Tuner

[loveracing1988]

yea, why does everyone care so much about the Ike test and TFL for that matter. TFL sucks, they screw up "facts" all the time on their videos and a lot of their tests are stupid. If you dont live in Colorado (or anywhere else thats 10k ft), why would you care?
And as stated, if you do live there, why are you driving a gas truck period?

/end rant


as for the tuner, i agree. I dont think the gains are there. Im sure that running a 93 tune is a solid gain, but the extra cost of 93 isnt worth it when getting 13-17mpg in one of these trucks. At least not on a stock truck, maybe if you have a level/lift/35s and want to clean up the shift points to help the driveability or something.

or if you have ARH Longtubes

I follow the power wagon forum (came close to buying one so I joined for info) and quite a few members there go from 33's to 35's and add a hemifever tune and get back to stock mpg's so I though I could do the same. The small problem is all of the people who I saw did that had 5.7 trucks, I haven't seen anyone really increase their 6.4 mpg's at all. I just switched back to the 87 tune because I was paying 50 cents per gallon extra for 93 for no mpg gain and I got sick of throwing money away.

 

[River19]

I'm still wondering why people are so focused on fuel economy in a 7000+lb truck with a gas engine with 400+ Crank HP rolling on 33-35s with the aerodynamics of a dumpster......

Maybe I'm just the oddball here but I didn't buy a 2500 series with 3000+lb payload capacity large gas engine etc. to get a woody over fuel economy. I bought it to tow, haul etc. and it does that in spades and it gets 10-14mpg while doing that. I never expected this thing to do any better than 16mpg highway when babied and driven like an egg is under the pedal.

I'm just wondering if people have realistic expectations with the whole mpg thing with this rig.

 

[SilverSurfer15]

lol I agree, I was just stating that i cant see a reason to pay for 93 in one of these trucks unless you are going to do more than a tune. And running an 87 tune is a waste IMO. So therefore... no tuner.

 

[loveracing1988]

I'm still wondering why people are so focused on fuel economy in a 7000+lb truck with a gas engine with 400+ Crank HP rolling on 33-35s with the aerodynamics of a dumpster......

Maybe I'm just the oddball here but I didn't buy a 2500 series with 3000+lb payload capacity large gas engine etc. to get a woody over fuel economy. I bought it to tow, haul etc. and it does that in spades and it gets 10-14mpg while doing that. I never expected this thing to do any better than 16mpg highway when babied and driven like an egg is under the pedal.

I'm just wondering if people have realistic expectations with the whole mpg thing with this rig.

I still wonder why people could care less about fuel economy on everything they drive.
If I can go from 12 miles per gallon to 13 miles per gallon that saves me $160 per year, after 2.5 years I've paid for the tuner, after that and I am saving that amount of money per year, and that is at $2 per gallon.
I darn sure didn't buy the truck for fuel economy, but just sitting still and bending over at 12 miles per gallon is something I don't care to do of I can help it.

 

[River19]

I still wonder why people could care less about fuel economy on everything they drive.
If I can go from 12 miles per gallon to 13 miles per gallon that saves me $160 per year, after 2.5 years I've paid for the tuner, after that and I am saving that amount of money per year, and that is at $2 per gallon.
I darn sure didn't buy the truck for fuel economy, but just sitting still and bending over at 12 miles per gallon is something I don't care to do of I can help it.

I understand your perspective, but to me the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

From where I sit, my rig has a leveling kit and larger tires than stock plus the added weight of the ARE cap, I knew this would probably cost some fuel economy.

I'm not about to go aftermarket and deal with any of the BS that comes along with it to save $3-5/week on the running cost of a $60K truck.

But everyone's situation is different. If you are putting many miles on and fuel prices were higher then perhaps the juice would be worth the squeeze as the delta between before and after widens.

 

[wyo2track]

Great thread all. Some really good thoughts. I am still very surprised that there is no mpg benefit with a tuner when unloaded. There would be no way I'd run 91 when its 75 cents more in my area and not get more mpg. If efficiency while towing would increase by say 1 mpg while towing with an 87 tune, and with the benefit of some improved drivability, I'd might consider. With a 91 tune, it would have to increase mpg while towing by almost 3 to break even with running the stock 87 programming. 3000 miles of my 18,500+ miles have been towing something. So 16% of my drive time. A 1 mpg towing gain would have saved me right around $90. But, at that rate I'll need to drive it for another 116,000 miles to break even on the tuner....Hmmm....guess I'll wait. If I get so emotionally engulfed on mpg & power, I’ll go spend my money on a new diesel.

 

[alejes02]

So today got quoted for the camper I believe I'm gonna buy. It's dry weight is around 6,400 ibs. Decided I don't want the fifth wheel due to price and bed space. The reason I was curious about the tuners is I'm scared I will be towing somewhere and not have the power I need to maintain speed. This thought could be crazy, but I'm inexperienced and don't know what to expect. Was hoping a tune would be the answer to the torque management issue lol. I just hate feeling like I second guess my trucks power... Plus the constant explaining why I didn't get the cummins to people who don't know the first thing about a truck in general. Not that I know more but I know the pros and cons of a diesel and a gasser lol.

Dude, I towed my son's jeep on a flatbed trailer out to Utah and back last summer with my 2500 5.7 and a Diablo tune. I was towing about 6,500 lbs, a number which includes our extra off-road gear. I used the 87 tune because it gave me 25 more torque AND I could run 87 octane (cheaper gas) while towing. I kept it at 65 because of the trailer tires. There was NO problem keeping it at 65 while going over the Rockies. Very comfortable and safe trip.

 

[alejes02]

Dude, I towed my son's jeep on a flatbed trailer out to Utah and back last summer with my 2500 5.7 and a Diablo tune. I was towing about 6,500 lbs, a number which includes our extra off-road gear. I used the 87 tune because it gave me 25 more torque AND I could run 87 octane (cheaper gas) while towing. I kept it at 65 because of the trailer tires. There was NO problem keeping it at 65 while going over the Rockies. Very comfortable and safe trip.

Forgot to say that I live in FLA and averaged 11 mpg. Put over 6,000 miles on the Ram. Saved about $140 on gas. Not a lot, but the tuner will pay for itself in the long run. Perhaps more importantly, the settings make the truck drive better IMHO. My .02

 

[Boudreaux]

I see a lot of people recommending the diesel for fuel economy, I test drove a longhorn cc 4x4 and the best I got doing 75 and 80 was 14mpg according to the trucks read out, and those are usually a little on the optimistic side

 

[smurfs_of_war]

Wow! Really? I always thought the spread was much more.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[loveracing1988]

Wow! Really? I always thought the spread was much more.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

I see a lot of people recommending the diesel for fuel economy, I test drove a longhorn cc 4x4 and the best I got doing 75 and 80 was 14mpg according to the trucks read out, and those are usually a little on the optimistic side

The one thing I have learned from my car purchases is you can never trust the evic for mikeag3 on a test drive. My fusion got 38 mpg's on a 250 mile test drive, never again could I ever get the mileage that high driving 75 mph. My 1500 ram got an average of 18 to 19 on the test drive and I could rarely get that again. My 2500 got 17 on my test drive making me think I wouldn't lose much going from a 1500 to 2500 and the highest I've gotten so far pure highway is 16. So don't always go by the evic.
As for the Cummins lack of fuel economy the things take 15000 miles to break in, so the mileage will go up quite a bit once broken in and driven good and hard for a few miles to loosen it up a bit.