1200+ hp / 2100+ lbs-ft

4x4ord wrote:
My trucks are used for pulling. The hp level is only a small part of the equation that determine what a truck can pull. My Peterbilt is about 500 hp and does well with a gcw of 105,000 lbs. My 460 hp Ford handles a gcw of 39,000 lbs on occasion but if it was tuned I'd probably have to be careful with that combination. My 550 HP Kenworth hauls a gvw of over 90,000 lbs in soft ground without any problem at all and my 400 hp tuned Duramax struggles with a gcw of anything over about 18,000 lbs. I don't think giving more power to any of these trucks would make them more capable.

I would swag some of the whey you state some do better than others is due to gearing, ie transmission mostly, and to a degree, the RA based on tire diam as to actual torque multiplication in the slower speeds that get the Kenworth thru the soft ground. My Navistar with half the HP as the dmax I had, gets many places the dmax could not. Mostly due to the much lower ratio's I have to work with in the trans/axle.......

Marty

Threebigfords wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

Threebigfords wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

I've tuned every diesel truck/suv I've owned since 1999. After driving those vehicles hard every day for a combined 600,000 miles, I can say that I have never had an engine related failure of any kind.

How many vehicles have you owned? What was there state of tune? What work if any did they do?

1997 F250 SC/LB 4x4 7.3L tuner, intake, exhaust. Tuned at 50k, sold at 100k

1999.5 F350 CC/LB DRW 4x4 6sp 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, tuned at 28k, sold at 175k

2001 F350 CC/LB SRW 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, BTS trans. Tuned at 40k, sold at 130k

2003 Excursion Eddie Bauer 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, BTS trans. Tuned at 60k sold at 180k

2003 F350 CC/LB SRW 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, turbo upgrade, BTS trans. Tuned at 20k, sold at 300k

2015 F450 CC/LB DRW 4x4 6.7L Tuner, intake, exhaust. Tuned at 36k ...still driving it.


All of the trucks were used for my business as a General Contractor. All were driven hard and were almost always over GVWR every day, except for the latest F450 which scales at 12,200 with my tools in it. Most were used in the Race or Extreme settings the majority of the time. All had full gauges. All were required to tow both flatbed equipment trailers and 14k dump trailers, as well as haul over 2500lbs worth of tools in the bed 90% of the time.

The Excursion was my wife's ride and saw the least abuse from work, but the most abuse from towing our Travel trailer.

As I expected.,what sort of tune did you achieve percentage increase?

I'm not quite sure I'm following you...Are you asking specifically who's tuning I was using? ...or what settings I was using?... the exact trailer I was towing??

What difference does that make in this discussion about the reliability of tuned diesels?

Obviously I had different tuning in each vehicle from a simple 75hp Western Diesel chip starting out in the 97' to the DP Tuner 16 position shift on the fly tuner in the 2003 F350 that had custom settings from high idle to 120hp extreme.

Combined with a larger turbo and supporting mods, that truck put down 412rwhp 989tq and was a towing beast. That's quite a jump from the 275hp at the crank.

While I don't own a 5th wheel, I do own equipment trailers that weigh as much or more than many 5th wheels. Specifically a 16ft dump trailer that grosses at 14k and a 24ft tilt deck equipment trailer with a mini excavator that grosses at 20k lbs.

My current 2015 F450 is running a beta version of some tuning that would be considered a "600hp" tune...so ideally when done with the tweaking it will put down somewhere close to that at the wheels, so a 160hp increase over the 440hp stock. I'm not at liberty to say much more about this tuning at this time but will be happy to share more when the programming is publicly available.

Is that specific enough for you?

That is pretty specific. A Company has developed a 6 Wheeler with a Toyota Smallish Diesel. They have 500RHP. I am interested in what they have done. Seeing it is for towing Off Road it will be interested to see the build up

My trucks are used for pulling. The hp level is only a small part of the equation that determine what a truck can pull. My Peterbilt is about 500 hp and does well with a gcw of 105,000 lbs. My 460 hp Ford handles a gcw of 39,000 lbs on occasion but if it was tuned I'd probably have to be careful with that combination. My 550 HP Kenworth hauls a gvw of over 90,000 lbs in soft ground without any problem at all and my 400 hp tuned Duramax struggles with a gcw of anything over about 18,000 lbs. I don't think giving more power to any of these trucks would make them more capable.

RobertRyan wrote:

Threebigfords wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

I've tuned every diesel truck/suv I've owned since 1999. After driving those vehicles hard every day for a combined 600,000 miles, I can say that I have never had an engine related failure of any kind.

How many vehicles have you owned? What was there state of tune? What work if any did they do?

1997 F250 SC/LB 4x4 7.3L tuner, intake, exhaust. Tuned at 50k, sold at 100k

1999.5 F350 CC/LB DRW 4x4 6sp 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, tuned at 28k, sold at 175k

2001 F350 CC/LB SRW 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, BTS trans. Tuned at 40k, sold at 130k

2003 Excursion Eddie Bauer 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, BTS trans. Tuned at 60k sold at 180k

2003 F350 CC/LB SRW 4x4 7.3L Tuner, intake, exhaust, turbo upgrade, BTS trans. Tuned at 20k, sold at 300k

2015 F450 CC/LB DRW 4x4 6.7L Tuner, intake, exhaust. Tuned at 36k ...still driving it.


All of the trucks were used for my business as a General Contractor. All were driven hard and were almost always over GVWR every day, except for the latest F450 which scales at 12,200 with my tools in it. Most were used in the Race or Extreme settings the majority of the time. All had full gauges. All were required to tow both flatbed equipment trailers and 14k dump trailers, as well as haul over 2500lbs worth of tools in the bed 90% of the time.

The Excursion was my wife's ride and saw the least abuse from work, but the most abuse from towing our Travel trailer.

As I expected.,what sort of tune did you achieve percentage increase?

I'm not quite sure I'm following you...Are you asking specifically who's tuning I was using? ...or what settings I was using?... the exact trailer I was towing??

What difference does that make in this discussion about the reliability of tuned diesels?

Obviously I had different tuning in each vehicle from a simple 75hp Western Diesel chip starting out in the 97' to the DP Tuner 16 position shift on the fly tuner in the 2003 F350 that had custom settings from high idle to 120hp extreme.

Combined with a larger turbo and supporting mods, that truck put down 412rwhp 989tq and was a towing beast. That's quite a jump from the 275hp at the crank.

While I don't own a 5th wheel, I do own equipment trailers that weigh as much or more than many 5th wheels. Specifically a 16ft dump trailer that grosses at 14k and a 24ft tilt deck equipment trailer with a mini excavator that grosses at 20k lbs.

My current 2015 F450 is running a beta version of some tuning that would be considered a "600hp" tune...so ideally when done with the tweaking it will put down somewhere close to that at the wheels, so a 160hp increase over the 440hp stock. I'm not at liberty to say much more about this tuning at this time but will be happy to share more when the programming is publicly available.

Is that specific enough for you?

srt20 wrote:
05 CTD Auto 4x4 Smarty tuner. Usually SW3 which is 90hp, or sw5 which is 120hp over stock.
Pulled 11k loaded race car trailer for 5 years. Always in a hurry.
Now pull 10k travel trailer.

Truck had around 36k miles when tuner was installed. Truck now has 172k miles. 48RE auto trans is as it came from the factory. Fluid and filter replaced.
The engine has had the water pump replaced 1 time, and #6 injector replaced due to shorted out solenoid.
Checked valves once around 150k. They were perfect.
Exhaust has been changed a couple times due to rust.
No EGT gauge.

I dont drive like Im in high school, but it see's WOT regularly.



Now that I typed that, Im sure the trans will die and I'll melt a piston or 2.

Seems like a mild tune. Not that much extra stress. Will improve power and possibly Fuel efficiency. Many vehicles here undergo mild tunes.

srt20 wrote:
Now that I typed that, Im sure the trans will die and I'll melt a piston or 2.

It always seems to happen that way doesn't it! Here's to hopping that it doesn't this time.

05 CTD Auto 4x4 Smarty tuner. Usually SW3 which is 90hp, or sw5 which is 120hp over stock.
Pulled 11k loaded race car trailer for 5 years. Always in a hurry.
Now pull 10k travel trailer.

Truck had around 36k miles when tuner was installed. Truck now has 172k miles. 48RE auto trans is as it came from the factory. Fluid and filter replaced.
The engine has had the water pump replaced 1 time, and #6 injector replaced due to shorted out solenoid.
Checked valves once around 150k. They were perfect.
Exhaust has been changed a couple times due to rust.
No EGT gauge.

I dont drive like Im in high school, but it see's WOT regularly.



Now that I typed that, Im sure the trans will die and I'll melt a piston or 2.

RobertRyan wrote:

Me Again wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
And another tow vehicle thread goes down the tubes......

Does not have too if we get some practical examples. How much tune ?what towed? Reliability? Simple questions should be simple answers( without the graphics)

The simplistic answer is the same whether you are hanging off the bottom of the globe or standing on top. When you make power you have to be able to cool it with more air thru the engine, and that is why I never tapped my Edge Comp into my VP-44. With the stock HY35 turbo I had the drive the pyro, not so much with the PDR35-W12, which was a modified HX35-W12. 325/650-700 towed great. Chris

Thanks for that. More replies like yours would be appreciated . Yes any modified engine needs cooling and transmission modsi

I told you that above....

ShinerBock wrote:

People typically turn these trucks down to the lower power levels when they tow and the upper power levels when they don't. What power level you can tow at will depend on how much you are towing, if you can keep EGT's in check, and how much your transmission can handle if it is built or stock.

When he said he had to drive by the pyro, he meant EGT's(exhaust gas temps) which you have to keep in check if you do not have enough cool air flowing through the engine.

RobertRyan wrote:

Well an IT Guy that works in an Automotive company, with Access to computer graphics ( with appropriate blanked out name of the company)is not the person I asked to answer, but someone with actual experience.?

Assumption 1: I am not an IT guy.

Assumption 2: Although I do work for an heavy & medium duty dealership group, I do not have access to wheel end dyno's on light duty trucks at work.

Assumption 3: The blanked out portion is not the company's name. It is my full name since it was my base stock tuning file on my personal truck and I prefer that not shown.

Assumption 4: Yes, I have performed many performance modifications to many diesel engines which includes but not limited to fuel mapping so I do have actual experience on the subject.

Me Again wrote:

RobertRyan wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
And another tow vehicle thread goes down the tubes......

Does not have too if we get some practical examples. How much tune ?what towed? Reliability? Simple questions should be simple answers( without the graphics)

The simplistic answer is the same whether you are hanging off the bottom of the globe or standing on top. When you make power you have to be able to cool it with more air thru the engine, and that is why I never tapped my Edge Comp into my VP-44. With the stock HY35 turbo I had the drive the pyro, not so much with the PDR35-W12, which was a modified HX35-W12. 325/650-700 towed great. Chris

Thanks for that. More replies like yours would be appreciated . Yes any modified engine needs cooling and transmission modsi