SCT Tuner install done - WOW!

Based on what I've read over the last few months, and on a testimonial from another V10 owner, I went ahead and picked up a SCT tuner from Hemifever for my 2002 V10 2500 QC. I posted before about my disappointment with this truck from a pulling/acceleration standpoint a few months back. Considering the numbers, 310hp/450tq, I thought this truck would do well for me right out of the box. It didn't.

Now, my truck wasn't stock when I bought it. It had a 3" suspension lift, cat-back exhaust and 35" tires. The axle's were equipped with 3.55 gears. With this setup, the truck was a flat-out pig. Honestly, I think a stock 318 equipped 1/2 ton would out tow this thing and would certainly out accelerate it. Ya, I know, it sounds like I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. To give you an idea of how piggy this truck was, it actually had a hard time spinning the rear tires in gravel. No joke, no exaggeration.

I lived with the truck like this for a while, but about a month ago I set out to see if there was any 'hidden' power in the truck. If there was, I was going to keep it as other than the lack of power, I really like this truck. So the first thing I did was to get rid of the cat-back and both converters. I went straight duals with a pair of Thrush turbo's. I also picked up a K&N FIPK to open up the intake side. And lastly, I took the truck to Meridian Off Road in Butler PA for a ring and pinion install.

With the 4.10's, exhaust and intake, the truck woke up a bit. Still underpowered IMO, but much more livable. It towed better and climbed hills much better, both on and off road.

I commute from Pittsburgh, PA to Logan, WV for my job. The interstate on that trip is hilly and in it's original form, the truck would have to come out of OD probably 50 times, or more, per trip, in order to maintain speed on the hills. After the intake, exhaust and gears, that probably cut down to 20 times. Not bad, but I still can't believe that this engine can't maintain speed in OD?

So I finally got in touch with Hemifever about a tuner. Of course, my trucks PCM wasn't in SCT's database (they didn't even list a V10 for that year!), but HF got in touch with the SCT folks and along with a file I extracted with the handheld tuner, was able to create a tune.

All I can say is - HOLY HIDDEN POWER BATMAN! With the very first tune (mild to start) the truck was totally transformed. Grunt down low had to be double what it was before, it revs to 4500 and actually pulls all the way up there now (never did before - was a waste to shift at anything over 3500-4000 rpms before) and really moves out now!

We played around with this tune and after 3 or 4 revisions, the truck is now what I thought it would be when I bought it. It has a very diesel-like power band in that it's there NOW - the second you mash the gas, and pull HARD to 4k rpms. Remember above where I mentioned the in-and-out of OD the truck did going down to Logan? GONE. Not only can I stay in OD on each and every hill, but I can gain speed with pedal to spare! Unbelievable!

I don't know what it is that Dodge does with these PCM's, but to think that there is that much power to tap by adjusting timing and fuel trims is remarkable. I know that with this being a speed density system that the PCM can't really adjust to the exhaust and intake stuff like a MAF system can, but still - wow.

Any V10 folks out there looking for more power, get a SCT tuner from Hemifever. I wish I had done it in the spring instead of waiting 'till fall!

Great writeup! I plan on getting one, but I'm going to have to wait a while. Gotta a few things to do to the truck first. The first of which is gears. Like you, I have the 3:55's and HATE them! I want to go with 4:56's. After that, gonna do heads, rollers, ingnition, open the intake, open the exhaust and THEN to the tune.

Anyone have a winning lotto ticket they can spare?

BTW, how much did the re-gear set you back if you don't mind me asking?

I was originally going to go with 4.56s, but I would have had to purchase new carrier's as well (with the 3.55 carrier, 4.10 was the limit), and I had a hard limit to what I wanted to spend. As it was, the total cost was $1600. Gears, seals, new carrier bearings, labor, etc...



Dave

Hmm...That makes me think a bit. How much would new carriers have run?

There has been quite a few v10 folks scared of going with SCT. They get good results. This was a good write up

Hemifever - how many V10's have used your tunes? The above review is very interesting but I'd like to hear from more than just one person.

Question - do you have the ability to disable/override the power management of the factory PCM? I've heard that's a big limitation.

Now that you've done the tunes referenced above, do you think you can get more out of them? This is good stuff - thanks for helping out the V10 community!

Originally Posted by Ciscodog

Hemifever - how many V10's have used your tunes? The above review is very interesting but I'd like to hear from more than just one person.

Question - do you have the ability to disable/override the power management of the factory PCM? I've heard that's a big limitation.

Now that you've done the tunes referenced above, do you think you can get more out of them? This is good stuff - thanks for helping out the V10 community!

There is nothing special about a v10 tune/pcm. It uses the same pcm code as the 5.2 and 5.9 trucks. And even the v6's for that matter.

Some of the v10 codes have a bunch of tq mgmt arelady removed when compared to a v6 or v8. But what is left can be removed.

The above tune was custom programming because the customer was having trouble with converter lockup/unlock scenarios due to all the hill climbing. Not only could he not go up a hill in o/d, but he'd have to push the pedal so far down to get a downshift for power to return rather than having a converter unlock for the rpm change. But having the power in o/d would be the same in a "can" tune as a custom tune.

Originally Posted by hemifever

There is nothing special about a v10 tune/pcm. It uses the same pcm code as the 5.2 and 5.9 trucks. And even the v6's for that matter.

Some of the v10 codes have a bunch of tq mgmt arelady removed when compared to a v6 or v8. But what is left can be removed.

The above tune was custom programming because the customer was having trouble with converter lockup/unlock scenarios due to all the hill climbing. Not only could he not go up a hill in o/d, but he'd have to push the pedal so far down to get a downshift for power to return rather than having a converter unlock for the rpm change. But having the power in o/d would be the same in a "can" tune as a custom tune.

Huh... even more interesting. Since there's no difference, are you saying that you could use one of the HyperTech programmers for a 5.9L Dakota on the V10 then?

Sounds like a pretty simple process. Thanks again for the info.

That's strange about the stock V10 being gutless. A former neighbor had a 97 with about 6in lift and 35s and he said the power was enormous. Very easy to spin tires. I was jealous! Must've had gears I suppose. Glad you're happy! It's kinda sad the v10 died- it was a cool motor. Had a real unique exhaust sound. Now the furd v10---THAT's gutless!!!

Originally Posted by Ciscodog

Huh... even more interesting. Since there's no difference, are you saying that you could use one of the HyperTech programmers for a 5.9L Dakota on the V10 then?

Sounds like a pretty simple process. Thanks again for the info.

The same 9550 SCT unit will program v6, v8, v10, srt10 trucks, srt10 cars, srt4's, hemi cars and jeeps and trucks, etc. I write a tune based on the need and put it in the tuner. Hypertech sends a can tune that only works in one fashion. When I say the pcm style is the same from v6/v8/v10, it's all a JTEC processor.

I appreciate the info. Sounds like the big advangage to SCT is that you can send us adjusted tunes via email. That really opens the door for flexibility. I like it!