Overland Torque Tune (OTT) by Overland Tailor

If mpg is your #1 priority, do not modify your truck at all. In fact, downsize tires to 245’s, get the lightest tires you can find, leave suspension and everything stock.

Tuning for mpg gain as #1 priority is a tricky bet. Most people have lifted and added weight, causing stock truck to run 4th gear and higher rpm more often. Tuning adds some power and changes shift logic allowing 5th and 6th gear more at lower rpm’s at highway speeds. That’s where most see mpg gains. If you’re doing highway miles a tune will likely help due to improved shift logic and improved engine efficiency. But if you are stop and go city driving, all bets are off.

 

I get a lot of this from my customers...quite frankly I will not EVER guarantee any claims about MPG (gains, losses, or same)...everyone has different driving habits/styles and different commutes. I even make my customers sign a disclaimer that in the event of a loss they are not entitled to any refunds and I will put them back to stock accordingly if they are not sastified otherwise.

Gaining MPG wasn't the point of the tune and I don't believe it was at any point taken into consideration. You are however getting many other benefits of making the truck less frustrating to drive. If you aren't willing to sacrafice a small loss for gains in other areas (power/torque, buttery smooth shifting, better overall manners), then it might not be for you.

With that being said, you might get better, you might stay the same - hard to say as there are so many factors at play that dictate what MPG you are getting.

 

The feedback is much appreciated! Means the world to us that you guys are pleased and have the trucks working the way you want them too. If there's anything else we can do in the future please let us know!

That's pretty much the jist of it! These are just the "standard" offerings. We can mix-n-match if you've got something specific in mind, and if the standard offerings aren't quite your flavor we are more than willing to make something specific for you.

To touch on the MPG concerns and how our tune offering fits into the picture. I agree with the posts above from @BortisYeltzen and @SearArtist have stated. If you're sole interest is in improving MPG our offering might not be what you need.

Our tune was specifically developed to improve low end/midrange torque even at low pedal input angles (not just WOT dyno pulls). Getting more low end torque means moving additional airflow through the engine and additional airflow must be met with additional fuel. Simply put, mileage is inversely proportional to the power and torque of your engine. There are some specific strategies that can be employed to help improve efficiency to a degree, but there's just no way to have meaningful improvements in engine output and improve fuel economy at the same time.

Our priority in developing OTT's tune offering was to improve the 2GR-FKS low end torque. We focused on this area while still being mindful of the impacts to efficiency/economy, but our strategy was to improve low-midrange torque production while optimizing our shift scheduling to get the truck up to speed, over hills, etc. without having to get heavy in the throttle to maintain speeds. We felt this would improve the driver experience while also being mindful of how the truck uses fuel.

In some instances/situations this can lead to nice improvements in fuel economy, and in others you might see a little less. It is, as mentioned, very situation dependent.

 

I'm almost back to stock at 5400 lbs with stock gears and 315/75/16 mickey Thompson Baja legend exp's

 

I drive mostly hwy 60mph to 70mph

 

JB
Your write up on post 186 was good. You are motivating me to get a tune. What does it mean to get mild/medium or a lite/mild setup?

JB
Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm hoping to still get feedback from tuning users regarding their MPG gains or losses.

I want to thank everyone for their insight and your responses to my inquiry.

 

If some of the more technically-advanced folks can give me pointers on how to either get cubic-inches-of-fuel-burned-per-mile data directly from the ECU (using HPtuners hardware / software) or via a third-party solution such as a highly accurate in-line fuel flow meter, please advise. I would like to do carefully-controlled & thoroughly documented comparisons of stock vs. OTT7 tunes w/ different terrain, weather conditions, tires, etc., accompanied by GPS track & altitude logging, VCM Scanner logs, etc.

If I can figure a way to get very accurate fuel consumption over fairly short distances (a couple of miles,) I could repeat & iterate upon test setups & runs much more quickly. (And also use less fuel and less time overall.)

 

I have run my first tank of fuel after loading the OTT 7.0 tune. I won’t give a whole review yet just because I need more time driving it to give a full honest review. BUT I will tell you it’s way way better than stock. My first tank of fuel isn’t a good preview of what it will and can be BUT my truck is new and has 1300 miles on it. I have ran four tanks of fuel. I keep detailed logs of fuel mileage at each fill up. The first three stock tune fuel mileage was an average of 21.3 mpg. The first tank on the tune was 20.52 mpg. So first off with this tank of fuel I first loaded the lite throttle tune and drove it 100 miles. Then I flashed the mild throttle for another 175 miles then back to lite for the last of the tank. Take into account I let the truck idle for 15 min after each flash so 45 min total. Then did a quick trip around the block. I also drove a bit more aggressive I guess you could say during the time I had the mild throttle setting. Ok so with all of that I would say I lost mileage from the idling and the more aggressive driving. Whew sorry turned into a longer post than I was thinking BUT damn don’t wait get a tune you won’t regret it. Like I said once I get more miles on the tune I will give my review about shifting, power and fuel mileage.

 

Thanks for the post.
I look forward to reading your future posts! I agree that your first tank is not normal driving (excessive idle and aggressive testing). Do you prefer the lite or the mild? What will you keep after testing both?

 

Both good questions. Can’t really answer yet but leaning towards lite right now. Mild will always be a button push away.

 

Any chance the OTT guys will be in or near Sioux Falls SD in the near future?

 

There are just too many variables to really compare any 1 truck to another, especially with different drivers, trucks, weather, elevations, wind, fuel quality etc.. the only variable that can be used to measure is between an owners stock tune, and the current tune they are running. I can't directly compare the stock tune to OTT, because I had many different tunes in between them, but a am quite conscious on fuel consumption in my truck. So far I am seeing very close to stock numbers on OTT. last year I was running KDMax, and I did see a very slight improvement over stock, but I might've been trying harder to see if I can pull better average numbers. It's the only real thing that I've never been satisfied with for the amount it uses, to the output you get in return.

I came from a long line of full sized 1/2 ton trucks (last few were Ford Ecoboost 3.5L) putting out 385ish hp and weighed 500lbs more than the taco, and they would average better economy numbers. The biggest downfall of these Tacoma's is the relatively ultra low gear ratios that have such high driveline shaft speeds, which creates a lot of wasted friction. The new Tundra finally ditched the 4.30 axle for a 3.55 (I think) to reduce the driveline losses, and follow the path of the American trucks. Toyotas also don't use IWE's (integrated wheel ends) to disconnect the CV shafts, so again, there is always a driveline loss there as well.

The only way I've seen any real and consistent increase in mileage was to use a 91 octane rating ethanol free fuel. In Canada we cannot buy 87 octane without an ethanol blend of some sort, so use the app PUREGAS to find stations selling non ethanol fuels in your areas to see if it helps. Ethanol is just an alcohol that when burnt, gives hardly any BTW energy at all when compared to gasoline. So, when the companies add 10% to your fuel by volume, you are theoretically throwing away say 9ish % of your potential efficiency numbers. At the current fuel prices we pay, the difference to upgrade to premium is really almost exactly 10% in cost, so by not buying the ethanol and getting pure gas, plus the benefit of the learning tunes to optimize efficiency on 91 octane, it gets really close to break even.

 

Thanks for these reflections & tips. I've always found it amazing & chagrinning that some of these massive American beast machines can get as-good-or-better MPG than lighter-weight Tacos.

 

We couldn't be happier for you. Glad to hear Alex was top-notch!

It's possible a custom PID could be created for the ECU to report that, but currently there are no scanners capable of reporting that via CANBUS (that I'm aware of).

The most you're going to get out the factory ECU at the moment is an injector pulse width at varying sampling rates depending on the other PIDS and the number of them that you're polling. Its data, but not lab grade data. For this, type of data acquisition, you'll likely need a standalone data acquisition system that has a much higher sampling rate than the OE ECU can support.

 

Wanted to try your tune but Mat at VF tune denied my request to trade in my dongle saying not accepting dongle trade ins for VF license at this time and can’t afford to pay someone else to install a tune.
Out 700$
Just completely sucks

 

In all fairness, Mat had that trade in offer for nearly a year if not more, and tons of people took him up on it. Sorry you got burned, but there was a long fuse on his offer before it expired.

 

Yep your correct but never received an email about it.
Only posted on the forums
Since I was an OG dongle guy I was hoping he would make an exception.
Sometimes life gets in the way and time flies.

 

Mat just emailed me saying I can upgrade for free.
He’s taking care of me and I’m very thankful.
Hoping to try your tune soon.

 

@Boltripper, aren't you working on setting up a tuner in the Dakotas? I forget the status though. I could be mistaken.