Well I just had my PSD bubble popped this weekend. My son drove my 06 FX4 Supercrew 6.0L pulling 20' enclosed trailer on an ATV trip from St. Pete to Ocala, FL. My Ford is completely stock with 50k miles on it. I have new Nitto Grapler tires and a bed cover. Estimated trailer weight about 5500#.

I was driving my friend's 07 Dodge Mega Cab (man that thing is big). He has the last of the 5.9L Cummins before they switched to the new 6.7 or whatever. The Dodge has a 3" lift and 35" Toyo tires which are quite a bit rougher than my Nitto's. The Dodge was running a Superchips tuner on performance mode. I was pulling a 16' enclosed trailer with 3 quads for estimated total of about 4300 pounds. The Dodge only has 11k miles so not broke in yet.

Besides being able to smoke the Toyo's the Dodge pulled away from my Ford significantly. Another thing I noticed was that it never downshifted on any hills even in O/D. It just pulled.

I have never driven a diesel with a tuner but the Dodge consistently got 3.5 to 4mpg better mileage than my ford. We would reset the lie-o-meters at the same time and run for at least 10 miles or more and then compare. Running 60mph I got 18.4 mpg in the Dodge and my son got 13.5 mpg in my Ford.

I guess the only way to tell if it was the tuner is to try one on my Ford. 2-3mpg would soon pay for a $300 investment.

My complaint is why doesn't Ford or International tune these engines to get more mpg? The Dodge did not smoke more than my Ford other than when I really nailed it and some of that smoke was from the tires!

My Ford still rides quieter and the PSD seems smoother than the Cummins, however, I was pretty impressed with the competition. I was a little concerned with the lack of a boost gage and an EGT. I suspect the Cummins will not last as long as the PSD if the turbo is getting really hot.

Anyone in Tampa Bay area have a tuner I can borrow for a week?

 

Well the first thing i'm gonna say is unless you hand calculated the fuel mileage the dodges is way off with the tuner on it. The tuner fools those lie o meters big time. IF you had a tuner on your 6.0 you wouldn't be saying that. If you turned the dodge back stock, i don't think you would think it was that much faster then your ford.

 

Did the Dodge adjust the odometer/computer for the bigger wheel size???

 

First, the Cummins has always gotten better mileage, but you would need to hand calculate to really see the difference. Second, a chipped truck is supposed to do better than a non chipped truck, otherwise they wouldn't sell any chips.

My neighbor used to haul horses with a 30' gooseneck between Texas & California with his Dodge dually (chipped). He talked about the powerstrokes that would outrun him on the flat lands, but he could beat them in the mountains, but a lot of that had to do with his US Gear splitter.

Stock vs. stock, or chipped vs. chipped I would still expect the 5.9 to get better mileage. Just hope the lift pump doesn't go out on the 5.9.

 

i was thinking the same thing as the two guys above.
I heard 4 Wheel Parts has the Bully Dog 3-5 day 70hp trial they can load in your truck

 

Any stock diesel vs any chipped diesel is not any kind of comparisson.
All mileage comparissons must be hand calculated - my overhead is always wrong, stock or programmed.
Be sure to compensate for tire size differences on the odometer!
The megacab is definitely huge!

 

I agree a tuner makes a huge difference. I have one in my 7.3L, I can pulled a tractor on a car trailer(about 6500lbs total) home from Penn about 1100 miles or so. Ran on cruise the whole way home and did not shift down once. I know this would not have been the case if I did not have the tuner.

 

Yep, I know this is apples and oranges but...

The Dodge was adjusted for the larger tires but not exact. Both trucks showed exactly 65mph on the speedo but according to the GPS we were running 62.2 so both our lie o meters should be off the same direction. I put on 285/65s which are about 1/2" smaller than the stock Conti's.

I did not have the Nitto's pumped all the way. I think I was running 60 front/55 rear. He had the Dodge Toyo's 65 all around which will make a little difference.

Thanks AdamBomb I will see about the Bully Dog trial.

I swore i would not tune my truck but with fuel higher than premium gas I think I might do it just for the 2-3mpg I should be able to get.

Anyone have real numbers that a tuner will give that much? If so are you running on economy setting or performance?

Thanks

 

stay away from the bully dog! there is a couple of guys who have tried the trial of bullydogs and it has ruined te programming in these trucks! go with sct, call matt at spartan and hell set you up with something better than the bully dog.. you will definetly be sorry if you try it! do a little searching on these forums bfore you try anything.

 

Theres no doubt the Hummins is a good motor, its just the parts all around it that are suspect. My buddy has an '02, loves the motor/manual trans but the front end just cost him @ $1500 and something else I just can't remember. He has always been a Ford guy but wanted a Cummins. Maybe after the rest of the truck falls apart he'll swap the motor into a Ford!

 

Funny you mention it not down shifting. When I was poking aorund the dodge/cummins forums a few days ago, people were complaining that the auto transmission kept lugging the engine up hills and not down shifting, often bringing the RPMs <1800 RPM. But I suspect it may not be as big of a problem with a tuner, and if your going fast enough.

The reason why international doesn't tune PSDs is because they are already tuned up to ford's specs, within limits. You saw how many heads were lifted when a tuner was thrown on. International's version of the PSD is actually detuned compared to the engine that they send to ford!

@F350-6, he doesn't have to worry about a lift pump with the common rail system :-P

 

"My complaint is why doesn't Ford or International tune these engines to get more mpg?"

Or Dodge and Chevy for that matter!

Answer is the EPA. They have to put all that environmental crap on the engines to please Uncle Sam. More and more restrictions every year adds up to less power (hence the engines have to get bigger to put out the same power). More restrictions = lower mpgs.

BTW, I am averaging 14.4 mpgs with my hybrid race tune from Spartan.

 

I second denmans post DON'T touch that trial bully dog.As for a chipped truck vs a stock truck.Why do you think so many orf us have a tuner?

 

/me wonders how long the dodge tranny will last?

 

why would this have "burst your bubble"? Did you expect a stock 6.0 to out do a chipped 5.9?? I don't understand