I've got a 2001 F-150 4x4 7700 with a 5.4L. I am thinking about getting the Superchip 1715 Max MicroTuner for it. I want a tuner that I can just plugin, set, and not have to think about anymore (yes i've read all your opinions on other custom tunes etc, but this is not what I'm looking for). I just want something that will give me a little bit more power, and get rid of that hesitation when you mash on the go peddle that all the fords (4.6 and 5.4) that I have driven seem to have. By the way I have a K&N air intake, and dual exhaust with no cats, and 265/75R16 tires. Soon the plans are for 285/75R16's, a throttle body spacer, underdrive pulley kit, headers, and a tuner/chip. So if anyone has tried this tuner let me know your experience with it, or if you can suggest something else that would work well for me, that fits in what I am looking for. Thanks!

 

when you elimanate all your cats, you loose power, put in 2 high flows and that might correct your hesitation,

 

Hi & welcome.

Some thoughts( IMHO, okay?)...

Your 2001 is not drive-by-wire, so if you have hesitation stock, it's caused by a fault that you need to address - no tuner is going to fix this.

If you don't have a fault, but you beleive it's sub-par, you are likely just sensitive to the massive torque managment implemented in the stock tuning. The only really effective way to correct that programing faux paux is with true custom tuning. The Edge, to be fair from the reports on here, seems to address this 'flaw' pretty well also, for a generic tuner.

TB spacers are junk - don't waste your money - that's well documented here.

No cats - while it may/may not cause power loss (experts say it does since you are eliminating some exhaust heat, which can reduce velocity a bit), their absence won't cause hesitation. Also federally illegal, fyi. You left all your O2's in place in their original position, I hope - if not this can casue problems.

Larger tires wil reduce performance further - but I bet you already knew that.

Duals - what size pipe & what mufflers - this can be a huge detriment to low-end torque if not done right. E.g;, Slowmasters + 3" pipe = kiss yer low-end goodbye lol.

Tuner - I had a 1715 once, was fine. Went to a custom Xcal2 - vastly better. Your notion about plug & play is wrong; an Xcal2 is load & forget as well.

Do some research on this site using the Search function - it'll help you make informed decisions and dispel some of the misconceptions you may have.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the replies. I did as much reading about the tuners as I could, but it was hard cutting through all the argueing and mixed opinions everyone, naturally, will have with different products. There aren't any faults in the truck, so the torque management sounds about right, my dads '97 f-150 w/ 4.6 and auto did the same thing from the day he bought it new till now. I am running a 2.5" exhaust straight back, with no cats (o2 sensors are all still in place, as well as i have an o2 sensor simulator installed on the rear o2's. I had the truck hooked up at a shop on the computer and he said the simulator worked amazingly well, the truck thinks that there are cats, so its doing its job. There are just 2 glasspacks for mufflers. As for the cats i'm not really worried, here in canada, alberta anyways, no one really seems to care. Thanks for your advice, i'll keep doing as much research as I can, all this computer stuff is new to me, I've always been into the good ol' carbureted fun.