Tuned Towing Comparison on Duramax, Cummins, Power Stroke

LIKE2BUILD wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
With the 400HP to the wheels STOCK on all three and around 1.000 TQ why in the HE!! would you screw with your warranty???

I'm in the same boat, although not so much regarding warranty, but just simply the power numbers. Is there seriously a legitimate need for more power with those factory numbers? I know the little kid in us comes out and bigger, faster, more powerful lights up our eyes. But really, isn't that enough power for all the average Joe's using a pickup?

My 2014 Cummins makes 370HP & 800ft-lbs and that is more than enough power to comfortably pull up to (and maybe a little over ;) ) my tow ratings. At 400HP/1,000 ft-lbs with the right chassis these new trucks can tow ridiculous amounts of weight. Also, the horsepower is equivalent and the torque is about 70% of what Cummins advertises in the ISX400 engines used in Class 8 trucks. Seriously, we basically have Tractor-Trailer level power available in a consumer truck. I know durability and other elements are different but from a straight power perspective the modern trucks can just about stand toe to toe with a semi!!!!

Now, if the OEM's (0r aftermarket) could develop technology that will keep my same power but boost my fuel economy by 25% or more then we'd really be talking about something. We have crazy amounts of power and the new trucks run extremely clean so let's start putting a greater focus on efficiency.

As he states in the four part series in that link. It is not just about peak power, but when the power is produced as well. Below is a dyno chart of my truck when it had the stock turbo. The top chart horsepower and bottom chart torque. The line at the bottom of each chart is stock and each line up is the various power levels with the first line up being my heavy tow tune and the upper most line is the full effort tune that is only meant to driven unloaded. I can select which one I want to be in with a turn knob selector switch as I am driving down the road.

As you can see, even my heavy tow tune doesn't make that much more peak hp/tq than stock, it does make a lot more at lower rpms. This makes a huge difference when towing and how often I have to downshift. It also makes a difference in fuel economy(about 2-3 mpg from stock) since I am able to hold higher gears for longer since I now have the power to do so at lower rpms. What required 5th or 4th gear before may only require 6th or 5th. I know in stock form, there were many hills that cause me to downshift to 4th as to where not once do I ever shift out of 5th tuned.

Other aspects of a custom tune is changing the shift pattern of the truck. The stock shift tuning is horrible upshifting way to soon putting you in 6th gear at just 45 mph. I was able to tell my tuner to make the truck shift at the exact points (rpm/mph) that I wanted it to in both standard and tow/haul mode. He adjusted the torque converter lockup strategy to lockup sooner and unlock at better times instead of having that jerk when you let of the throttle after it just locked.

He also adjusted my exhaust brake to be stronger and he made it to where it stayed in the last position I had it in when I turned of my truck instead of having to keep turning it on every time I got in my truck. There are various other things the was able to customized to my liking like the throttle pedal to get ride of all of the dead pedal feeling, and some extra gauge cluster modifications.

I basically customized the truck to how I use it and not the vanilla one size fits all tuned meant to keep the truck safe when towing 30k lbs which I don't do. I can now adjust my power levels to how I use my truck at the moment.