Heavy towing with my Aggressive Tow Tune

[Evil Eye]

For the MLK weekend, we decided to rip it up at the Imperial Sand Dunes (ISDRA), so I got a wild hair and wanted to see how my truck would do with the new goodies on my Aggressive Tow tune pulling my 12k lb trailer. Long story short-I was VERY pleased. For this trip, the gross of my truck and trailer was roughly 18k lbs, it was about 75* ambient temperature and while there are only 2 "real" hills (Mohawk mountain and Gila mountains) between Phoenix and ISDRA, it handled them both quite well. I won't post the whole datalog, but below are my average and peak readings.

Vehicle speed was 75mph
Tranny temp was 175*; 185* peak
EGT's were 1200*; 1350* peak
EOT's were 216*; 239* peak
ECT's were 209*; 225* peak
ICP was 2141psi; 4061psi peak

Peak temps were recorded pulling the 2 mile 6% grade through the Gila mountains with the pedal to the floor. It didn't help that I was passing a similarly equipped 03 F-250 with about the same size trailer with Banks stickers plastered all over it. It was priceless to see his face as I cruised passed him... I can only imagine his complaint to his Bank's dealer when he got back home!!! When I crested the hill, I was down to 62mph, which is about a 10mph increase over my stock turbo setup!

I believe that despite running a hotter tune (which hasn't been tweaked for my new turbo), my BPD oil cooler worked EXTREMELY well at keeping the temps in check as did my new turbo. I would imagine that if I got my aggressive tow tune tweaked to match the new airflow, I could improve the EGT's while cruising and perhaps keep the oil a touch cooler. I guess I could always run my "standard" tow tune which runs cooler temps yet, but what fun is that?

[westcoaststrokin]

Good info Shawn.

[Goose350]

Good stuff. Now load a race tune next time. My truck tows 10k best in a race tune

[Evil Eye]

Originally Posted by Goose350

Good stuff. Now load a race tune next time. My truck tows 10k best in a race tune

HOLY CRAP! I can only imagine what your oil temps are when pulling that kind of load!!! Do you datalog?

My tranny shifts WAY too soon in my race tune to pull any kind of load. I once pulled my trailer home with the race tune in (left my SCT at the house) and HATED the shifting. I am very particular when it comes to the truck shifting correctly.

[Goose350]

Originally Posted by Evil Eye

HOLY CRAP! I can only imagine what your oil temps are when pulling that kind of load!!! Do you datalog?

My tranny shifts WAY too soon in my race tune to pull any kind of load. I once pulled my trailer home with the race tune in (left my SCT at the house) and HATED the shifting. I am very particular when it comes to the truck shifting correctly.

It was only for 20 miles. The temps were fine. The only thing I dont like about towing in the race tunes is the converter lockup. Once it locks it will stay locked until the truck goes below 45mph. I just have gotten used to tapping the brake before I go up a hill.

I towed 5k from Boston to Birmingham in my X-street tune and didnt have one single problem EOT/ECT/EGT were slightly above normal, but I expected that since it was mid summer. Trans never got over 175.

[Evil Eye]

Ah, makes sense. When I tow, it is usually for hours at a time because I'm running away from reality! The trip to the dunes is usually a 5 hour trip to get there depending on traffic.

[westcoaststrokin]

I don't even like towing my trailer a couple blocks in race tune.

[mmandley]

Im assuming you guys are running the on the fly type programmers such as the CS CTS kind? I am about to get my ordered and my only real concern is does the tow tunes disable the Tow Haul mode the truck comes with?

I have really grown to like that system with the auto downshifts its does and such.

[SickStroke6.0]

I've towed some very small trailers with my X-Street tune in, but when I load the big daddy gooseneck (weighs about 12k loaded) I usually swap back to stock. I am ordering an Aggressive Tow Tune though when I start hauling again.

And to the OP, that setup sounds awesome!! Once you get your tune tweaked it will probably be a whole 'nother beast. I want a PowerMax and some 155's so bad!! I hate 10 MPG when towing.

[SickStroke6.0]

Originally Posted by mmandley

Im assuming you guys are running the on the fly type programmers such as the CS CTS kind? I am about to get my ordered and my only real concern is does the tow tunes disable the Tow Haul mode the truck comes with?

I have really grown to like that system with the auto downshifts its does and such.

Nope, SCT w/ custom tunes. It's the only way to go for a 6.0.

And the Tow/Haul is a great feature, and it's to be used in conjunction with a tow tune.