[Official] Valley Tuning Thread

Sounds like a plan.

I know next month I’ll be setting up dyno days for different versions of my tune. It would be interesting to see how a MT truck does on it

 

Going to flash 2.03 today, thanks!

 

I have been on this tune for about 2 weeks now and I am fully impressed with it. It is amazing how different the truck runs and drives. I have tried many of the tunes being sold on this forum and for my truck and driving style this tune is the best all around, hands down. Thanks Jeff you have a extremely happy customer on this end.

 

I'm glad to see another guy impressed with this tune I too was in the same boat trying all these different tunes and finally @TermLimits had my driving style and mpgs I'm running premium tune and love it trying to figure out where to drive today lol

 

Need to get some miles on the tune. 1st thing I noticed was the pedal, it is more responsive. Ill report back after a few tanks.

 

Installed the VR tune for @vinces_ego today, all went great, drives like a new truck. Hope to get some reports after a few tanks of gas.

 

initial thoughts are outstanding so far and bulleted below. the truck drives completely different in a good way. i've driven on the stock "tune" for the past 5 years / 90k miles, so i've gotten used the trucks inadequacies. not an expert in tuning or performance in any way, so excuse the laymans terms

• the lag from takeoff is completely gone on the standard/moderate "tip-in". it gives me significantly more confidence crossing opposing lanes of traffic from a dead stop. surprised me more than once one the drive back.
• my truck used to live in ECT mode on the highway. the rolling hills of PA also had me constantly switching to S4 to maintain speed. that being said, i didnt use either on the way back and i can't remember taking a long drive where that has been the case. i can finally climb and maintain speed in 5th gear. feels ridiculous to say, but thats never been the case. the truck will actually shift to 6th before i crest a hill. the tune appears to have really opened up the trucks capabilities in 5th. gear hunting is GONE.
• i might have significantly exceeded posted speed on the turnpike and felt that "kick" that i've seen others talk about. a pleasant surprise to know its there.
• @Grossomotto did a great job explaining the process step by step. made the tune painless. was in and out including the test drive in 45 minutes, but was incredibly accomodating.

 

Just got back from NYC and drove across PA today. Nasty headwinds through the hills on 78 and 80.

Glad you enjoy the tune, it definitely comes in handy around the rust belt

 

yeah, i didn't make mention of gas mileage for that reason and the fact that i was driving less than efficiently testing out the tune. outstanding job on the tune and your work is much appreciated.

 

Well thank you.

The trick is to set it and forget it mostly on the highway. In PA and OH especially, we need 4th gear to make it up these damn hills/mountains. If the truck doesn't shift up after the hill, it has a reason regarding load requirement or pedal percentage. Today, the wind was so bad it needed 4th downhill a few times. If you take the cruise off, you watched the speed drop like you were slamming on brakes. If you can't tell I hate the wind in our states haha

 

ah, tested that too and forgot to mention it! i did 20 miles or so in cruise and the truck behaved smoother than id ever felt. really really impressive. only bad thing about this is that my commute to work is less than 5 miles these days, which means ill have to make more excuses for road trips. the feeling is mutual on the damn wind.

 

Yes here on washington coast we get winds constantly threw the year

 

I'm normally not surprised by headwinds forcing the truck to use 5th downhill, but on the very rare occasion it needs 4th to go downhill I like to take cruise off and watch it slow from 77 to 58 in a blink.

I remember the OEM tune would fight headwinds in 3rd at 5500 rpm. Sketchy stuff there

 

Omg yeah definitely do not miss stock tune

 

Any news on gear lock?

I had to go back to KDMAX6.0 just for the gear lock. I have some hills to/from my house that it really helps not having it always drop to 4th on certain areas.

 

Finalizing the MT tunes in the next day or so then I'll make gear lock

 

So I’ve been doing a lot of testing for @TermLimits. Highly recommend using his tune. I’m on the next version y’all are going to see down the road and it is awesome. Smooth driving. Predictable gear shifting. ECT is what I need it to be on hills. Engine knocks are so much better than stock and others out there, and while I’m sure the knocks don’t ultimately do any damage as the OEM tune has a lot, it’s peace of mind knowing they’re much much better.

Some background details. I have a HEAVY truck and live in a hilly part of Missouri. Everyday I drive an 8% grade to and from my house to work. I just weighted my truck with an empty aluminum trailer and it weighted 7660 lbs. The truck moves great with the tune and I’m averaging about 15 mpg’s. I’m on 35’s. 3 in lift. 5.29’s. HPS intake (for testing reasons) and OV Dump tubes. Before this tune 13’s was a pretty typical mpg. Not now.

 

Great review bud

 

*** Announcement ***

Manual Transmission Release

All manual transmission files have been completed and testing is wrapping up. So far we have been able to nearly replicate 100% of the tune feel from the automatics, the difference being that shifts are controlled by the user.

As of today the MT version of Valley Runner is available for all ECU IDs, please note that during the next week or so changes to these files may occur.

*Note*
To MT drivers: An automatic truck with 3.90 gears will cruise around the following speed/rpm combos. Keeping the truck above these ranges may negatively affect mpgs.

40mph - 1850-2k rpm
50mph - 1600-1850 rpm
60mph - 1700-1900rpm
70mph - 1900-2100rpm
80mph - 2200-2300rpm

The MT 4.30 gears will be slightly higher than this, however if mpgs are the goal for you please be mindful of your rpm.


General rule of thumb for 3rd Gen trucks: 2k+ rpm is death for fuel economy.

-----------------------

What's Next?

We will begin working on the website to alleviate some of the delay in processing tune purchases

Gear lock will be an option soon, but we will not be dedicating our full efforts to this just yet.

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Thank you for the continued support and feedback, there will be more to come in the near future. As seen in a few posts on this thread, some of our more modified test trucks have begun testing future tunes and other variants.

 

*** Updates ***

Gear Lock is now an available add on for all AT trucks. There will not be pre-made files for this option available anytime soon, therefore each add on needs to be done manually like in the past.

* Gear Lock Instructions & Disclaimer *
Gear lock will render the ECT power button useless. When ECT is activated, you MUST be in S mode to shift the truck manually. While it will not completely rely on user input, the failsafes in the tune should not be used extensively.

Valley Tuning is not responsible for any damage to vehicles related to the use of the Gear Lock add-on.

In order to properly use gear lock:

1. Activate ECT power
2. Move shifter over to S mode
3. Down shift to an appropriate gear
4. Upshift when the truck reaches an appropriate RPM

It should also be noted that Gear Lock DOES NOT provide any benefit to the truck or tune outside of the user’s own personal satisfaction. Low RPM does not always mean better MPG and less stress. 5th gear at 23mph will get you 11mpg while 3rd gear at the same speed will get roughly 16-18mpg.

Keeping the vehicle in a higher gear with more than 35% pedal input will result in a calculated engine load over 70%. Over extended periods of time, this may result in higher knock values and excessive transmission wear.

————————

*** Octane Independent Tuning ***

We have reached a point with in house testing that has shown more promise than ever before.

OI tunes will be coming in the future to the Valley Tuning lineup. These tunes will function on octanes from 86-93 with the benefits scaling evenly with each. The hope for these tunes are to provide the user peace of mind in knowing that they are not locked into one fuel type. It also will cut down on the number of tune variants required to be produced by us.

Once OI tunes get through Alpha testing in house, we will be selecting a handful of our test trucks to participate in a limited beta of OI.