OTT…is there a downside?

It has no effect on a manual transmission. It will however affect the torque curve.

 

Yeah I'm not talking about my truck, I'm trying to understand the experience someone else had with theirs.

 

Why do you say that?

 

Tunes are usually power/performance related. Changing shift points, power curve, response to throttle time...etc. You can tune a vehicle (like diesels) for optimal towing, but thats not what a OTT tunes do.

Regearing lets the truck operate under all its normal parameters, but make the efficiency go up as it turns the larger wheels or heavier load on the truck without the need for more power. Tacomas arent power beasts, so wanting more power isnt unheard of for this platform, however sometimes "more power" isnt the correct fix.

What is the daily/usual driving that the vehicle will see?

 

How is addressing the gear hunting, changing the shift points for better power delivery, and adding power not good for towing and hauling?

 

What any of the "name" tunes will do is adjust the ECU so the vehicle operates as it should have, stock, direct from the factory. If you need to re-gear, have at it, but most of us tune runners are happier with truck performance, post-tune, whether daily driving or tow/hauling.

 

Thanks, that is how I pretty much read every OTT thread, “Best thing since sliced bread”. But I read it as “Hell yea, anything is better than what I had”… which is correct in most cases, but…. Some fail to look at all of the picture, so I’m glad to hear what I was kind of thinking..
Were there any that remedied this issue. I always felt the stock tune shifted too early for the engine as well, and the lack of ass off the bottom only made it worse.

 

Having tuned multiple vehicles and changed gearing in multiple vehicles, I don't see these as mutually exclusive and in some cases both would be ideal. I also don't know why you say OTT doesn't tune for towing or "usind a truck as a truck"--that's exactly the kind of claim OTT makes. I really don't see changing gears being a replacement for a tune or vice versa.

 

Just do it, you’ll be glad you did. Totally different truck with the tune. They can also customize it for your needs if you want that.

 

Tune a vehicle for towing and try to daily the truck without a load and you will notice it. Vice versa, tune a vehicle for more power and when you put a heavier load on the back to tow it will be putting power down instead of increasing efficiency. Gears works both circumstances the same without the vehicle knowing or acting differently. One is a mechanical fix (gears) the other is an electrical/ECM programming that doesnt change anything but the sensors/internal electronics that tell the truck when to do certain things and to apply more power. Power isnt always the "fix" and if warranty coverage or dealership maintenance is going to be used (IE not changing fluids and doing maintenance on your own), a tune can void or cause more issues than gears will.

 

have the OTT tune in mine and don't care much for it, at low speeds the truck lunges forward like someone learning how to drive a stick shift for the first time. i really hate to even drive it, thinking about having it taken back out and go back to stock and go back to 5 gear with ECT on, was happier with that

 

Yes it does

 

what setting

auto or manual

 

auto trans. mild setting

 

it has been said, that the Tacoma (my gen at least)
has throttle map deadspace delay, overfueling, among other things
A regear, which I have, does not change that.
Maybe not even the most accurate pedal. Hence why stuff like pedalcommander exist and people use it.

Dealer? Never been there. No reason to. I have washer fluid.

it is said to add power. Period. Regardless of what the throttle setting is.
See Audi B6 A4 or any other. They get tuned. They make more power.

they have other settings available.

 

Not an apples to apples comparison. Turbocharged vehicles when tuned can increase boost pressure along with timing and fueling changes. OTT claims that there is a power increase on these Tacoma's but I sure don't feel any difference. 15 hp increase on a 4500 lb vehicle as expected wouldn't net any "seat of the pants" increase though.

 

I don’t like to name drop tunes anymore but I’ve tried most of them and I haven’t felt a drastic change in actual torque on any of them. Throttle response, for sure. But that’s the thing, the throttle response tricks people into thinking there is significantly more torque….at first, anyways. When you really get on it, you can tell the motor is bogging just the same as it did in stock form, once you get past the initial wow factor of the more sensitive throttle.

That’s not to say there is NO torque increase, I’m sure there is some as shown on the dyno, but my butt dyno says it’s not a lot. The bogging down is really noticeable on a manual transmission at low speed in 2nd or 3rd gear. Pedal to the floor and basically get nothing in return. Very annoying and no tune has been able to fix or really even change that. I think there are simply limits as to what VF Tuner can do/edit and as to what safeguards the ECM has in place which can’t be removed.

 

Agreed. Considering you also did 5.29's, what are your opinions on that modification?

 

Wouldn’t change it

I can still get the truck to bog down plenty, sadly. The ECM just plain doesn’t like a lot of throttle at low rpm. But it’s a lot better than it was. For a permanent setup, I have settled on stock tune, 5.29, and a raised redline by about 600 rpm on the stock file. That allows me to still use 3rd gear up to reasonable passing speeds (85 or so). I do run premium fuel, I feel it helps a bit with the boggy feel and less retarding of timing.

The gears are nice because this motor wants high revs and the gears both 1) help you get there quicker and 2) obviously more wheel torque so the higher rpm that you reach more quickly can apply that to the wheels with more torque. There is no denying the change a regear makes, that’s for sure.

I wish I could get more out of the motor but I’ve pretty much come to accept it for what it is.

 

Bring it up to 5000 feet, or even 7500, then you really get the full enjoyment of the unbelievably dissapointing powertrain. But at least the seats are terrible. I love my truck