Tried out a new cummins yesterday and was quite let down with the performance. I know it can pretty much haul a house but as far as merging onto the highway it's like I'm in my old ford ranger. Do deletes and a tune really wake these up or do they need more exstesive work to wake the sleeping giant
A new truck has to go through a bit of learning, pedal response, transmission behaviors, etc. I believe the owners' manual states around 500 miles of driving before the learn process is done.
Pulling a 15K pound fifth wheel RV, I don't have any issue making highway speed for an entry ramp merge.
Deletes do not make any difference on MPGs or performance anymore. Several tuners make emission equipped tunes but really, at 370HP, 800 ft. lbs, for the middle of the power line, just how much do you need. A few years ago, guys were spending thousands to get to today's factory performance levels and were delighted. I see you are 19, I get it.
For under 2K you can get the tunes but you will need to drop 3 or 4 thousand on transmission updates since they are the new weak point. Visit the Cummins forum, a lot of information on tunes.