So heres the deal.
Have owned an 06' Chevy Crew Cab D-max for about a month now (LBZ)... One owner with 50k on the odometer. Absolutely love this truck!!! The power/torque is awesome and man is it hard not to push hard on the skinny pedal!
With that said I am certainly a diesel novice. This truck is my daily driver for now and perhaps long term.
I'm an off road guy and current tow my Jeep/buggy on a 7000 lbs GVW trailer. Plan is to go to a 15,000 lbs gooseneck so I can haul two crawlers (my son is getting into it) in the next year or two.
I've been towing with a 98 Suburban with a 5.7 vortec for 12 years so... So as you can imagine the d-max seems like all the power i would ever need...
I'm interested in tuning to maximize fuel economy (just for commuting, not so concerned about the towing part).
Can anyone direct me to a link that will really summarize the whole "what tuner to choose summary" with pros and cons for the uneducated. In the off road world Pirate4x4.com has a guy by the name of Billa Vista who publishes exhaustively well researched articles on things pertaining to extreme off road.
I have searched a bit on here, but freely admit my search skills suck and I'm a bit impatient.
I've read quite a bit on pirate 4x4, pretty good place to learn
Welcome to DuramaxDiesels!
There's equally as much, if not more so to learn about the duramax and what all it can and can't do and how to/not to do it here
I completely understand being impatient, however, you know from experience with your crawler that experience shows that being patient and discerning pays off
That being said, I'll give a couple cents worth of opinion here, you'll find I'm really good (or bad) at that
:roflmao:
First off, I've tried allot of tunes out from allot of different tuners, and the best economy I've been able to attain has been running tuning from Mark Broviak @ Danville Performance.
Secondly, with caution thrown into the wind I'll say, don't screw around with a predator tune or PPE tune. Although PPE uses EFI to base their tunes from, they're not the best available and you'll more than likely eventually turn to something like an AutoCal (a handheld EFI-live format tune) from a good tuner..I know your type....
That being said, there's a couple different things you can do with tune options;
You can
Get the ECM tuned with a single towing based tune and leave it alone
You can get a DSP-2 switch which will allow you 2 different tunes to choose from on the fly (DSP= duramax selectable programming)
Or you can get a DSP-5 switch which would allow up to 5 different tunes to choose from...
Stock trans "safe" tunes usually are as follows: optimized stock, heavy tow +50hp, light tow +90hp, street +110hp and "race" +130hp (hp rated at the wheels)
Built trans tunes are very similar for the first 3 positions, however the last two are a completely different realm of power, usually something like +150-160 for the street tune and up to +230whp for the race tune!!!
Be warned that the Allison doesn't like anything much over 90whp more than stock, it's a purpose built to perfection (for it's purpose) transmission and if ya want to play, ya gotta pay. But once the trans is built, your stock engine, injectors and turbo can support well north of 200whp with the appropriate bolt on's (like a lift pump, exhaust, EGR blocker/delete, downpipe etc)
Tuning plays an integral role in how everything survives, so picking a tuner is really one of the most important things you'll do...
There are 2 tuners I prefer and I'd be happy to share them in a PM
Other than tuning, there are a couple things I believe to be important first mods
Your stock airbox can support anything a "trans safe" tune can require, you need to look up the "PPE duramax free air intake mod" and doing this will allow your engine to breath up to 550 whp, so don't waste money on an intake, you should also know that the Donaldson air filter is awesome, replacing it might be a downgrade
And an exhaust is nice, not totally necessary, but worth a few ponies and a little less back pressure which equates to less EGT's when towing, definitely a bonus for a tow rig. I've had a couple exhaust systems and I prefer the MBRP 4" systems sound the best, good tone, nearly no drone and fits well
A lift pump should be something on your radar, not so much for performance, but more to safeguard your fuel system and relieve the high pressure fuel pump of sucking fuel from the tank all the way to the engine. Adding a lift pump will add longevity to your high pressure fuel system components which are arguably the most expensive parts of the engine (CP3 and injectors) and can dramatically affect it's performance
The PCV re-route is a really good thing to do, but there's more than one way to do it and in my experience dumping to the ground is a shit way to do it, I'd much rather run it into the downpipe, there's threads here about that...running into the DP will eliminate he oil spots you'd get dumping to the atmosphere/ground and also eliminate the smell you get dumping it to the atmosphere
Depending on what you have to do for emissions, for your current goals and power level doing a complete EGR delete may not be for you, you can block the EGR off and have almost the exact same benefit/affect as a complete delete kit offers for a fraction of the price and effort and it's an easily reversible procedure that will allow you to smog your rig in a matter of a 1/2 hours worth of effort :hug:
So IMHO
Start with a good tune, the intake mod, a PCV re-route, EGR blocker, an exhaust and possibly a downpipe and a lift pump and that will get you more than on your way to becoming a diesel geek!
You're gonna love the benefit of having a tow tune and utilizing a turbo brake while towing, you'll really love the power that becomes available and your truck will quickly become more capable and something much greater than you ever imagined!
Warning
Modding a diesel is hazardous to your bank account and hazardous to any relationships that you currently have with any and all around you...proceed with caution
:angel:
