I'm looking into adding a chip to the ol' truck to get some more torque and fuel economy. I found a company not too far away, Texas Performance Diesel, that installs them. I was looking at, "The Edge with Attitude".
Anybody know if it's a worthwhile addition? I'd like to get you guys input before I plonk down my money.
Well, nobody gave me their opinion so I went and did it anyway. I took the truck to Texas Performance Diesel and talked to the owner. We talked about what I wanted to use the truck for, what I expected to get out of a chip and other general stuff. He recommended a 6-position programmer from T-S Performance. He said that in his experience that is what worked best on my truck and for what I wanted to do so that's what I went with.
It actually took longer to download the program over the internet from T-S performance to the module than it did to install it. The six positions are:
stock, 50 hp, 75 hp, 100 hp, 135 hp and high idle. Counter intuitively, at least to me, the 50 hp setting is for heavy towing, the 75 hp is for light towing, the 100 hp is the economy setting and the 135 hp is for racing and not to be used under normal circumstance or unless escaping from the police.
Now, let me tell you what a difference that baby makes. On limited experience of a couple of tankfuls of mixed running around and towing it looks as if it'll give me an extra 2 mpg or so, maybe a little higher but I look on that as a bonus. Where the difference is most noticeable is towing that 38 foot fiver on the 50 hp setting. I don't know how much extra torque you get at that setting but I never thought that 50 extra horses would make that much of a difference. I know that it's a cliche but you can almost forget that the trailer is back there. It pulls it up these East Texas rolling hills and inclines and the speed never wavers from what it's set at. I feel a lot more comfortable about pulling it up those Colorado mountains this summer. We can do it.!!!!!
Oh, I'd better mention how pleased I am with how well that 5th wheel tows. I brought her back from camping at Lake of the Pines, in NE Texas about a week ago. The wind was blowing 20 to 25 mph and gusting to 40+ mph. Even though it was only about a 60 mile drive home, I wasn't looking forward to it all that much. It wasn't a problem. Even though we got hit with some really strong cross winds, that thing was remarkably stable when hitched to the dually. I'm getting more and more comfortable with this combo every time I drive it.
Starting to love this rving thing.