More Looney Towing

[Country Mav]

Got another Looney Towing update. Made a flying trip to Gonzales, La to haul a student's cow there for the state show. I hooked up to a steel 3 horse slant with a changing room and bed over the neck and put the Holstein Cow in there and took off. I left the Looney tune on because I didn't have time to load the tow tune and allow the tranny to re-learn. I decided to try it and watch my temps. It was a 215 mile one-way trip. I set the cruise on 72 and just drove. My temps were great. Highest Oil Temp got was 211 briefly when I was pushing to get away from tight groups of traffic. It averaged 201 ECT and 209 EOT. I generally see a 6-8 degree delta when I'm on the road empty. Transmission temp was 150-165 (Those being the low and high temps) EGTs were great- in the 600-700's while cruising. RPMs were about 2050. I checked my fuel mileage and I averaged 14mpg. Probably if I had been doing 65, it would have been higher. At 2000 RPMs mine drops drastically. The truck did beautifully. I won't hesitate to pull light loads like this with the looney. My ICP was not over 1400 at any point in the journey. Shifts were great and the tow/haul transmission brake worked like a charm. Trailer GAWR was 12,000 lbs so I figure that with the one cow, the hay and all of the equipment, the load was probably around 7k(ish). The Looney still impresses the heck outta me every time I put this thing in gear!

[xtremexj]

Man, I don't know how you guys can tow that much weight and have that low of EGTs. When I'm loaded with my pop-up camper and Jeep on the car hauler, I'm about 17K and with Eric's tow tune I cruise at 70MPH and consistently run 900-1000*. If I get into some of the mild hills through the mountains I can easily do 1300*. Now, this was before my EGR delete and I have towed with it yet, but I'm still amazed. Hopefully I'll see a bit of a drop but I don't expect that it will be as low as you.

[Country Mav]

My truck runs pretty cool on Looney. Even running WOT to clean out the turbo, it doesn't get very hot. I think the hottest I've ever seen it get was a little over 1500 on a hard run. Now towing the other night, it got to 1100 a couple of times as I was getting onto the interstate. I wasn't pushing super hard, just going up a ramp and moving with traffic. I really, really like this tune... Have you tried the Looney? With Eric's Tow tune I run much cooler than that when pulling 17k. I moved 22k the other day and was cooler than yours... But I was only running 55. I can't remember the exact temps. Where is your probe located?

[Rob]

When you pop a head gasket don't complain and remember that you were towing with a race file. Tow files are designed for just that. Looney files are high performance race type files that will build serious heat, and cylinder pressures that can stretch head bolts and destroy gaskets.

[Country Mav]

I'll sure keep that in mind kind sir. My Looney file has been tuned a little more for fuel mileage, I have studs and new gaskets and basically everything else that could possibly be replaced at the time. I appreciate the concern, but not the tone. I know the risks. Generally I tow with the tow tune. But I honestly don't think that dead flat Louisiana Interstate land is all that stressing on the truck. Once the load is rolling (and I don't try to set 1/4mile records when accelerating) I set the cruise and life is good. I monitor my CTS like a hawk and had I noticed ANY issues, I would have loaded my tow file. I'm not proclaiming to the world that the Looney is the best tow tune ever- I am however trying to make it known what a great all around tune it is. But again, I appreciate your concern though. For the rest of y'all out there, as I've said, this is a great DD tune.

[Rob]

No condescending tone intended, my apologies if it came across that way. I'm sure you realize that I've seen quite a few people tow with a looney and things don't pan out well. The looney is a wild tune, I miss my 6.0 tuned with the looney. Made it fun to drive.

[Country Mav]

Hey, no problem. I'm tired and maybe I took it wrong. I completely understand what you're saying- some people try to tow wide open with race tunes and blow gaskets, cook turbos, etc. I'm a teacher, so when I was hauling that cow, I was hauling other people's kids, an FFA parent's trailer and a student's animal. Lol, believe me- I was driving easy. I've pulled several horse trailers now and lowboys taking it easy with the looney. My truck performs well with it. I really don't think I'll ever switch to another DD tune. You have a '12? Are they really as bad as I'm hearing? Everyone I've talked to loves them...

[Rob]

Not a 12, it's an 11. I love it, just don't love the payment. LOL! Good power, little lag, decent mileage for an 8000 lb. truck.

[xtremexj]

Yeah, I've run the Looney - and about 10 other tunes from Vivian - from the first Looney Wild to a basic tow tune. She was the one I bought my original Xcal2 and tunes from back in the spring of 2007. I haven't run them for several years now due to a vehicle break in which resulted in the loss of my Xcal2 with stock tune in it. Anyway, I have been running Eric's tunes off and on since 2007, and exclusively since 2010 and they've always been great. I'm going to try a couple of Vivian's new tow tunes now that I've got a hold of her again and see how they compare.