Towing & tuners

[scscrew]

I have an 08 F250 6.4 CC 4x4 that is stock except for Rancho 9000XL shocks. I am looking to buy a fifth wheel camper that weighs in close to 12,000 lbs loaded. I have 35K miles on the truck and just recently had the latest flash done to remedy the white smoke during regen when accelerating up a hill. The truck runs good and I am getting decent mileage during my daily driving.

I would, however, like to get a little more grunt from the truck when I throw this kind of weight behind it. I have towed my equipment trailers loaded to about 8000-9000 lbs and it tows okay but could use some more power, especially upon acceleration. My question is what tuner will give me the best towing performance without the addition of any other mods like air intakes, exhaust systems, etc.? I have seen posts about SCT, Spartan, Edge Insight, etc. but most people running these or asking questions about them are looking for high performance, extreme tunes. I am not into racing the truck and am only looking for something safe to use when I am towing. What would be the best route for me to take? I am fully aware of the warranty issues that tuners present and am willing to accept that responsibility.

Thanks in advance.

[mick1955]

Spartan is the only way to go. Economy has increased by 3.7. I've towed up to 13500 lbs and still had about a 3.1 increase in economy. I know some have even towed heavy with the high hp tunes and have not had any problems. Just don't think you can go wrong with a Spartan tuned truck. If you want an instrument that you can monitor almost anything you want, then go with the Spartan and the DashDaq.... Definitely a winning combination.

[1/2tired]

I have an Edge tuner that is specific for the 6.4l and have used it in the "tow" mode when hauling my trailer around the mountains of Oregon. Mileage has improved some, but I seem to have settled on a 1 MPG increase over stock... I suppose every little bit helps though!

[Hydro]

On another forum somebody tried towing with the SCT tuner. It didn't turn out very good, truck kept dying and limping. he eventually put it on a low setting and did just fine. Many others tow with the Spartan 250 tune and have had ZERO problems, just drive like an adult and watch EGT's on the hills. The 210 tune would be safer IMHO because it will defuel if the EGT's get too high. Spartan recomends the 175 tune for all around best towing results.

[InnovativeDiesel]

We don't recommend towing on the high power programs w/ the SCT. Definitely tow with the tow program only, no matter which programmer you use.

Our high power program will tow fine, but the fueling is heavy for pulling a load.


In the next week or so, we'll be releasing some new 6.4L tuning.

[JohnD333]

Tunes seem to be helping the fuel economy most on the 250's with 3.73 rear ends, but those configuration towing rigs also seem to be most vulnerable to blowouts if they tow with a heavy foot. F-350's and up with 4.10's and up get only 1-3 mpg better but with LOTS more power. Those rear ends seem to have a lower blowout potential.

Lots of info on towing mpg's on spartan's site and the diesel garage forums. Use the SEARCH tools!

John D

[Power12]

I am running the SCT on the 125 setting dpf deleted,I finally got the fifth wheel hitch rails in and had a chance to take on 15 mile test drive,I left it in the 125 setting,the toy hauler is a 37 foot raptor about 12000 pounds and it did awsome,I have a full set of gauges and I only saw 1250 egt and that was to get the load up and moving,once I got to about 65 mph and leveled off egts were well in ckeck,And that is with 37inch tires,so stock with dpf delet these trucks must kick some ass,now I hope my 05 duramax can do this well,it is also running on 37inch tires with a ppe programer and banks intercooler.