SFT Tuning Vs. Box Tunes.

[Patrity]

I posted the following thread on another forum. This other forum has a lot of users who think pedal commander is a suitable alternative. But I did want to post my thoughts regarding SFT here as well.

Just wanted to give a shout out to these gents and to spread some information.



Seems a few people here see pedal commander or other box tunes as a viable option for inexpensive tuning. I'd steer people away from these for a multitude of reasons. Overfueling is NOT tuning properly.



I purchased the SFT OBDII tunes on Father's day sale for $720. (They are $900 regularly for trans and ecu)



The set up was a breeze, no popping the hood, no removing the ECM. All you have to do is wait on your two modules, one for the transmission, one for the ECU.

You then copy your original tune, send it to SFT and usually within 24hrs they send you back the tuned files. The owner of SFT, Jimmy is also super easy to work with and very responsive to issues.

Switching between the tunes is simple. If I have a warranty issue, it takes all of five minutes to go back to my truck and put the stock tune back on.



Now the transmission tune is not required but I highly recommend it. The transmission feels very smooth now and there is no more hard downshifts when you get on the pedal and drop into 2nd/3rd.





GDE is also a viable option and arguably more reputable but I went with SFT simply for the convenience of being able to tune via the OBDII port, and not swapping an ecm.



The main difference I hear between the tunes is the GDE has more top end performance while SFT has more low end, getting you up and going off the line quicker (not that anyone should really be racing these trucks lol)



I just wanted to post my thoughts here and again, steer people away from the box tunes. The Heavy Duty market has learned it's lesson with box tunes and it's no different on these trucks.

 

[John Jensen]

Here's what I posted on another forum:
Thanks to Califunny causing me to get out of my GDE tune I discovered SFT.
I just recently installed their stage 1 ECM and TCM tunes.
I'm happy to report they are performing as advertised and I am more than satisfied.
One nice surprise was the ECM tune automatically starts a cold engine in high idle and gradually reduces to stock idle.
I'm done putting it through my testing and just did a fill-up and forced regen. When this tankfull is done I can give a valid report.
So far SFT is giving me better MPG and is staying in gear on grades better than my GDE tune.

 

[cozycabin]

I also am very happy with my SFT tune ecm/tcm. Just put it on. Took a very long drive last night couldn't believe the improvement in mileage and driveability. Jimmy spent over an hour with me on the phone as the software apps that enable the reading to keep your old tune on file can be a real booger, recognizing drivers etc. I think order of plugging things up to your laptop relative to starting the app affect recognizing device and drivers; and one thing I might suggest they clearly nail down perhaps with a youtube video.
I know he was up to his ears in work and stayed on right on through the exhaustive discussion of the tune, process and we talked diesels a good while. Smart guy and very nice to deal with. Glad I went for it, and awfully good of him to offer both tunes for such a great value. If I bought a new diesel, I'd do it again day one.
I like anything that saves me a chunk of money I'd otherwise had to spend, therefore justifies buying my kids something we can do together like all new fishing rods and a dinghy! and that's just what I did. Thanks to Jimmy at SFT, he's gonna have greater impact on this industry, no question.

 

[Arkie 16]

Sounds like a PAID endorsement to me. Just to sugar sweet.

 

[John Jensen]

^^^^^^^ Sounds like sour grapes

 

[cozycabin]

Sounds like a PAID endorsement to me. Just to sugar sweet.

you got me, Arkie. Is the 16 your age? Yep. He paid me, gave me a piece of the company, and a year supply of kitkats.

No, unfortunately no, but he gave me a hell of a lot of his time. That goes quite a ways with me.
No, couldn't be that I just bought a new map sensor out of warranty, hated my turd of a truck, AEM just doubled the displeasure, and was going to go get a gas f150 and this turned it all around.

such a clownish remark.

It's just too weird how all these GDE guys are so childish about anything but GDE. Hey, I was gonna get that too. I'm glad they have a great thing and so many are happy with it. Grow up a tad and be happy if someone gets a good result with something outside your fanvision.
That's one thing I don't do is talk when I have absolutely zero grounding in the topic.

As stated, love the truck now, I love finding nothing objectionable about the ram eco any more, which is about all I found about it previously.
In a country that apparently hates diesels I'm glad SFT brought these tunes.

I'll be glad to send you my receipt, would that be sugar sweet, Arkie?

I was reading some stuff here on the forum, saw John's comment and thought I could at very least give an honest couple sentences for the extra time and friendliness he offered me... the owner of the company. Not some foreign speaking customer service rep who knows nothing. I'm no genius, I fix and mod all my my own stuff, but Jimmy knows a lot, quite a lot.

Still just bizarre how he's getting attacked by GDE and their customers. Same guys with a Calvin peein' on ford or chevy stickers I guess. Any way, I got no more time for this. Thanks for getting your lonely thought out their Arkie16.

 

[John]

Still just bizarre how he's getting attacked by GDE and their customers.

I'm not sure how long you've been around here, but this comment is waaay off base. In reality it's been quite the opposite. Good luck with your tune.

 

[John Jensen]

^^^^^^^ More sour grapes

 

[John]

^^^^^^^ More sour grapes

Stop John you are kind of embarrassing yourself. You're the one who admitted that your gripe was with CA and not GDE. I was being honest with my post pure and simple. I have no problem with anybody's tune. It's an individual's choice and that's the way it should be. Everyone here on the forum and on other forums knows exactly who attacked who. I was just being truthful.

 

[Arkie 16]

I have no tune and no plans to buy one.

 

[John Jensen]

Stop John you are kind of embarrassing yourself. You're the one who admitted that your gripe was with CA and not GDE. I was being honest with my post pure and simple. I have no problem with anybody's tune. It's an individual's choice and that's the way it should be. Everyone here on the forum and on other forums knows exactly who attacked who. I was just being truthful.

John,
I have to disagree with "everyone knows exactly who attacked who" and other like statements by you and others.

I have been around since the beginning and IMHO there were negative comments (and maybe lies) towards Jimmy and his tunes. He then began defending himself. What ensued was both sides making rash comments and both sides acting unprofessionally. And, now you come to this forum and continue the negative comments. What are you trying to accomplish?

Yes, my gripe is with CA, not GDE. But what I found from all this is Jimmy is not the person you all have made him out to be. And his tunes so far are as good, maybe better than GDE. In my experience, his support and willingness to discuss and pursue a problem exceed my experiences with GDE. I'm not saying this to discount GDE (GDE is a great tune), I'm saying these things so guys like you get corrected.

If I am embarrassing myself, I'm proud of it. I'm merely trying to correct misunderstandings that destroy a fellow human being's reputation.

 

[cozycabin]

I'm not sure how long you've been around here, but this comment is waaay off base. In reality it's been quite the opposite. Good luck with your tune.

I do disagree, and thank you for the well wishes.

Now I don't really like Jimmy's angle in some of his comments and how they reflected on him, but in talking with him at more length, there's validity and a heap of hypocrisy on some of the claims I'd seen leveled against him. Provable, objective stuff. Only thing I take as anything. Funny thing, my first thought was this guy doesn't sound anything like the guy who wrote some of that stuff on the boards. He's an energetic guy, but easy going and polite to talk with.
to that claim of off base though,
I was reading pretty heavily on here coming up to the AEM and there were guys who'd jump in on every comment like brickheadz and their college football team. To be fair it was a handful, same handles time and again. Just cause we're all holding a laptop, seemingly anonymous, that's the online representation of your character. Many would do well to keep that in mind.
At least Jimmy, for better or worse, had a GDE tune! for cripe. These jokers were lobbing slander and they had no frickn idea what they were even raging against.

And I will tell you this much, I'm a nit pickin' moddin' critiquing everything type, borderline compulsion, nothing really ever just right in my mind... his tune is excellent. I don't tune cars, I don't program, I don't want to, and don't want to know. I'm not supposed to have to, so given the lacky crap kicked out by FCA and the evil EPA which has nothing to do with its stated purpose, I'm rather grateful I got some hardware in the mail, saved me a day driving to Detroit, little time on the computer and my files got saved, tune was back to me in 12 hrs or less, and have now a great driving experience and still got the hardware if I need to make changes in the future. having said all that, Lot worse places to be. Like I said, was divorcing this car and now I'm getting it ready for at least another 5 years together. What was I thinking when I bought True Blue.... oh well.
So all I was saying is glad GDE is near and dear to those hearts, but remember it's a tune, not your little sister.

And Arkie, I'm sure you're a good person, and friend to friend- Get a tune. From a guy who was always afraid to mess with his warranty, at least with this one (eco-d) get it. It's night and day. buy GDE, I don't care, but turn off the soot injection and enjoy your truck for what it can be not what FCA was able to do with it.

 

[John]

John,
I have to disagree with "everyone knows exactly who attacked who" and other like statements by you and others.

I have been around since the beginning and IMHO there were negative comments (and maybe lies) towards Jimmy and his tunes. He then began defending himself. What ensued was both sides making rash comments and both sides acting unprofessionally. And, now you come to this forum and continue the negative comments. What are you trying to accomplish?

Yes, my gripe is with CA, not GDE. But what I found from all this is Jimmy is not the person you all have made him out to be. And his tunes so far are as good, maybe better than GDE. In my experience, his support and willingness to discuss and pursue a problem exceed my experiences with GDE. I'm not saying this to discount GDE (GDE is a great tune), I'm saying these things so guys like you get corrected.

If I am embarrassing myself, I'm proud of it. I'm merely trying to correct misunderstandings that destroy a fellow human being's reputation.

I made no negative comments about his tune. I commented on who started what between the tube companies. GDE did defend themselves after much BS. You must have seen this if you've been around.

 

[John Jensen]

I made no negative comments about his tune. I commented on who started what between the tube companies. GDE did defend themselves after much BS. You must have seen this if you've been around.

I feel like I'm talking to the wall, GDE also got caught in a lie, called hin a clown - so unprofessional.
I guess you believe "BS" is also not a negative comment?
I'm done -
Cheers!

 

[John]

Hey John, It's a difference of opinion and I'll respect yours. so let's leave it at that.

 

[John Jensen]

10-4

 

[Arkie 16]

Cozycabin 67 is my age. 16 is my truck year and 13,700 is the mileage. My comment was about how there are post that read just to good to be true. I do just what is advertised to be a diesel engine killer. It is my daily driver on the days I drive it at all. Being retired I don't drive it to work but do use it to run local trips. As far as towing I have a 15 foot jon boat with a 18 horse outboard. I must have a hero engine because I have never had so much as a code. I bought it new with 34 miles on it. In the second week of August my 36 month warranty will expire so the first week of August I will get the AEM done. Some post suggest after a few days/ miles the ecm/ tcm may calibrate to your driving style. If after a correction period I may look at a tune to fix a issue but at this time I see my stocker as being trouble free and the last truck this senior citizen will ever buy. My other vehicle is a 2008 Toyota Highlander limited with 26,000 miles on it. plan to keep it also.

 

[John Jensen]

Hey Arkie
Looks like us old farts overuse our toys at the same rate.
My 2016 Ram Eco has 15,275, my Ford F350 6.0 diesel has 27,000, my 2005 Jeep Rubicon Rock Crawler has
25, 050 and my 1995 24' Robalo Cuddy with 250hp E-Tec has 190 hours, my 2000 30' Sunnybrook trailer has approx 9,000 miles.
I'm 85, which means if I want to wear something out I better get my ass in gear. I don't think it's going to happen.

 

[cozycabin]

You guys are right where you wanna be, and I wanna be. Good stuff. And sorry for the 16 comment. I was feeling a little snarky, decided to keep my promise to my kids and cut smoking a little abruptly. I've been a bit of a dragon at times since.
On the stock, and my experience is probably like many, you're just getting to the end of the honeymoon where that egr is gonna start taking the shine off the driver experience of the ecodiesel. I have a banks monster cat back exhaust, (larger and all resonators removed) and a banks bullet that came off before the tune. Due to that stuff (I believe) and my driving style I've only had my truck to 1 regen in 43K, probably 20K ago. your codes just may be in the near future. map, elect. throttle control, then again yours is a 16, mine a 15.
My only thought is after taking my map out and seeing that completely encrusted chunk of coal, the pipe, the intake... the insult was just too great that the gov't could strongarm a company to sell me a 40 grand truck that systematically destroys itself, decreases performance all counter to what they purport to achieve.
So I've not had a ton of codes, several perhaps a bit more, a couple dealer warranty intances, but rather just steadily decreasing performance, mileage, responsiveness, increased lag, was to the point I didn't know if my turbo was kicking in some times.
Oh, by the way, running errands around town, leaving the truck running while I ran in stores quickly to drop off packages etc., stoplights, little-town driving here outside Grand Rapids, the mileage.....
25.6. That was gunning it every chance I got as well. That was NOT the case prior to yesterday. Shifts gears like shuffling cards. Removed all my foam that was cooking my injectors, and oddly the truck is quieter.

Now I got to figure out how I'm gonna get the intake cleaned up and perhaps need to buy a 700 dollar banks manifold vs cleaning and finding my swirl valves are ruined anyhow.
All cause I stayed stock, and my guess is I'd have made the cost back in mileage etc.

So I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling you the reasons I wish I'd done it in your timeframe. And with the ghost of bad bearings haunting the VFM motor, I don't revel in the soot injection feature.

I can't wait to clean the intake with something good, change my oil and re-up my archoil. Another product I've had great results with. My oil and coolant temps dropped about 5% when I put that in at 14K.

I have an egr delete kit en route and can put it back together should something major happen to a component under the settlement warranty. If anything happens to the def, it's gone, fast as I can take it off. for now, whatever, it doesn't bother me like the EGR.

Saw this video on youtube where a guy was trying to sell the idea the EGR was a good thing for us and the motor. WTH? I know I live in an inverted logic and morals world, never thought I'd hear that. Never thought I'd hear about the twisted things being taught in CA schools either though. cause we all know soot is the only way to control combustion temps

Funny too, if I did sell the truck and didn't go to another truck, the highlander was first on my list.

Sorry for the small novel here. Was nice chatting with you gents though. You all enjoy your weekends, sounds like you make the most of them.

 

[Arkie 16]

No offense taken here. A thread I started asked what is prone to break that is not covered by a warranty after the bumper to bumper is over on my tradesman. Intake ,swirl valves, egr, turbo, all covered. Your tuned trucks may perform better but I just run around empty with a light throttle foot. 23 years and 2 1/5 million miles by tractor trailer in 48 states plus 6 Provinces has me just wanting to stay home.