I have a travel trailer that I tow with my 2004 5.4 F150.

Is it okay to keep the over 4000lb towing tune in the truck all the time? Or should it only be used when I am actually towing and switch to maybe to 87 octane tune for my around town driving?

 

Sure, you can keep the towing tune installed all the time, and use it for any type of use you want - it's perfectly safe for that, and a lot of people do exactly that. The only requirement is using the proper octane level.

 

ninemmbill, I also pull a travel trailler with my 04 5.4 and I am thinking of get a superchips tuner. I was interested what improvements you saw pulling the trailler after the tuner as compaered to stock. Also what weight is your trailler. My truck has 355 gears and a K&N drop in filter, my trailler loaded with gear is about 6500lb. I would like to know what tuner you have and if it is going to gain me anything. Thanks for any input you can provide.

 

Hi YYZF150,

Pardon me for butting in, but I wanted to point something out to you, just FYI so you'll know.

The 1714 is OK for an off-the-shelf type of unit, it will certainly get you some improvement - but you will get far better results by using our Troyer Performance custom tuning, which we load into the XCalibrator 2.

We carry both products of course, as we are Superchip's oldest WD in America - so we know their products for these vehicles better than anyone else, and have had a hand in their development over the years. For those who want to get the best results, our custom tuning is hands down the choice, as we get several orders of magnitude larger power gains compared to the 1714, as well as much better driveability, fixing the lack of throttle response, much better transmission shift characteristics, and the hardware is far more advanced as well. The XCalibrator 2 has much better diagnostic capabilities, as well as built-in high speed datalogging, Internet-updateable firmware, USB connectivity to your PC, modular design so it cna take options like the add-on touch screen coming out soon, and so much more.

While peak horsepower & torque gains are always important, the key aspect of improving towing ability & comfort is having more torque on part-throttle, too.

I would suggest spending some time reading the boards here and seeing the feedback posted by those who have our custom tuning in the XCalibrator 2 to see what they say about it, as that is by far what will get you the best results. A number of people who had the 1714 have upgraded to our Troyer Performance custom tuning in the XCalibrator 2, and are much happier with the results. It's the difference between an off-the-shelf type of tune versus our in-depth custom tuning that goes much further in terms of optimizing the PCM's operations, and we deliver a set of 3 different custom tunes set up the way each individual vehicle owner needs.

Again, this is just FYI so you'll know what actually gets the best results before making your decision - like I said, we carry both products, and offer a special discount to all registered members of F-150 Online, so if you'd like to go over any of this in more detail, please feel free to call us at our number listed below.

Best of luck whatever you decide,

 

For YYZ150,

I not yet towed my trailer with the 1714 tuner installed. However, I will be travelling with it next week.

With that being said, I really didn't buy the tuner with the expectation of getting great gains in perfromance. As Mike said, other custom tuners will give you more power. I purchased the 1714 to get rid of the throttle lag from the throttle by wire application, and have the ability to make adjustments after changing tires and gears.

The 1714 tuner has made a difference in the everyday driveability of my 04. Gone is the throttle lag and I am seeing a slight increase in MPG.

As far as towing goes, I believe the gear change from 3.55 to a 4.10 ratio is going to give me the best towing performance gains.