Perfornance Chip

[jkust]

Re: Perfornance Chip

One thing to remember is that the modern half ton is equivilant to a 70's/80s 1 ton in terms of frame strength and even the rear ends that are in most of these trucks. Personally I see no reason to mess with a tuner, but my 1/2 ton already has 390hp/407tq and the trans has a tow mode.

Dodge?

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Perfornance Chip

F-150 w/5.4L was 300HP. Ford didn't come out with a 6.2L to match the GM/Dodge variants until 2010, which has 400+HP. Even so, most GM 1/2 tons have the 5.3L, so the HP is pretty much identical. It is kind of funny that some complain about HP, especially when most 80's/90's trucks were powered by 200HP V8's lol. Trucks today have gained a significant amount of curb weight though.

Another side note I'll mention is gearing. In an effort to attain better fuel mileage, many manufacturers have gone to shorter gearing (like 3.55 or 3.31) in order to get lower rpm's on highway runs. This makes the trucks seem like dogs when towing as much as anything else. For around the same price as a programmer, a 2WD truck can swap to a higher gear ratio and turn the truck into a whole new animal. I have 3.55LS in my '08 F-150 Crew Cab, and it is a little sluggish when towing a 4K+ lbs boat & trailer. If I were doing it more than 7-8 times a year, I'd go to 4.10's. 3.73 is the most common gear ratio for the 97-2008 F-150's. Just something else to look into. On 4x4's, it becomes more expensive when you have to swap both differential gears @ $400 per pumpkin.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Perfornance Chip

Dodge?

yup - 2wd 09 hemi crewcab. Running 3.21 highway gears - not an issue since a 6K car trailer is about as heavy as I pull these days

 

[jkust]

Re: Perfornance Chip

F-150 w/5.4L was 300HP. Ford didn't come out with a 6.2L to match the GM/Dodge variants until 2010, which has 400+HP. Even so, most GM 1/2 tons have the 5.3L, so the HP is pretty much identical. It is kind of funny that some complain about HP, especially when most 80's/90's trucks were powered by 200HP V8's lol. Trucks today have gained a significant amount of curb weight though.

I recall the first time way back when I drove a Jimmy with the 4.3 and it was unbelievably quick. Probably a dog performance wise nowdays but I don't recall the 0-60 numbers. My small/midsized suv's weigh 5000lbs a piece and so it takes a good 330 torques to get it moving.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Perfornance Chip

i bought a new style f150 stx when they first came out and i was real upset about the throttle response. once floored it seemed to take a second to even act like i had done something before reacting then another second to drop a gear and build up some rpm. i went back to ford and they reloaded the program and it was slightly better but still lacked any response to driver input so i returned it to ford where they plugged in a tuner and changed throttle settings and a few other things and finnaly i had a truck that i could enjoy driving. the shop told me that the throttle was programmed that way so small movements on the pedal didnt have any real reaction as that saved fuel and surging. on paper that might sound like a good idea but when towing and trying to pass a 45mph snow bird it was a horrible felling having to waiting for the truck to decied that i wanted it to accelerate.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I have an '05 F150 and have been running it with Superchips tunes for most of the time I've owned it. The towing tune really does improve the driving experience - shifting seems smoother and the top end is less doggy. I too belong to F150 forums and I read extensively before trying out a tuner. It really does make a noticeable difference and I have yet to see any ill effects. Actually, the one downside is that the Towing tune requires the use of 91 octane or higher fuel, so there is some cost. I find the tradeoff more than worth it.

I would not be comfortable monkeying around with any individual parameters (you can do that, and really mess up your engine), but the prepackaged tunes seem to be pretty safe. Lots of drivers use them...

Jim

 

[jclem]

Re: Perfornance Chip

Personally I would leave the aftermarket stuff alone. If it was good for your vehicle then it would be factory fitted.
I see this thread is sprouting some more "tows like nothing is back there" posts. :facepalm:

Point taken, let me clarify. When I say my truck has no problem by no means am I trying to say I can't feel it back there, it is over 2 tons. To say you can't feel your boat when pulling is to deny reality. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I'm able to pull this with my truck and stay comfortably within the limits of what it will tow, without requiring after market modifications.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Perfornance Chip

Point taken, let me clarify. When I say my truck has no problem by no means am I trying to say I can't feel it back there, it is over 2 tons. To say you can't feel your boat when pulling is to deny reality. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say I'm able to pull this with my truck and stay comfortably within the limits of what it will tow, without requiring after market modifications.

It was not your post that I was referencing actually. Your's made perfect sense to me as does this one.
It's the "you can't feel it back there" posts that cause me constant amusement.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Perfornance Chip

It was not your post that I was referencing actually. Your's made perfect sense to me as does this one.
It's the "you can't feel it back there" posts that cause me constant amusement.

I can honestly say that when I'm towing the jet ski, lol. If the handle bars were about 2" lower, I wouldn't be able to tell if it were still on the hitch, either!

 

[jkust]

Re: Perfornance Chip

yup - 2wd 09 hemi crewcab. Running 3.21 highway gears - not an issue since a 6K car trailer is about as heavy as I pull these days

Out of curiosity, what does that truck weigh?

 

[jkust]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I can honestly say that when I'm towing the jet ski, lol. If the handle bars were about 2" lower, I wouldn't be able to tell if it were still on the hitch, either!

I can't say the same. Boat/trailer is 4000 and change and the truck is 5000 plus passengers, gear and gas. It does a good job but that's a lot of weight between it all for only 330 torques. On the highway, the trailer is nice and smooth and you could forget I suppose you have it but a sprint to 65mph from a dead stop takes a few extra seconds at least.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Perfornance Chip

Out of curiosity, what does that truck weigh?

Somewhere around 5600 lbs, its not a light truck. Gets decent milage though 20 hwy and 15-16 hwy towing the boat at 65 (3500lbs or so). If I take it up to 75 when towing then the milage starts going to hell.

 

[jbetzelb]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I have run two diesels tuned and all I can say is wow what a difference. I have run a F150 tuned and all I could say was give me my $500 back please. Not really worth maybe 20 horse power and 20 to 40 more in torque. Most of the gasser tuners want higher octane gas. Adds to the expense for minimal gain and likely explains some of the minimal gain.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I can honestly say that when I'm towing the jet ski, lol. If the handle bars were about 2" lower, I wouldn't be able to tell if it were still on the hitch, either!

I can believe that. Same with the 12ft "tinnie" behind anything more than a Ford Focus. It's the bigger heavier boats that are referred to in that way that amuse me.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I have run two diesels tuned and all I can say is wow what a difference. I have run a F150 tuned and all I could say was give me my $500 back please. Not really worth maybe 20 horse power and 20 to 40 more in torque. Most of the gasser tuners want higher octane gas. Adds to the expense for minimal gain and likely explains some of the minimal gain.

most likely turbo diesel... See the second post in the thread. Doesn't matter how good a tuner is, with a non turbo engine there is very limited room to get any more power. The manufacturer has already gone as close to the edge as you want. Now once you throw a turbo on it, either diesel or gasoline, and you have all kinds of fun new variables to play with.

 

[JEBar]

Re: Perfornance Chip

based on our experience, I agree with those who have found performance computer modules to work well with diesel but not gas motors .... we've had an Edge Juice Box on a Chevy 3500 Duramax since shortly after it was purchased new back in early '02 .... it has been set on 90 hp in regular drive and 60 hp in tow/haul since day one .... the truck has a little over 240,000 miles on it, no related engine/transmission issues .... with and without the tuner, the truck is a much different animal .... based on its performance we bought a tuner for the 5.3 in our Chevy 1500 .... according to the install info, for it to make a maximum change in our Chevy, we had to change to a special thermostat and burn high test gas .... while it did make a difference, I never felt it was worth the effort and money .... the difference it made did improve racing type performance but didn't do the same for towing type performance

Jim

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Perfornance Chip

if you want towing performance buy a diesel. millions of class 8 trucks cant be wrong.

 

[h2odick]

Re: Perfornance Chip

if you want towing performance buy a diesel. millions of class 8 trucks cant be wrong.

Thats what i said!

 

[jkust]

Re: Perfornance Chip

Somewhere around 5600 lbs, its not a light truck. Gets decent milage though 20 hwy and 15-16 hwy towing the boat at 65 (3500lbs or so). If I take it up to 75 when towing then the milage starts going to hell.

Interesting your boat weighs about 700lbs less but my truck weight 650lbs less but you have a hundred more hp and 70lbs more tq. I get between 20-21 on the highway and my towing mpgs at 65-70mph vary widely from 13.5 all the way up to 18 (improbable I realize). Sometimes I could swear the truck is in 4 cylinder mode when towing but that's not supposed to be possible.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: Perfornance Chip

I can't say the same. Boat/trailer is 4000 and change and the truck is 5000 plus passengers, gear and gas. It does a good job but that's a lot of weight between it all for only 330 torques. On the highway, the trailer is nice and smooth and you could forget I suppose you have it but a sprint to 65mph from a dead stop takes a few extra seconds at least.

I agree. When I tow the boat (20' runabout) the weight is close to yours, and there's no doubting it's back there, lol. Have also towed a 1/2 truck on an all-steel car hauler across a few states in the wind (over 6K lbs) and that was definitely "back there".