What are the options for tuners for our 2nd gen Hemi Durangos? Theres a local guy with a Diablo Predator U7135 for sale, but it says its for the charger/challenger 5.7/6.1 Hemis. I thought it was by engine. Also, Diablo doesn't list a tuner for the '04 Hemi Durango. I think theres a guy running an SCT tuner, but I also read somewhere that SCT tuners aren't the best for our Hemis. Any info would be appreciated.

 

The u7137 is for the 2007 and up Durango Hemi, but you can call their tech line for help,
FF

 

The SCT worked great for my wife's 4.7L V8.

If you want a SCT, you should contact hemifever@aol.com. Sean is his name, and he knows what he's doing. Awesome customer service, and he has a discount compared to if you order the tuner straight from SCT. $265, if I recall correctly, for "canned" tunes; $365 for custom tunes.

 

I talked to them yesterday. They said they don't have one for the '04 specifically, but the u7137 would work for the engine, I just wouldn't have any control over the transmission, and since I pull 8k+ lbs regularly with it, I wouldn't mind having transmission controls.

 

Thanks... email sent.

 

I have Superchips tuner in my 04 5.7, it works great. Has 3 tune levels and you can upgrade it for transmission programming. Noticeable offline torque increase in tow mode. A lot more throttle response in 92 octane. Well worth the money.

 

No offense intended freezerman, but the SCT beats out the Superchips for the 5.2L and 5.9L V8s in the older Durangos/Rams/etc. I and numerous others that have owned the older engines, that have owned both a Superchips and a SCT, will tell you the same thing: the Superchips is nice, but the SCT clearly beats it.

However, that doesn't mean it is so clear cut for the newer vehicles like our Durangos.

When I emailed Sean asking about one for my wife's 2006 Durango, he told me flat out that the SCT had better engine management than the Superchips for the 4.7L and 5.7L engines, but Superchips has some transmission "alterations" that some people think are nicer.

I chose the SCT because of the excellent price, customer service, and I know they are good units. The Superchips team lost my loyalty a while ago... didn't care about a problem their tuner caused with my truck until a few others had the exact same issue. Programming (compiler) error screwed up the Ram's computer's fuel map. There was a period of about two months there where I used the Superchips tuner as a $300(ish) paperweight.

In their defense, their representative here on the forum and the gentlemen I talked to via email were excellent, but they couldn't do much because their techies refused to look at the programming, stating it was a problem with my truck. I went over my truck and even took it to a shop, no problems found, and it ran fine when returned to stock. Their techies didn't care until it started becoming a wide scale problem. That was approximately two to three years ago or so.

When I went to Sean last month and told him my Ram was pinging under heavy load in OD, he scaled me back very slightly and made that go away. He had a new tune for that in one day, on a weekend!

 

jasonw, when I got my SC tuner, Diablo and SCT didn't have tuners for '04 5.7 Durangos. They had them for newer ones only, otherwise I would have considered them also. Not saying superchips is best or only. It works great for me and does have transmission capabilities the poster was asking about.

 

OK, I have to ask this... not much in to tuners. Do these really work? You see so much stuff out there you don't know what works and what doesn't. Do they increase gas mileage and horsepower. I pull a 5,000# trailer. would this help? Thanks for the info. Sorry if i sound stupid.

 

Not a stupid question at all.

Tuners are great, and help quite a bit, but they almost never deliver everything their manufacturers claim (the math is usually skewed). On top of that, you usually end up liking the extra acceleration/power increases, and have a slightly heavier foot, which minimizes or negates any MPG increase.