I have a question, so I guess I’ll begin with a description of my truck. I have a ’02 F-150 XLT 4x4 Sport with the 5.4. It’s an automatic and has the towing package, 3.55 LSD and 17” wheels. The truck is used mostly as an errand vehicle and for towing a horse trailer which when fully loaded is in the 5000-5800 lbs area. Here’s a link if you’d like to take a look: http://www.horsetrailerauction.com/f...asp?photoid=8.

I’ve looked through and searched the Forums and the manufacturer’s website for info about the Micro Tuner 1715, but there’s nothing more than generalities like, “You may see up to an additional 10% more horsepower and 13% more torque on Gas vehicles” and “Results vary by vehicle - your results could be better.” Of course, this also implies that your results could be worse.

I’m interested in finding real world experiences, specifically, in regards to towing. I’d love to increase my towing performance, but because I want it all (who doesn’t? ), I’d also like to see even just 1 more MPG to make the added cost of the premium fuel required for the “Towing Perf” mode more palatable. Does anyone have any experiences they can share?

 

HI Rikster,

There are *tons* of just such posts already here on the boards - you can instantly access all of it just by using the search feature, that's why it's here & I'm sure you'll enjoy using it. The icon to access it is in the top right portion of your screen here.

I am heading out the door for Florida, actually I'm going back down to Superchips as a matter of fact - what I would suggest, if you'd like to go over this in through and proper detail, get exact power gains for your vehicle, etc., is to give us a call & I can spend some time with you. Just give our shop a call, and leave a message for me with your name & number, and over the next 2 days or so I will give you a call back via cell (as soon as I get settled in my hotel after my 800-900 miles drive) and we can cover all of that for you properly.

Please do spend some time reading up on this thru the search feature, there are so very many posts from people just like yourself, who want to hear *real world* results & impressions, etc - and this is the perfect place to see a *lot* of that.

Just very quickly - on the "tow-perf" program, you will generally see about a 16-18 HP gain once it hits open loop, where the "max" performance tune gets you another 8-10 HP over that - but that tune is not towing compatible. The 87 octane tune gets you about an 8 hp gain to the wheels, while still using regular gas, the premium gas tow-safe tune you're asking about is roughly 16-18 HP, and the "max" tune another 8-10 above that, just to give you rough ideas as to approximate gains. That's based on 93 octane & sea level altitude for the premium gas tunes.

With regard to fuel mileage, driving 15K-20K miles per year most people average spending maybe $100 more a year for premium gas, thanks to the small increase in fuel mileage from the Superchips tuning - this depends on driving conditions, of course, but all in all, even your worst-case scenario is only another $100 per 10,000 miles driven for gas - and that's if you drive it hard all the time, and not many people really do that.

Take care & I hope to speak with you soon!

 

Thanks for the reply. I already did a search as you suggested for some answers prior to posting the message, but I only found one message that was really appropriate and I think you posted the same response to that message as you posted to mine. I was hoping that I could spur more people to come forward with their towing experiences. I posted the message in the Towing section too to see if anyone over there is using it.

You mention the quoted hp increases, but what about torque numbers? For towing, I’m very interested in those numbers as well. The truck currently does ok with the trailer back there, but who couldn’t do with some additional oomph? I’m thinking that this modification will give me the best bang-for-the-buck with the least effort. My current thought is that this will be the only modification I make to the truck and that everything else will remain stock. So, that being the case is it worth doing and will I really notice a difference?

 

As I mentioned before, just give us a call for details & we'll be happy to go over all of that with you.