Sluggish with 275/70r17 tires, rock sliders and tonneau. Will a tune help?

I wanted to know if a tune would help my Tacoma. Very common question yes but I wanted a pretty specific answer to my current build and weight. I have 275/70r17 ko2s with cali raised rock sliders and a diamond back cover. Does not seem like that much weight added but after all this it is now pretty sluggish.

 

If you regeared to 4.56's you will get all your throttle back and then some

 

@FishingInSand if the tune won’t change much then I will just wait until I have the money to regear. Regearing is from what I’ve seen really pricey so I wanted to know if a tune would make any difference, or enough to feel satisfied until I saved up for a regear.

 

Yeah I can only comment on what I've done, but on 34's Weldon sliders and a steel rear bumper my truck is way faster and has much more torque then stock.
I think tuning shows improvement,but without performance modifications to tap into I think you'll see minimal gains, at the end of the day it's the same engine/exhaust without any boost to possibly make more power.

 

@FishingInSand i see, thanks for your advice, I’ll probably just wait and save the 500 for the future regear. I believe if you tune before regearing you’d have to retune? I’ll just wait.

 

Regearing and tune solves the issue. Regear first. Tune second.

 

@TacomaWorld2023 i see, thanks for the advice. Sadly that’ll be way down the road for me. Was hoping tune would do at least something. One day though!

 

A tune definitely will help you with the sluggish response. Your setup is not heavy by any means and most likely after getting a tune done you will not see the need of re-gearing anymore. I personally have tuned and driven some heavy trucks on 35" tires, both re-geared and with stock gears. Those tuned without a re-gear felt much better than stock with a re-gear. If you get the OTT tune and re-gear down the road they will re-flash the truck free of charge to the correct gear setting.

 

@dave82at i see, does KD do the free re-flash? Or is it only OTT? And if they both do it for free what would you recommend?

 

I can't comment if KD currently does free re-flashes. Sent you a PM.

 

I did a tune after going 285/75/16s and it really brought the truck to life. That tune also included the installation of a supercharger with a smaller pulley, long tube headers, and a higher flowing fuel pump.

I doubt just a tune is going to do much for you. JustDSM did the tune for me fwiw.

 

Yes a tune will make a big difference. And if you add gears later on, a reflash with the gear settings is free.

 

@stickyTaco im getting 2 different answers, a bit confused now. Did you happen to get all of that in one install? Or did it happen one after another? If it was separate, how did just the tune feel?

 

@PapaRee Cool! Good to know.

 

The supercharger, pulley, headers, fuel pump, and tune all went in at the same time. The tune was specific for the mods.

I think if you're not planning on a supercharger the tune should happen after a regear...gearing will give you a noticeable improvement over a standalone tune.

 

You don't' say but the new tires are probably heavier E rated tires that could be 15-20 lbs heavier each. That extra weight combined with about 5% more diameter takes a lot more power to get moving. The other weight you've added doesn't help.

 

I know when I jumped from the factory 3.73 to 4.56 with true 34" nittos even with Weldon sliders and a steel rear bumper my truck is waaaay peppier low end up to around 60ish mph.

 

@Marshall R yes they are E. So are you saying that a tune wouldn’t really help by itself?

 

@FishingInSand

i really do wish I could regear rn, but that’s pretty far down the road for me at the moment. Maybe sooner though as where I work got a payment adjustment!

 

A tune will help your vehicle with the new additions, but if you were to regear you would have to retune the vehicle again. A regear and tune should do the trick for you. It is definitely a pricey addition but one that is well worth it to protect your rig.