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Performance Chips For 2500 With 6.0


arwriter

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Howdy,

 

I have a 1999 Chevy Silverado 2500 LS, 4X4, ECSB, with the 6.0 in it. I am planning to pull a 20ft enclosed trailer with a GVWR of 7000lbs from North Carolina to Washington State. I am thinking of adding a performance chip of some kind for increased performance towing and improved mileage empty. Do the available chips actually provide a solid improvement in performance for the money or are they just a gimmick? Real world experience would be beneficial. Thank you.

 

 

Semper Fidelis,

 

Adam

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my recomendation would be not to buy a hand-held tuner, but get a custom tune from someone like blackbear, nelson's, or wester's. I have never heard a complaint about those three companies. I have a diablo sport tuner on my 6.0 and I hate it. It was the worst $369 I ever spent

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I bought a used Hypertech III here on the forum. The biggest change was firmer shifts and better performance when I step down hard on the gas and the RPMs are up, so for towing my tune helps when I shift down manually and let the RPMs stay up. With the RPMs up my 6.0 pulls a camp trailer(about 7,000lbs loaded) pretty good. As far as everyday empty driving the Hypertech isn't really noticed. Randy

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Don't waste your money on a Hypertech, just get a custom tune from the ones mentioned above.

 

I had a Hypercrap and was biggest piece of junk, it didn't do any of the things it was suppose to, but make the shifts firmer - if you call slamming into fourth gear an improvement.

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I'm pretty sure it's cheaper to have a custom tune. Somewhere around $200-$300, and most will do free updates for life

 

 

Adam, you will be able to tell a difference in towing and just driving around town with the firmer shifts and the added power. We also get 1 to 2 mpg gain on the hwy.

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I'm pretty sure it's cheaper to have a custom tune. Somewhere around $200-$300, and most will do free updates for life

 

 

Adam, you will be able to tell a difference in towing and just driving around town with the firmer shifts and the added power. We also get 1 to 2 mpg gain on the hwy.

 

 

I have owned two Hypertechs on two different GM trucks. One was a 96 Silverado with a 5.7 Vortec. The other is my 02 Yukon XL Denali. You will notice a gain if you run the premium fuel tune. The truck will run richer for sure. You can play with your shift points for best acceleration. It makes changing tire/rim size easy as you can immediately program in the new size. I have never had a custom tune. I plan on getting one soon. I have never heard anyone complain about the custom tuners. Everyone seems very happy with them. People who have switched from hand held tuners to custom tunes swear the difference is night and day.

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Adam, you will be able to tell a difference in towing and just driving around town with the firmer shifts and the added power. We also get 1 to 2 mpg gain on the hwy.

 

Will I need to run premium fuel in order to achieve those gains or will I be able to achieve them with 87 octane fuel? What is the advantage of Hypertech Tuners vs. a similiar priced Bully Dog Triple Dog GT that has a color display that displays fuel economy, performance etc.? Thank you.

 

Semper Fidelis,

 

Adam

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Adam, you will be able to tell a difference in towing and just driving around town with the firmer shifts and the added power. We also get 1 to 2 mpg gain on the hwy.

 

Will I need to run premium fuel in order to achieve those gains or will I be able to achieve them with 87 octane fuel? What is the advantage of Hypertech Tuners vs. a similiar priced Bully Dog Triple Dog GT that has a color display that displays fuel economy, performance etc.? Thank you.

 

Semper Fidelis,

 

Adam

 

 

buddy i owned a bully dog, but then i bought EFI Live software and began learning how to tune my truck on my own (with some help from a pro of course...joel from peyton performance really helped me out alot) i read a book on it. please dont waste your money on a hand-held, they dont have the potential that software does. i had a bully dog, it had some gains yes but first off in the race mode it made 1-2 shift like a BRICK waaaaaay to hard. it barked the tires it banged into gear so hard, way to much line pressure. 4l80e is stout but not that tough. it says it will advance the timing. but im hear to tell you i checked, i went back tthe bully dog after i owned efi software...i plugged in the computer with the bully tune installed just to see what it does to the tables and i compared it to stock tuning. it only advanced timing on a couple tables...not all of them (not the right ones anyways). cant shut off Power Enrichment Delay codes, your Torque Management tables are still in stock form and the torque convertor strategies are in stock form....and many many other things. long story short the bully dog is the same price as a custom tune and it doesnt even do half as much. handhelds dont even compare. especially when you get an in-person tune with a pro, the difference is amazing. the guy that helped me out brought me into his own shop after he was done work, put an air/fuel ratio monitor on it. we dialed it right in. the gains were amazing...the 6 litre in stock form is a VERY capable engine with just tuning software.

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also you were asking about towing, with a custom you can have a everyday tune...then you can have a tow tune installed too when you hit the button. i have that done as well, didnt really do to much with the stock tow tune. its set up pretty good...first off i left TM alone when towing. basically just made the tranny hang the gears just a little longer than the stock tow tune.

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  • 5 years later...

Scrap the idea of making anything with a chip. The cheapest mod to make for power and torque is simple, you don't want to stuff a new cam in the truck, put pull the valve covers and swap out the rockers, they are 1.71 you would not think a set of comp cams 1.82 rockers would make much of a difference, i'm building a 1990 Shortie 4x4 for my dad who past away during the build, but I'm big on the power adding on the cheap but I will spend the money for a day at the dyno and bolt on what I think will or will not work, if you want better power for towing, well I know what will make power, the rockers free'd up some torque and ponies, hp is not what gets us off the line, or helps move weight, hence low hp high torque diesels.

So the answer cheap 129$ got me the rockers, this was the first mod and for most of you a way better deal than a 399$ handheld turner, it bumped the torque up 31ft lbs, I had the heads off the motor and there was no ware on the block, the donor truck was a fleet truck always serviced, bought out with low km because of Chevy's rotten rockers and rusty rear quarters.

So get a set of rockers, go to your local shop and make the swap, and make sure they are fully roller, tip and all, that's what helps free up power and keeps these motors running strong into the 400,000km

A cheap 40$ throttle spacer that had a swirl pattern into spacer, it helps make turbulence which helps atomize air and fuel. As for swapping the 5.3 heads, same valves just aluminum and is a weight changer but makes no difference power wise, the one thing I tried was a lot of scrap yard parts. I read about the equal size, close to the motor headers off the 04-05 GTO with the 5.3, all of the parts work on the 4.8, 5.3, 6.0, so they bolted on, along with some shortie free flow cats, bolt them right on to the header for best power. So there you spent 500$ and you've gained over 50ft/lbs of torque and 45hp. it's tried tested and true, and this motor was pulled on all day long, make a change, make three pulls, make an addition make 3 pulls, more than 20 pulls, I also paid to have my computer tuned, have the VATS pulled, downgraded to 2 02 sensors and ended up with half the harness I started with.

That was worth the 500$ but I had a long list of demands, I would say get the numbers off your computer and get one from the scrap yard, then you will always have a back up, that's how I seen how to get over the 490 ft/lbs, hit 500 a few times, hp was 470-475. Pretty well spent 1000$ and $800 at the dyno shop. But now I know what I have, simply stated I would try to find the headers and computer if you want to make the best torque numbers for your rig, or simply put the fully roller 1.82 roller rockers on it and the throttle body spacer, cheapest costs best results. way cheaper than a tuner but a great way to pump up the numbers on your motor and mine had 289,000 when I started playing with it to get over the 500 mark.

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