OVTune or KDMAX

@trdquoc did the Dyno run. You can Pm him. I know he has 4.88 gears and 33" mud tires.

 

I think your criticism would be much more valid with butt-dyno experience of the tune. Dyno-ing these 3rd gens is not an easy process if you’ve looked into it. All the nanny systems fight the dyno.

I think you providing criticism after driving stock, OV2.0, and KDMax would carry more weight. There is more to this game than lines on a graph.

 

Yep, doing 80 in the left lane climbing the pass.. Priceless...

 

Y’all do realize the dyno doesn’t apply to daily driving right? These are WOT runs to record HP and torque which is great! For daily driving, data logging is what’s done to record that. You can’t compare apples to apples in this regard.

 

I don't think I even passed 4000 RPMs.

 

Big difference is PapaRee actually has amazing customer service skills. He actually answers emails in one day and follows up to see how you are doing. More then I can say about ovtunes they answer emails a week later.

 

I don’t recall ever being concerned with dyno numbers when I drove my ‘18 Tacoma off the lot. The problem was the fact that the stock tuned truck raced to be in 6th gear and was bogging and stumbling in other gears as well. The OV tunes fixed this to a large extent but KDMax (custom), cured it completely and with bells on! I was able to verify this by comparing how my truck drove on stock and OV tunes to the driveability results from the KDMax.

It’s funny, I guess, but when I requested the tune from @PapaRee , my first thought wasn’t to ask for the dyno results nor have I ever thought about that until I read the @wolf2600 post. When I see that dyno stuff published (I don’t understand it anyways) I say ya, ya, ya, but will this tune do the job? KDMax 6.0, for sure! Definitely not a placebo effect. It actually fixed stuff with proper programming.

 

Dyno numbers is for testing purposes only...

y’all should know that the power is one small part of what OVTune can do...

 

One of these days you may come to realize what’s all these fuzz about kdmax 6.0 and will make you a believer but for now enjoy your 2021 taco which has better shifting than the older tacoma 2016-2019 models. Btw if you’re happy with the stock tune then there’s no need to get the kdmax 6.0 . It’s only for those who want better drivability . A warning though. There’s a high probability once you drive one with the kdmax6.0, there’s no going back to stock.

 

.......with the engine relaxed not screaming .

 

I will add that "2.0" is a neutered version of Beta tunes we tested. For the record, i made the same statement on 1.05 thread. In some situations it drove the same as old 1.03

 

The man is speaking the truth here...

I’ve been sorely disappointed with my 2021 OR in stock form. So last week I took the chance and purchased a VFtuner and KDmax 6.0. Put the tune on Thurs and took a 100 drive on Fri.

The truck now performs like it should have from the factory. I can now see owning this truck for 200k + miles.

 

Great to hear. THinking of OV but have MT. Don't want to waste my time.

 

@PapaRee I will also be throwing my 5.29 and 33" on a dyno asap I was talking to @TWTaco about it and was supposed to do it in CO but because of weather I am leaving here early. If I can't get to it in OR next week I will for sure do it first week of May when I hit LA.

 

No Problem! Get when you can. Be safe!

 

But if it's the same truck being dyno'd, with the only difference being the tune, and you're evaluating the aftermarket tunes against the stock tune, you should see improvements.
Any caveats about it being a geared truck with larger tires or the nanny-systems interceding would also affect the stock dyno pull.

My whole point in bringing up placebo effect and choice-supportive bias is that what you think you feel may not be what's actually happening. You might report back that you *FEEL* the truck is smoother or faster, but when instrumented, the numbers don't show that.

I realize that the tune changes the transmission shift points also, and those changes wouldn't be reflected on the dyno charts. But for those with manuals (like me), that feature is moot and the improved torque curve is the primary benefit of a tune.

For automatic trucks, maybe the transmission updates are what provide the most noticeable improvement; I don't know. I just know that IF the dyno charts posted represent the actual engine outputs for the various fuel maps, those numbers do not support the experiences users have been reporting. But the dyno numbers don't factor in the transmission updates.

 

This ^^
Numbers are numbers. Real world is different. A number of years back people were comparing a Honda to a VW GTI. The GTI on paper was 20 hp lower and the Honda was faster 0-60 and others. So as they say money (actual track times) talks and bs (numbers on paper) walks. The GTI crushed it on the track by several seconds.

I have towed a 5100 lb travel trailer stock, OV 2.0, Kruiser 4.0, and KDMax 6.0 (post coming soon). Last week pulling with KDMax 6.0 I was in 4th ECT on and going 65 mph in a headwind. Truck RPM was under 3000. HUGE improvement!

 

You are utterly misunderstanding the benefits of tuning, for both AT and MT, if you are judging based on torque produced at WOT. How often do you run your truck at WOT? Almost never? So why should anyone care what torque the engine makes there?

You cannot extrapolate WOT performance to closed throttle performance with the way Toyota designed the control logic for the Tacomas.

 

Is there someone in the Bay Area who can supply the KDtune?

 

Give him a few months. once he gets smoked by 3.9 diff on 33" he'll come around