the box, plus if there were problems you can download code off the Internet rather than send the unit back to the factory as in the SC case.

Regarding the harsh shifts some experienced, I found that while the shifts were firmer than stock, I didn't find them overly harsh. I do agree that the shift point in some gears could be lowered under light throttle, but it isn't enough of a bother for me to send the unit back.

As for improved power, mileage, and driveability, I've tried the SCMT out in all three settings - Tow Safe (lowest gain), Economy (mid level), and High Performance (OMG). I didn't notice much change in the fuel economy while driving around unloaded. Any improvement in mileage was probably offset by my tendency to lead foot it a bit more. I didn't do much highway driving and might have seen a greater gain if I had.

Towing the trailer is where I saw the highest gain - a 10% improvement in mileage in the Tow Safe mode on my trailer (see sig), while realizing a significant increase in power and general driveability pulling the trailer.

Hope this helps. I'm sure that the Predator folks will be posting soon as well.

Daryl

 

i have a sc max microtuner its for a 2004 model but you can use it on the 2003 if it has all udates/flashes mine is a 03 w/ the 04 and its great i can bring my truck out sideways and do dougnuts easy. i gained about 3-6 mpg when pulling my 5000 lbs. trailer but thats with high performance mode and about 5-7 mpg in the towsafe mode with my trailer

 

a major advantage of the predator is the diagnostics. its an actual diag machine, not just a code reader...

it also produces much more torque in the lower half of the band.

 

Have we seen dyno posts for the SCMT from an actual user?

I wasn't aware of any except for one that someone pasted up made off of some numbers from SC off a 2004 HD F-250. In my experience, anything to do with Harley Davidson is known to be all about looks and not performance - in fact it's usualy anti-performance - go slow and loud but look "good" doing it.

So given the lack of dyno charts to compare against, I'm not sure how we posit that the Predator produces more torque in the lower part of the band?

 

im going by the advertised # from the SC website compared to the ones from guys like bob.

dont get on my case, i dont own either.... and i didnt say either is better.... just pointing out a fact that was not included in the earlier posts.

predator makes more bottom, 1704 makes more top..... buy the one that trips YOUR trigger....

 

Again, as stated earlier - you have to evaluate YOUR needs...
in my case it was the Predator from Motorhaven !!!

I had a bad experince wth Superchips a while back, so I have a bias against them... and the fact they've NOT released the industry standard "proof" of their advertised names leads me to believe that they don't meet their numbers...

but that's just me

Good people @ Motorhaven can help you !!!

 

Exactly. The Predator makes a little more raw power, but the SCMT extends your overall powerband...

 

I am interested mostly in driveablity and improved preformance
towing my travel trailer. My trailer weighs around 8000 lbs loaded.
I am not interested in et's. SC claims that their tow safe is 80 hp.
Predator is 45 hp, I believe the next setting is 80? for light towing?
There seems to be a big differance in the tow safe settings.
What is the max tow limit on the Predator in the middle setting?
EJ

 

u say u want towing power..... u are lookin at the wrong #'s. u need to take a look at the torque numbers. they are about the same between the 2 tuners.

and the limit is 8K i believe in the 65hp mode

 

Predator settings:
45 hp/115 torque heavy towing
65 hp/150 torque all around use, econo, light towing
100 hp/220 torque performance, light towing

SC 1704 settings:
80 hp/120 torque max tow rating
120 hp/180 torque econo, light towing
150 hp/225 torque performace, light towing

It appears to me that for all around driveability and towing,
the Predator is the way to go. In the safe mode, torque
is the same. Hp is only going to get me from 0 to 60 quicker.
I am looking to improve overall towability and performance
with durabilty.

 

IMHO I think both tuners are very close to the same when it comes to horsepower and torque. The big difference in numbers comes from the way the gains are calculated. You can only do so much with timing and fuel. As far as the shifting is concerned, the SCMT was FAR too harsh on my early 03 build truck (Oct flash) in economy mode. After sending the tuner back (at my expense) the shifting is great except when you make a few hard runs from a standstill. In this case the shifts will be pretty harsh for a while afterwards. The only way I have been able to get the shifting back totally to the "great" range is to reflash back to stock, then reload the economy mode and stay away from the hard runs from a standstill. As far as the power is concerned, it is awesome in both economy and performance mode. MPG while pulling my 4000lb toybox seems to be up about 1mpg above stock. Running empty also seems a little better at 18.6 - 18.9 at 70 - 75mph. I really like the idea of online updates with the Predator and the live data monitoring capability. For this reason alone I would probably buy the Predator instead of the SCMT if I had it to do over. Overall I am well pleased with the SCMT. It makes my truck a barrel of fun to drive. Best $400 i've ever spent. Get one of the two from Motorhaven and enjoy!

 

Wasn't on your case . . . just stating that I hadn't seen any other posting of SCMT dyno numbers than those of the '04 HD truck from the SC web site - meaning none from anybody on this site and given that, I don't think that we have the data to make an apples to apples comparison.

Further, also been said that the '03 trucks perform better with the SC programmer at least - and I assume the Predator as well, and I think that jdadamsjr and ChoctawBob's are both '03s.

I don't own stock in SC and therefore don't benefit from talking anyone else into buying one. I report my experiences and let others make their own choice.

 

ok lets ignore the #'s
the predator curve goes up high at lower rpms and drops off by 3500. the scmt goes up (not as high) and stays there till 4200-4400. regardless of the actual numbers, the predator makes more bottom, the scmt makes more top......
and it doesnt matter to me anyway cuz the predator wins twice for me. the scmt WILL NOT work on my 550, and if it did, it would do NO diagnostics, or live feed.

 

..... drivability is not a number ....
…….it is VERY much a personal preference

Less not turn this into an oil thread