Firewood Hauler Power Boost

[Moss Man]

I know this subject has been beaten to death, but I am wondering if a chip or module would help my 2005 3500 Siverado with the 6.0. I'm looking for some extra torque for hauling the dump trailer full of green hardwood.

Some people say they are snake oil. The diesel trucks seem to benefit from them.

It's about dollar per horsepower or torque.

If someone here can testify to the benefits or non benefits, I'd be glad to hear it.

 

[TMFARM 2009]

yes if done right... get someone to reprogram the computer as needed to get the right shift points etc..... let the wrong person do it it will cost you huge...
good luck..
could just sell the chuvy and get a real truck.. ford power...

 

[Moss Man]

yes if done right... get someone to reprogram the computer as needed to get the right shift points etc..... let the wrong person do it it will cost you huge...
good luck..
could just sell the chuvy and get a real truck.. ford power...

I've owned several major makes of work trucks, they all have their high and low points.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

I bought a hypertech tuner when I first got my 2005 2500Hd w/the 6.0, 4L80E, and 4.11 gears
it was "ok", but not a lot of adjustment and felt like wasted money in the end due to not being enough bang for the buck

I went to a wheatley tune and told him what I had and what I wanted and have been VERY happy with it since. I've also got an AEM cool air intake and dual mufflers and running 285/75/16 tires.

I'll get another adjustment once I go to the 315/75/16's toward the end of next month.

All of my friends were surprised at the difference in the truck and it's a joy to tow with (plan on adding overload air bags this summer)

 

[TMFARM 2009]

I've owned several major makes of work trucks, they all have their high and low points.

yep i agree so have i.. but i beat the snot out of my ford and it keeps going....that cant be done with the newer chevy's..jump a railroad track with one, see how much damage you get from four feet of air.... used to do that to my older 70's and 80's chevy's..newer ones wont take it...suspension's too light..my sd is built the old way...dodges , well they haven't even had a truck since the older power wagons..just my opinion something to be said about a company that gets bailed out twice in 20 or so years??????
now i will say the ford 6.0L is a p.o.s.
but i personally run gas engines and love the fords..i have had 4.2 l v 6's get 600,000 miles with out even tearing into them further then a water pump. most i ever had out of a chevy 350 was 250,000 miles then total overhaul... in 400,000 miles on my chevy i had four transmissions three transfer cases two engines and two sets of diffs. then the cab went ,dropped down too far to steer it anymore.. thats just a few of my experiences...anyhow i think the dump trailers are heavy anyway...

 

[Moss Man]

yep i agree so have i.. but i beat the snot out of my ford and it keeps going....that cant be done with the newer chevy's..jump a railroad track with one, see how much damage you get from four feet of air.... used to do that to my older 70's and 80's chevy's..newer ones wont take it...suspension's too light..my sd is built the old way...dodges , well they haven't even had a truck since the older power wagons..just my opinion something to be said about a company that gets bailed out twice in 20 or so years??????
now i will say the ford 6.0L is a p.o.s.
but i personally run gas engines and love the fords..i have had 4.2 l v 6's get 600,000 miles with out even tearing into them further then a water pump. most i ever had out of a chevy 350 was 250,000 miles then total overhaul... in 400,000 miles on my chevy i had four transmissions three transfer cases two engines and two sets of diffs. then the cab went ,dropped down too far to steer it anymore.. thats just a few of my experiences...anyhow i think the dump trailers are heavy anyway...

The Chevy(2005) I have right now has 290,000 miles and has the original drivetrain, 60 pounds oil pressure all day long.

 

[TMFARM 2009]

thats good.. but i would get a technician to install the power chip and reprogram it..i have seen some go wrong for people the diy crowd..
it will help on boost..changing the shift points too will help.and cold air induction is a good idea also.good luck..

 

[Moss Man]

I bought a hypertech tuner when I first got my 2005 2500Hd w/the 6.0, 4L80E, and 4.11 gears
it was "ok", but not a lot of adjustment and felt like wasted money in the end due to not being enough bang for the buck

I went to a wheatley tune and told him what I had and what I wanted and have been VERY happy with it since. I've also got an AEM cool air intake and dual mufflers and running 285/75/16 tires.

I'll get another adjustment once I go to the 315/75/16's toward the end of next month.

All of my friends were surprised at the difference in the truck and it's a joy to tow with (plan on adding overload air bags this summer)

I'm assuming you send Charlie Wheatley your PUC and he tunes it for your needs? I'm not sure how long that would take, I use my truck about every day for work. There might even be some one near me that does that, but I'd have not one clue how to find someone.

 

[mayhem100]

Spend the money and get a real tune from wheatley or black bear performance.

Black Bear Performance :: Custom Tuning Solutions for 96 and newer GM Vehicles

Wheatley's Custom Tuning

Go there, educate yourself and figure out what you want to do with your truck and how you want to run it. You cna enhance fuel economy, maximize power output for different grades of gas, reduce torque management (big killer right there), change shift points and the time it takes to shift gears, set the T/H button to remap the engine management to a whole different setup...the sky is the limit.

Don't bother with the self tuners, odds are you won't get enough out of them to make it satisfactory.

The 6.0 is a great motor with massive untapped potential built right in.

Most of these places will take your programming requests, burn your program to a replacement computer chip and then send it to you, you send your original chip back to them to get your core deposit back. You can also pay extra for a true custom tune where they will send you a monitor to plug into your truck for a week or so and record your truck's behavior while you use it the way you normally use it and then they can optimize the settings for your unique vehicle and usage patterns. Retunes are usually free.

Check the websites out and see which one offers you what you really want. Both cost more than the little hand programmers, but in the long run its worth it. You can probably squeeze another MPG or two out of your truck to help offset the investment cost over time. Return on $300 is reasonably quick at $4/gallon when you go from 12-14mpg.

 

[loadthestove]

Back to the ops question.I dont think the programmers/chips will make a big difference on the gasoline engines.there is several in my area that have tried it.while there was some power improvement it basically wasnt worth the expense.

something else to consider.if you increase your horsepower will the rest of the components ( transmission.convertor.rear ends etc) hold up to the extra power.Please dont take this the wrong way I.m not knocking your truck,,but you got all you going to get.if you are towing heavy loads on a daily basis you may need to upgrade to a bigger truck with a bigger engine.if you are like the most of us and are basically weekend cutters ,use and enjoy what you have ,,its probably your cheapest way out

 

[Hank Chinaski]

Back to the ops question.I dont think the programmers/chips will make a big difference on the gasoline engines.there is several in my area that have tried it.while there was some power improvement it basically wasnt worth the expense.

something else to consider.if you increase your horsepower will the rest of the components ( transmission.convertor.rear ends etc) hold up to the extra power.Please dont take this the wrong way I.m not knocking your truck,,but you got all you going to get.if you are towing heavy loads on a daily basis you may need to upgrade to a bigger truck with a bigger engine.if you are like the most of us and are basically weekend cutters ,use and enjoy what you have ,,its probably your cheapest way out

I respectfully disagree with everything you say above.

I own a modded 6.0 (I'm not "thinking", but instead giving advice by direct experience)
It's definitely made a difference in power and towing and overall drive-ability.
I have put over 60K miles on my modded truck and had it tuned for the last 5 years. ZERO extra wear etc.

There is PLENTY of room to mod that motor, and I do not have any doubt that that motor/trans/axles in their stock long block form would easily hold 450 hp and would prob be alright up to 6-700hp w/upgrades.

we're talking a difference of changing shift points, torque curve, and adding maybe 40hp. Not tossing on a ceramic ball bearing 700hp twin turbo setup w/a 500 shot of NOS on top...

IMHO It wouldn't even cross my mind to change vehicles if I could improve mine for $300.

 

[mayhem100]

^^ Yep. Massive untapped potential in the 6.0, alot of it acessible with talented programming and no physical mods. Just removing or reducing torque management will make a serious difference in your truck's get up and go.

Not all programmers are created equal though. The hypertechs and $69.99 specials you see in the back of car magazines are not going to do the same thing as a professional job from Black Bear or Weatley...those guys know their stuff and they know how to tune these computers.

Go check out fullsizechevy.com and do a search for either black bear or weatley and see what owners are saying about their tunes.

 

[Moss Man]

Thanx guys! I would rather spend money on a tune than about the same price for a programmer by the sounds of this.

I am interested in lower rpm torque actually, I rarely rev the motor to the rpm's where the horsepower is made in these engines.

Looks like Wheatley might be just the ticket to keep me from spending large cash on a Dodge Cummins 3500 4x4 5-speed!

 

[blackdogon57]

Not sure about the gassers but with the right mods on the older diesels you can get great results. I have edge programmer, k&n cold air intake, magna flow 4" exaust from the turbo back on my 02 dodge 2500. The power gains are Hugh and it makes the truck much funner to drive.

 

[Valkyrie Rider]

Thanx guys! I would rather spend money on a tune than about the same price for a programmer by the sounds of this.

I am interested in lower rpm torque actually, I rarely rev the motor to the rpm's where the horsepower is made in these engines.

Looks like Wheatley might be just the ticket to keep me from spending large cash on a Dodge Cummins 3500 4x4 5-speed!

If the Dodge is a 5spd, it can't be that new. Because of that it's not gonna be that costly. If you tow a lot, a diesel is the way to go.... and Cummins motors seem to get the best fuel mileage out of the three and have for a long time. Find a clean 12v 5spd Dodge and don't look back! LOTS out there for $10k and less. The Cummins is considered a "million mile motor" too. The 5spd (which in a second gen Dodge would be a NV4500) is a solid trans.

OPTIMAL Dodge 5spd would be a early '98 12valve 5 spd. The 98 had a nicer interior (then the 1994-1997) but the early ones still ran the 12V. in 1998.5 it went to a 24v motor which is good, but the injection pump isn't nearly as good as the 12V trucks was and it also became computer controlled.

 

[blackdogon57]

True - there are problems with the 24 valve injector pumps. Most people fry the expensive injector pump when the lift pump from the tank goes bad. There are kits to replace the lift pumps. The good chip kits come with a whole bunch of gauges, one of which monitors the fuel pump pressure.

 

[Highbeam]

It appears that the 6.0 engine can handle lots more extra power. Fine. The question then becomes what else in the system can't handle the extra power? What is the weak link that you will be approaching since you added much power beyond what GM designed it for?

I have a big burley diesel. It can make an additional 140HP with a simple electronic adjustment. The engine is more than adequate to handle the power. BUT, and this is important, the transmission can't handle it as Ford built it. That dang weak link will cost nearly 5000$ to replace with a transmission built to take the power.

We all like power. Adding power beyond the manufacturer's level means you are risking blowing stuff up. It might not be the engine, maybe the rear end (1500$) the trans, etc.

 

[indiansprings]

Over the years I've owned the Ford 7.3 and 6.0 diesel, several Duramax's and a Dodge Cummins 12valve, after running diesels for 13-14 years, I'm done with them, unless you drive them until they absolutely fall apart you will never recover the extra expense of upkeep, higher fuel prices, just the additional cost of parts is nuts, price a starter, or a set of injectors. I've went back to gas and will stay there forever, and yes, I tow a bunch of heavy loads.
I would send your trucks computer to one of the tuners that others have mentioned. Tell them exactly what you want out of the truck, the guys doing the custom tunes can boost your trucks performance a heck of a lot better than a off the shelf tuner. I bought my 3500 HD 4x4 with a blow 6.0, a lady had run it into a fence and cut the lower radiator hose and ran it until it fried.lol I bought the truck out of a salvage pool with minimal damage, front bumper and grill were damaged along with blow motor, for 2300.00, I found a 5.3 on CL for 400.00 that only had 7000 miles on it, we put it in, had a about 50 miles from us tune the computer for towing, and the little 5.3 has done a fantastic job, our 4240 JD with fluid in the duals and wheel weights is close to 18k lbs along with the 24' dovetail gooseneck trailer and it handles it fine. Our truck has 4:56 gears in it though. Although we haven't been dyno'd the guy thinks we are cranking out around 360-70 hp out of the little 5.3. The 6.0's I've been around have been good engines, I've had one apart in the shop and they are extremely well built compared to the old small block's.
If I had to go back to a diesel truck it hands down would be a duramax with the Allison tranny, it was the most trouble free of all the diesel trucks I ran. The cummins is a great engine, but it is surrounded by a Dodge, if the cummins were in a Ford truck it would be the ticket. I absolutely love the Allison tranny, it would take anything we threw at it. Dodge may have there tranny issues taken care of , but there front ends are ****, won't take the weight of the diesel in my opinion. Maybe if you just baby them on pavement, but driving them over rough farm ground just results in having them rebuilt every 20-25k miles at 750-1000.00, as a result I hate Dodges.
Get you a custom tune and try it for a while, cheaper than a new truck.

 

[48"BAR PINCHER]

The Chevy(2005) I have right now has 290,000 miles and has the original drivetrain, 60 pounds oil pressure all day long.

Before you throw alot of effort and money into a tuner I hope you have considered the obvious stuff first like1) A full on tune up with OEM and not aftermarket parts,2) 60 psi doesn't nessescarily mean that a motor with 290K and ??? hours on it is prime for a tuner/ chip. You may be better off with a fresh motor or a set of deeper gears or go back to OE tire sizes since everyone seems so fond of jamming bigger tires than OE on their Chevy's. I have found that if you are running a tuner/chip in a "work" truck and not having any issues it's because you are not running that truck as hard as it could be driven or you think you are driving it. Those damn chips in a well maintained,real work truck are nothing but trouble.

 

[Hank Chinaski]

He asked opinions about a mod for his truck.

I have the truck and motor.
I run it modded/upgraded.
I usually drive it hard both on road and off.

The motor/trans/trasfercase/axles and seats have all held for 60K+ miles, and neither my windshield washer, nor my rear view mirror have exploded from all the extra 40 hp or so...


Really guys?
Don't mod it, it'll blow up.... you'll wreck and die and kill a bus load of nuns... your tailgate won't stay on if you push your turbo past 60psi... etc, etc...

There are opinions, and there is experience... I do my best to listen to folks who have specifics/details and have done it.


ETA: my ride and my co pilot: