I purchased a GT Bullydog Diesel tuner for my 2008 - 2500 Ram with 6.7 Cummins primarily to get better mileage around town and better mileage and performance while towing my travel trailer. I also added an AFe cold air intake. I believe I am getting better mileage with these improvements but have not taken the Ram to the mountains to see how it performers there with the add ons. My question is, should I have the truck in "Tow" mode when trailer towing when using the Bullydog tuner in the "Tow" power setting or just leave it up to the BD tuner to do everything. Is the BD tuner just controlling power and does it play nice with the Rams tow mode or do they work against each other?

I believe you should have both in tow mode. The tuner will give you a little more power but i dont think it will program your shift points on your tranny. I have the GT for my 03 cummins but its a manual trans.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

Not familiar with your Bullydog. Avoid settings that increase power with injector pressure. Look for timing and duration. Tow mode may also lower Egt's. Programmers all work different. Since your adding power you have added gauges, right?

Bullydog is the worst tuner in the world for your transmission. I would use your tow/haul mode if you are dead set on using that tuner. You may not want to hear it, but if you really want a tune, sell that POS and get a Smarty with custom tunes that are written specifically for your truck. And as said above, get gauges!

Bullydog GT Diesel Tuner | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

crcr
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
I own a 2004.5 Ram 5.9L Cummins. When I bought it a few months ago, it came with a Bully Dog GT Gauge Tuner on it. I can tell you that forums for Ram Cummins diesel trucks, that tuner has a terrible reputation and is not recommended at all so I'm getting rid of mine

I have spent quite a bit of time on the phone twice with the Bully Dog tech folks, who are assisting me to try to VIN unlock this tuner, as I want to remove it. To the company's credit, the Bully Dog tech people have been very helpful, but the bad news is that so far, they haven't been able to VIN unlock the tuner from my truck. If I can't VIN unlock it, I will have to take my truck to the Ram stealership and have them flash the ECM back to stock. Ugh!! Still hoping to get it VIN unlocked, but not successful as yet.

BTW, OP mentions the Bully Dog tuner gives gauge type digital read outs. That is correct, but mine does not produce one very important bit of data that I want when towing: TFT (transmission fluid temperature). The OBD2 port does supply that data, however, as I put in an Edge CTS Insight Monitor, which does give me TFT. After I somehow get this Bully Dog cleared off my ECM, I plan to buy a Smarty Jr, which is the universally recommended tuner on the Ram Cummins diesel forums for the 5.9L motor. And the EFI Live is the tuner most often recommended for the 6.7L.
N-Trouble
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
Kip81 wrote:
The canned tunes will work just fine. Leave it in tow mode and you won't have any problems. Yes the custom tunes are better but bully dog and other canned tunes are just fine for the average guy.

Who wants to be "average"???

Canned tuners do an awful job of regulating fuel especially on the bottom end. When you see a guy rolling coal at every stop light you know he's got a******canned tuner.
Kip81
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
The canned tunes will work just fine. Leave it in tow mode and you won't have any problems. Yes the custom tunes are better but bully dog and other canned tunes are just fine for the average guy.
N-Trouble
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
BigSkyFamily wrote:
Bullydog makes brutal power...but it will destroy your truck.
Dump that junk and get efi-live with an edge cts insight monitor.
Canned tuners suck.
Check out tunes from Kory Willis, Idaho Rob, and Cumminstuner.com
If you don't have EFI-Live, you'll be chasing someone that does.

^^^This^^^ Canned tuners are second rate...
BigSkyFamily
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
Bullydog makes brutal power...but it will destroy your truck.
Dump that junk and get efi-live with an edge cts insight monitor.
Canned tuners suck.
Check out tunes from Kory Willis, Idaho Rob, and Cumminstuner.com
If you don't have EFI-Live, you'll be chasing someone that does.
Cummins12V98
Explorer III
Aug 08, 2014
crcr wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
You are playing with fire. I would leave your truck stock and run TH and EB ALL the time. Your turbo and transmission will be happy. You should have plenty of power towing the RV that you have.

What are TH & EB?

Tow Haul Exhaust brake
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
crcr wrote:
Cummins12V98 wrote:
You are playing with fire. I would leave your truck stock and run TH and EB ALL the time. Your turbo and transmission will be happy. You should have plenty of power towing the RV that you have.

What are TH & EB?

(T)ow (H)aul & (E)xhaust (B)rake.
wcjeep
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
I use my exhaust brake all the time. Still have 50% + brake pad life left from the factory at 108k miles. Using a mild tune with my Smarty programmer.
Greentreena
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
from my experience, mileage increases once the EGR and DPF are deleted. I'd be surprised if you get much mileage gain with just a tuner. I went from about 12-13 to 18-20 mpg empty and 10-12 to 12-14 towing (depending on how I drive).

I use my exhaust brake all the time. At 109 000 km, I still have 50% front pads left.

Tow haul changes how the exhust brake comes on and changes the shift points. I use it in the mountains towing but not daily driving.

I leave my tuner on the stock setting when towing and most of the time daily driving. I will crank it up once and a while to play but once the truck is deleted there is TONS of power just at the stock setting.
crcr
Explorer
Aug 08, 2014
Cummins12V98 wrote:
You are playing with fire. I would leave your truck stock and run TH and EB ALL the time. Your turbo and transmission will be happy. You should have plenty of power towing the RV that you have.

What are TH & EB?