modifications for better towing

rhagfo wrote:

Goose2448 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

Goose2448 wrote:
...........

Best mods for towing are things like air bags, some lights for backing up at night, maybe a reverse camera, that kinda thing.

Well yes to the lights, Air bags are most used to solve an overloaded condition, many times severely overloaded axle and tires. There are those the swear by them to solve chucking issues, which would also indicate not enough spring on the truck. I solved mine with better shocks on the truck, and adding shocks to the 5er.
The other great mod was the addition of a Pacbrake exhaust brake, if you are towing heavy it is nice to have extra Whoa power.

My buddy has ride rights on his 2013 2500 Duramax, hotshot driver that pulls new livestock trailers, he said they have helped the buck and rides much nicer unloaded. I'm not sold on them, but I like an adventure. And you only need a PAC brake or speed break if you have last century's turbo technology.:B

Well I didn't know Ii was that far behind! Seems to me the variable turbo has only been around for the last couple of years.
Haven't test driven a newer diesel to see if the speed brake will stop the truck like my EB!

You're not, and they won't. VVT have more lag and wait until they have to pay a shop to remove it and clean it.;)

WOW, I have never read so much misinformation on tunes. Not familiar with tuned gassers but a tuned diesel will tow better, faster, and get better mpg while doing so with out any damage or shortened life IF it's custom tunes and not the canned tunes you get in a programmer. So a chip with custom tunes by a qualified tuner, and there are several is the way to go on a diesel. They is so much left on the table on a diesel that when tuned it makes more power more efficiently so better for the eng and mpg.

Goose2448 wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

Goose2448 wrote:
...........

Best mods for towing are things like air bags, some lights for backing up at night, maybe a reverse camera, that kinda thing.

Well yes to the lights, Air bags are most used to solve an overloaded condition, many times severely overloaded axle and tires. There are those the swear by them to solve chucking issues, which would also indicate not enough spring on the truck. I solved mine with better shocks on the truck, and adding shocks to the 5er.
The other great mod was the addition of a Pacbrake exhaust brake, if you are towing heavy it is nice to have extra Whoa power.

My buddy has ride rights on his 2013 2500 Duramax, hotshot driver that pulls new livestock trailers, he said they have helped the buck and rides much nicer unloaded. I'm not sold on them, but I like an adventure. And you only need a PAC brake or speed break if you have last century's turbo technology.:B

Well I didn't know Ii was that far behind! Seems to me the variable turbo has only been around for the last couple of years.
Haven't test driven a newer diesel to see if the speed brake will stop the truck like my EB!

I use a 5 Star tune in my V-10 and it works wonders in all speed ranges...not just WOT. Big difference when towing. Just give Mike a call @ 5 Star...tell him what you have and what you want to do and he can set your tuner up the way you want.

I had a 4.8l Chevy that I modded with a Hypertech tuner. It gave the 4.8 a little extra kick in the pants, and allowed for mild to progressively more wild tuning. The more aggressive tuning requires high octane gas to prevent pre-ignition detonation though.

For towing, I think a more effective mod would be to swap ring and pinion gears for a numerically higher gear ratio. Doing that would give the truck more torque for towing a heavy load without the risk of detonating the motor.

mkirsch wrote:
Gas tuners only impact performance at WOT.

Do you drive around with the gas pedal mashed to the floor all the time?

If your answer is no, then a tuner/chip/programmer is a waste of $$$. The only performance it improves is of the stock price of the company that produces it.

Same goes for the "cold air intake."

Not true on my V10. The Predator advances timing and also increases spark, so it provides gains throughout the throttle range. It increases spark enough (by adjusting dwell time in the coils) that it cut back spark plug life by about 40%, so I switched to Irridium the last time around to get back on a 100k tune-up interval. No only that, I allows my free reign over shift points and rev limiters. The V10 stock is tuned VERY conservatively. FWIW I still run 87 octane.

My AFE stage-2 intake made a noticeable improvement in part-throttle power, to the point where I can pull steeper hills in OD, and solo can pull steep hills at 1200 RPM. I actually had to increase fuel delivery further at WOT using the Predator, because the AFE was flowing enough to exceed stock parameters, and it was leaning out beyond ~95% throttle.

That said, I suspect either the AFE intake or the programmer would not provide the same gains if I didn't already have the Banks PowerPack. You really have to open up both ends, and then use the tuner to take advantage of the better breathing. Doing it right isn't cheap, and with aftermarket support available for the 4.6L, that's why I think a supercharger may be the way to go. I don't think breathing and tuning will have near the affect on the 4.6L compared to the V10.

mkirsch wrote:
Gas tuners only impact performance at WOT.

Do you drive around with the gas pedal mashed to the floor all the time?

If your answer is no, then a tuner/chip/programmer is a waste of $$$. The only performance it improves is of the stock price of the company that produces it.

Same goes for the "cold air intake."

I think you need to recheck your info. not all tuners work as you say!

Gas tuners only impact performance at WOT.

Do you drive around with the gas pedal mashed to the floor all the time?

If your answer is no, then a tuner/chip/programmer is a waste of $$$. The only performance it improves is of the stock price of the company that produces it.

Same goes for the "cold air intake."

2500 Grunt wrote:

pronstar wrote:
Many diesel tuners with multiple programs, have "tow" settings are close to stock.

And their higher HP settings are usually not recommended for towing.

There is also one out there that claims that it can not be traced or detected by a dealer if it is returned back to stock before returning it to the dealer for service.

If it modifies or replaces the factory ECM even if it returns the factory tune when removed it CAN be easily detected on later model GM's and they can/will do a search to verify that only factory ECM tunes were installed before authorizing a warranty repair.

But as you mention, many of the tuners either don't recomend or flatly state do NOT use the tunes when towing, or only recomend the lowest tune for towing.

rhagfo wrote:

Goose2448 wrote:
...........

Best mods for towing are things like air bags, some lights for backing up at night, maybe a reverse camera, that kinda thing.

Well yes to the lights, Air bags are most used to solve an overloaded condition, many times severely overloaded axle and tires. There are those the swear by them to solve chucking issues, which would also indicate not enough spring on the truck. I solved mine with better shocks on the truck, and adding shocks to the 5er.
The other great mod was the addition of a Pacbrake exhaust brake, if you are towing heavy it is nice to have extra Whoa power.

My buddy has ride rights on his 2013 2500 Duramax, hotshot driver that pulls new livestock trailers, he said they have helped the buck and rides much nicer unloaded. I'm not sold on them, but I like an adventure. And you only need a PAC brake or speed break if you have last century's turbo technology.:B