Best tuner/chip for 2005 cummins 5.9L

[LD1]

I know there are some diesel truck buffs on this forum. What is the best chip/tuner/programmer for a 2005 5.9L cummins?

I know nothing about chips. Dont want something that is gonna prematurely wear out the drive-train. Just looking for something for a tad more power to maintain speed on some grades without the transmission wanting to hunt for gears. Truck is currently bone stock, And weighs 8k, towing the gooseneck and tractor. Depending on how tractor is equipped, a range of 12.5k to 14k load behind the truck.

Better fuel economy would be a plus to. But dont know the science behind how these programmers work. Alot claim more power AND better mileage. But dont more power require MORE fuel?

 

[rustyshakelford]

When I had my 06 I added pillar gauges. Pyro, boost and trans temp. Isspro was the brand I think. Favorite programmer was a smarty s-06. It was undetectable at the time to the dealer of warranty issues came up. Wasn't switch on the fly but was always a good strong tune. Pulled all the time without issue. Edge makes a decent one with built in gauges, only thing I'll say is stay away from super chips. It was terrible

Brett

 

[dieselcrawler]

First off, I'm a Ford guy... so don't know much about the Cummins. But my experience with my ford's, I've run a chip, not a programmer. The difference being, a chip is permanently installed (but easily removed if you want) and often has several tunes or power settings that can be easily selected and often changed on-the-fly. (I have settings for Stock tune, 1200 RPM high idle, 40hp (or 60 hp, depending on the truck) towing, deceleration (closes butterfly valve in turbo to act like Jake brake, and locks torque converter in every gear for max engine braking effect) 80hp economy daily driver, and on my F250, 120hp race tune, rarely used. This is with a DP Tuner F5 chip on both trucks. Need one for the Excursion...

A programmer is just that, a device that can remove and store the stock programming, and replace it with your chosen performance program. Normally takes a few minutes to do, while parked/engine off/key on.

All 3 major brands have transmission issues, and I encourage you to make sure that whatever option you choose, it modifies the trans programming as well as engine, so they work better and together with the added HP. Torque converter lock up, shift points, etc, all play a big part in longer trans life. I had an Edge programmer in our excursion when we bought it, it made more engine power, but the trans shifted terrible, to the point I removed it, to save the trans.

There's lots to learn... read as much as you can, that 5.9 is d@mn good motor... last of the best, from what others tell me. Good luck.

 

[dieselcrawler]

X2 what Brett said... gauges!

 

[dodge man]

I owned a 2004 Cummins up until about a year ago. I had an Edge chip on mine, it worked well, but I'm not sure how hard it is on the truck. I read a lot of stuff on the Cummins forums and these are often called "pressure boxes" They ramp up the injection pressure and can be hard on injectors. I've also read this is a myth and they were fine. Bully Dog and Edge were common ones.

At the time EFI Live was considered all the rage. Its somewhat of a custom tune with something like a 4 position switch to control what you get. You get say a power tune, fuel mileage, stock, towing tune etc. I was thinking 2006 was the oldest EFI Live went back though.

This is the forum I used to do a lot of reading on. Lots of good info. http://www.cumminsforum.com/

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I had an edge juice with attitude and an mp-8 on mine at the time. Stacking was the most common way to make horsepower and I had a standard transmission so I didn't care much about that. I did have a SouthBend 3600 dual disk to handle the power though. I never blew anything up, but I never ran more than the "towing" tune whenever I hooked up to a load. you may want to look into getting a better fuel pump as well.

 

[dodge man]

Stacking chips has pretty much been proven to be a bad idea. You never know what is going on. For those that don't know what stacking is, you put to chips, or a chip and a tuner on a truck. The problem is usually with the rail pressure.

 

[LD1]

Was doing some reading on the smarty S06. couple of questions..

Q1. With it being a tuner that hooks to OBD port, does it need to stay hooked up? Once I select a power level, if unhooked does it revert back to stock programming?

Q2. Does it modify any tranny stuff.

I dont like the current shift characteristics of the 4-speed auto. Even under normal driving, it seems like it should shift sooner. About 2500RPM and it seems to fall flat even when just a nice easy acceleration. It absolutely wont shift to 4th unless over 50MPH. So I often find myself getting to 50-55MPH and having to let off the pedal so it will shift and I can continue accelerating. And when towing, if climbing a grade that requires a downshift, it seems like it always downshifts 2 gears then immediately back up one gear.

Kinda hard to describe, but anyone with a 4-speed auto and 5.9L cummins probably knows exactly what I am talking about.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Stacking chips has pretty much been proven to be a bad idea. You never know what is going on. For those that don't know what stacking is, you put to chips, or a chip and a tuner on a truck. The problem is usually with the rail pressure.

I haven't looked into it in years, but I ran it that way for over 50k miles with no issues. I didn't have the fuel to support them and I sold that truck with over 180k on the clock. I also didn't run them wide open very often. I did have gauges to monitor as many things as possible to try and prevent any issues.

 

[showcattle]

I haven't bought one, yet, but this is what's been recommended to me as least damaging.

Smarty Jr - The Best Programmer for the 5.9 and 6.7 Cummins