Tow vehicle performance

[Juan]

My tow truck is a 2010 Dodge Ram that on a good day gets 9-10 mpg when pulling the boat and 15-16 on the road with nothing in tow. I'm considering trying one of those tuner / programmer / superchip things. I've read they increase horsepower, torque and mileage and a lot of other things but I'm not convinced they actually work. Does anyone run an upgraded chip or have any experience with these tuners?
tuner

[mosquito13]

I helped a friend install a bullydog tuner in his Rumble B . Truck was ridiculous before with a bunch of mechanical mods: cam, cold air intake, long tube headers, throttle body, lower gear ratio in the pumpkin... . He has had the truck from new 2004. Ez install. Lots of "tuning" for different use applications for download. One we installed held up to ten tunes he could choose from  for the type of driving to be done . Feature I really liked, allows to change shift points which is cool.This could be used to increase or decrease your mpg and towability or 60 foot times. In performance mode you have to burn premium(or race gas), we filled with non ethanol and definitely could feel the difference with the seat of the pants dyno. Think he runs it in stock tune mode most of the time so's to burn regular. You get what you pay for with chips and tuner boxes. He paid around $450 and that was a couple years ago. I am converting my 65 f100's built 351 windsor to EFI and learning a lot on tuning with Holley's sniper kit(it is self learning , but allows you to tweak with a tablet). Best recommendation is to write down what you hope to get your truck to do better and call Jegs or Summit's tech line and talk. Jegs helped me settle on the sniper kit. Since then I bet I have been on the phone with Holley tech support for over 2 hours with three calls. Never felt rushed or talked down to. A cold air intake makes a world of difference on the cheap.

[Juan]

Thanks skeeter. I know NOTHING about them and that helped. Are the tuning applications built for your vehicle and do they come with the tuner? How hard are they to install? Good advice on calling tech support. I'm mainly looking to increase the mpg both while towing and not while still using regular ethanol fuel, anything else is great but just gravy.
The Jury is still out on the cold air intake. I still haven't ruled it out but have looked into that in depth in the past and was told to make much improvement in performance, I'd have to modify or change the current exhaust system. Don't want to do that. I do run a K&N filter.

[mosquito13]

It is all about the flow. I modified the air box on my van and also use a K&N. Cold airs give you 5-15%. Cheap horsepower which can equate to better mpq if you are light footed. 10 mpg is pretty good IMO. Lot of them come tuned for specific vehicle. I am more geared toward get to speed. I wonder if etrailer.com sells something. Might call them , again killer phone support. They hooked me up when looking to replace and add axle/brakes on my vintage 64 camper.

[985crabs]

I like the irony of trying to improve the economy of the 10 mpg vehicle(truck)to make it more efficient to deploy and use the 4 mpg vehicle (boat).

Aiyeeeeee!

[Juan]

Jul 19, 2019 7:00:49 GMT -6 985crabs said:

I like the irony of trying to improve the economy of the 10 mpg vehicle(truck)to make it more efficient to deploy and use the 4 mpg vehicle (boat).

Aiyeeeeee!

That's a fact Jack! rofl It could be worse and be the other way around. I'm trying to offset Alabama's new 10¢ a gallon tax!

[mosquito13]