i have a 06' f150 stx 2wd supcab 4.6 w/ .355's. i pull a 4500lb load often and haul 5 or 6 hundred lbs. a few times a week. i am lookin to gain some takeoff power and pull a load better, and play a little on the weekend. i have airaid system and flowmaster.. like i said lookin to get rid of the luggish takeoff.

what programmer would you pick and why if you dont mind. thanks, jamie

 

I don't think your going to get the results you want with any tuner.
The problem is the 3.55's

 

I recommend you get some 4.10 or 4.56 gears.

that will make your truck a whole different beast. then get a programmer

 

I haven't had a chance to try the Towing program yet on my Edge Evolution.

I am happy with the Extreme (Performance) setting. It recommends 91 octane or better with that mode
but I didn't read that section until I'd been thru a tank of 87 Octane 10% Ethonol and then filled up again with 87 with no corn squeezins'.
Unbelievable difference in take-off and accelleration.
I'm probably going to try with 93 Octane and then back to 87 to start trying Towing mode.

It also has a Transmission Only mode for conserving transmission life.

As well, you can return it to stock settings.

It has some pretty cool settings for WOT (Wide Open Throttle) where you can increase the amount of fuel when you go wide open.
Also, shift points, tire size changes, gear ratio, rev limiter, speed limiter, and a few others.
It monitors all types of temperatures including intake air and tranny fluid temp.
A good bit to check out.
I'm sure there are some others that do more but this is probably more than I'll experiment with.

I got it for ~$375 thinking it'll pay for itself in fuel savings (over its life).
Probably not but, It pays for itself in coolness.
It comes with dash pod case so it looks like it was made for the truck too.

Hope this helps.

 

My son has a 2007 FX2 SCRew 4.6L w/ 3.55 gears. We did the true duals, S&B CAI and the SCT 3015 tuner. I runs awesome and picked up 3 mpg. It is running the canned tunes and we changed the shift levels and took the speed limiter to 135. It was worth every penny!

 

The comment about the 3.55s is so true.

Aside from Turbocharging my F150, the 4.10s were worth every penny.

As far as tuners go...

SCT XCAL2 and have it Custom Tuned.

Michael.

 

i have been thinkin about the gears wich ones would be best for pullin and still not ruin my mileage? how much are gears and installation

 

well, since your a 2wd, your lucky.... it runs about 700-800 per differential to get re-geared, depending on which brand/shop rates.

 

I'm happy with my hypertech programmer. I was able to change my shift points, rev limiter and speed limiter. Not sure if it added any power but the truck feels more responsive.

 

get the EDGE from discount power parts

 

of all the programmers out there, i only hear of anyone having problems with the edge. I have never heard of anyone having problems with any other one.

 

I would have to disagree with that. Having lurked around FTE for a couple years, I have to say that I have seen problematic posts for just about every flash tuner & chip out there. Obviously some have more "dirty laundry" laying around then others, but it is still there. Just because flash tuner or chip from company X is not on the first two pages of whichever forum section(s) you favor does not necessarily mean that there are not 10's, if not 100's, of posts regarding that product buried in the literally hundreds of pages covering tens of thousands of posts.

My suggestion would be to take your time, and do your research. Spend some time SEARCHING for information regarding tuners/chips that you are interested in. That is one of the best ways to find out what kind of a history product X has. Those old posts can tell you as much about the historical reliability of a product as an immaculate maintenance record can tell you about the overall health & maintenance on a used car/truck.

Yes, it is boring & time consuming work. But, no one here, or on any other forum, is going to be the one standing on the side of the road with you when something goes wrong because of product X. Similarly, no ne here is going to open their wallets to help you pay for that transmission or motor rebuild.

The term 'caveat emptor' has withstood the test of time for a reason, after all.



As for the original poster's questions...my suggestion would be an XCalII or XCalIII with custom tunes based on your driving conditions (loads, towing, city vs. highway, etc.) & preferences (economy vs. performance, shift points & firmness, etc.). The better shops that have folks that write these custom tunes will stand by their tunes...offering free rewrites if the tune does not work as expected or anticipated. This solution also gives you the ability to swap programs based on your driving needs/desires. A towing/hauling tune can give you a bit more low-end grunt for getting around while hauling or towing a load. A performance tune can give your ride a bit more pep for playing around on the weekends.

This also gives you the ability to shop around for custom tunes. Shop X may write the best performance tunes in the world for your motor, but their tow/haul tunes may be lackluster. That being the case, you may find that shop Y has some tow/haul tunes that are getting rave reviews. Next thing you know, you will have a couple of purpose-built tunes that really perform as YOU expected them to perform.

 

Not all, but a lot of the problems I've read about were "operator error".
FWIW, I've had my Edge for over 2 years and haven't had any problems.

 

NAssty, you should consider yourself lucky. Deluxe is correct that every tuner brand has some uglies but my experience has shown that Hypertech produced very little increase in HP and usually costs the owner mileage. The Edge has been causing premature injector failure due to the increase in fuel rail pressure. The Bully Dog is leaving a check engine light on the 4.6L. The Diablo causes tranny issues. Although it takes a little more than normal effort to program the SCT has been the best I have ever sold. 0 come backs after three years of sales. But, I install them and set the tune options bsed upon experience. With over the counter carry outs I ususaly have to redo the purchasers install.

 

I have used...

Superchips Flashpaq
Diablosport Predator
PPE (Pacific Performance Engineering) AWESOME DIESEL!!!

and SCT!!!

Get an XCAL and have it tuned!!!