Tow Tune
Thread Starter
|
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 123
Likes: 0
From: AZ
Tow Tune
Am I the only one who actually enjoys driving their truck better in the 91-93 Tow setting?? To me, I just love the low end torque my f150 has in this setting as opposed to the high revving 91-93 performance tune. Don't get me wrong, I love the performance tune, but lately I have just been leaving the tow program on.....any other opinions??? or am I just imagining this. Also, will it harm the truck by always running the tow tune??? Thanks.....
Member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 76
Likes: 0
From: Louisiana
I leave mine on the Tow tune as well. I prefer it over the stock setting (who doesn't?)! I've dabbled a while on the performance tune, but to keep from reflashing over and over, I just leave it on Tow. It has helped tremendously when pulling our travel trailer (6500#). Like you said, it has nice low end torque and also nice shift pressures. I don't go real fast, I just like to get up to speed quickly!
Thanks TP!!
Thanks TP!!
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 542
Likes: 0
From: Twin Cities, Minnesota
I leave the tow tune all of the time also. I'm having shifting issues though. Severe bouncing in and out of 4th lockup at highway speeds on hills. they've taken one shot at reprogramming but it didn't fix the problem. Hope they solve it as I'm not actually able to use the tow tunes for TOWING!! have to go back to stock to stop the tranny hunting.
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,824
Likes: 0
From: North Huntingdon,Pa.
tow tune
i left mine in for a trip to va this weekend -i didn't tow but i had my van loaded down ~8500lbs, going 80-85 up and back ~1000 miles- i averaged 18 mpg in my un aerodynamic van-i never got that mpg on perf going that fast - maybe mike can chime in-phil
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Bob,
Your problems are NOT in the tuning - what you need to do when it cycles between 3rd and 4th is to simply disable Overdrive, so it does not do that.
We have *not* made the 4-3 downshifting any more aggressive, that table is *stock* as of your last tune. Only the 3-4 upshift point are raised, and that does not cause that to happen.
Your problem plain and simple, is that when towing at those lower speeds as we have discussed, you have too much load on the engine for it to be able to stay locked up in Overdrive - you are at a point where it can *almost* do it, but not quite - hence the cycling between 3rd and 4th gears. And that is why you need to simply disable Overdrive in those situations, like everyone else. And no, it does not only do that on our tuning, but works fine on the stock tune - that is, to be candid, simply impossible. You have significantly more power with our tuning, and a higher 3-4 upshift point and a stock 4-3 downshift in our tuning - this cannot cause such an issue.
What is causing it, plain and simple, is trying to force it to not cycle between 3rd and 4th when towing up a grade at those lower speeds - it's just not a realistic expectation.
With the additional power form our tuning it will stay in 4th a lot better than it did stock when NOT towing, but you are obviously operating it at a lower speed and up a grade towing a load that causes this - and when that happens, the ONLY cure (assuming you do not have a mechanical problem) is to simply disable Overdrive to eliminate the cycling.
So like everyone else, when towing up a grade at those speeds, all you need to do is simply turn off the Overdrive any time it cycles like that, and your problem is solved.
Remember, Overdrive was designed in the 1920's for one purpose, and one purpose only - to reduce engine rpms once you are on flat ground and the vehicle is already up to speed, to lower engine rpms - do not expect it to do that under all other circumstances, as sometimes it will, and sometimes it won't - and it especially won't at the speeds we discussed when towing up a grade, my friend.
Your problems are NOT in the tuning - what you need to do when it cycles between 3rd and 4th is to simply disable Overdrive, so it does not do that.
We have *not* made the 4-3 downshifting any more aggressive, that table is *stock* as of your last tune. Only the 3-4 upshift point are raised, and that does not cause that to happen.
Your problem plain and simple, is that when towing at those lower speeds as we have discussed, you have too much load on the engine for it to be able to stay locked up in Overdrive - you are at a point where it can *almost* do it, but not quite - hence the cycling between 3rd and 4th gears. And that is why you need to simply disable Overdrive in those situations, like everyone else. And no, it does not only do that on our tuning, but works fine on the stock tune - that is, to be candid, simply impossible. You have significantly more power with our tuning, and a higher 3-4 upshift point and a stock 4-3 downshift in our tuning - this cannot cause such an issue.
What is causing it, plain and simple, is trying to force it to not cycle between 3rd and 4th when towing up a grade at those lower speeds - it's just not a realistic expectation.
With the additional power form our tuning it will stay in 4th a lot better than it did stock when NOT towing, but you are obviously operating it at a lower speed and up a grade towing a load that causes this - and when that happens, the ONLY cure (assuming you do not have a mechanical problem) is to simply disable Overdrive to eliminate the cycling.So like everyone else, when towing up a grade at those speeds, all you need to do is simply turn off the Overdrive any time it cycles like that, and your problem is solved.
Remember, Overdrive was designed in the 1920's for one purpose, and one purpose only - to reduce engine rpms once you are on flat ground and the vehicle is already up to speed, to lower engine rpms - do not expect it to do that under all other circumstances, as sometimes it will, and sometimes it won't - and it especially won't at the speeds we discussed when towing up a grade, my friend.
Former Sponsor
Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
Likes: 4
From: Virginia
Hi tigga83,
Actually, the difference between our towing tunes and our performance tunes are not really a lot - and no, it won't hurt a thing to leave it in the towing tune all the time, just as we point out in our documentation - that is right at the top of Page 1, mentioned in every towing tune we do.
Now this is, of course, assuming you are talking about our Troyer Performance custom tuning, and that we're talking about a 2004 & newer F-150 - the earlier trucks there can be more variance but that really tends to depend more on each individual computer code dictating what we need to do, that varies more on the pre-2004 trucks, for example.
With regard to the upshifting, the only difference between the 2 is that the full-throttle 1-2 & 2-3 upshift points are slightly different - it's not like the performance tune winds the engine a *lot* higher than the towing tune does - the difference is not very much.
I won't go into more specific detail here simply to keep our proprietary info out of the hands of our competitors, but the long & short of it is that
there are a few other changes that some people just happen to like in our towing tunes when driving around normally, and if that is how you feel, then sure, you can use the tow-safe tuning all the time, no problem!
Actually, the difference between our towing tunes and our performance tunes are not really a lot - and no, it won't hurt a thing to leave it in the towing tune all the time, just as we point out in our documentation - that is right at the top of Page 1, mentioned in every towing tune we do.
Now this is, of course, assuming you are talking about our Troyer Performance custom tuning, and that we're talking about a 2004 & newer F-150 - the earlier trucks there can be more variance but that really tends to depend more on each individual computer code dictating what we need to do, that varies more on the pre-2004 trucks, for example.
With regard to the upshifting, the only difference between the 2 is that the full-throttle 1-2 & 2-3 upshift points are slightly different - it's not like the performance tune winds the engine a *lot* higher than the towing tune does - the difference is not very much.
I won't go into more specific detail here simply to keep our proprietary info out of the hands of our competitors, but the long & short of it is that
there are a few other changes that some people just happen to like in our towing tunes when driving around normally, and if that is how you feel, then sure, you can use the tow-safe tuning all the time, no problem!