Hey, I just purchased a 2005 2500 5.9L, i need some advice, I don't know anything about tuning or where to begin, what is the best purchase for cheap, as in around $1,000. and suggestions with air intake? and maybe DPP cool hose or alternatives?

Most popular tuner is Quadzilla Adrenaline or Edge Juice...

First is what are you looking for? Tuner for power mileage performance towing ect ect ect. What are you planning on doing or how will your rig be used. SmARTY IS ALWAYS A GREAT BET WITH A 3RD GEN LIKE YOUR 05. Or a smarty jr. The cool hose is a good idea to get rid of the restrictive stock air tube between the air box and turbo. Below taken from a vendor on another forum Everyday weekend warriros. TS or Dr.Performance mild pressure box.All out competition Bully dog or Smarty stacked with Dr. Performance race tune.

Um, maybe something more universal.. so I can switch between settings for power and mileage, etc... easily

What are your ultimate power goals? If you want to stay 450 rwhp and under then I suggest the Smarty Jr. It has the best timing, torque management, and tuning of all the programmers. Sure it's not change on the fly like the edge, but that's very overated IMO, and the Smarty runs stronger and cooler. Honestly the timing is the main factor in mileage, and the Smarty Jr runs the same timing on all 3 softwares, so set the max power you want and control it with your right foot. Stay away from pressure boxes such as the Edge EZ, MP-8, or any of the mileage modules. They are hard on injectors. For intake the OEM intake is good for about 450 rwhp and flows/filters better than anything in that range. There are 3 big improvements you can make to it thou. 1) A Home Depot CAI will bring more ambient air into the stock box when boosting hard, this will redice the IAT's and reduce the restriction allowing more, smoother flow. 2) A Airaid MIT will remove the intake baffles from the tube between the filter and the turbo. This mod direct air into the lower elbow and promotes smooth airflow. This will increase low boost throttle responce, and increase turbo spool. It also makes the turbo a little louder, but still passes the wife test. The best part about the MIT on your 06 is that it leaves the OEM lower elbow in place. The lower elbow has directional vanes that smooth the air as it makes the final 90* turn into the turbo. Holset claims this makes the turbo up to 30% more efficient. There is no aftermarket CAI I know of that does this, right off the bat you have lost performance there with a CAI. This is a low-mid range rpm mod. 3) The OEM intake horn is very restricive. It was built with ease of assembly in mind, not performance. A GDP Horn is the best bang for the buck on the intake horns, and it will hold a MK2+ filter kit if you want one. But the intake horn will decrease low end smoke (if you run a tuner), increase throttle responce, and increase turbo spool. I also saw 2-3* lower IAT's with the horn than pre-horn. This is a low-mid range rpm mod. As for air filters, the OEM is the best on the market now. Be sure it has the OEM 4" pleat version.

Um, maybe something more universal.. so I can switch between settings for power and mileage, etc... easily

Smarty and smarty JR come in a POD "Power on demand" version so you can do just what you are wanting. it just needs to be plugged in to adjust settings but it is adjust on the fly.

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2) A Airaid MIT will remove the intake baffles from the tube between the filter and the turbo. This mod direct air into the lower elbow and promotes smooth airflow. This will increase low boost throttle responce, and increase turbo spool. It also makes the turbo a little louder, but still passes the wife test. The best part about the MIT on your 06 is that it leaves the OEM lower elbow in place. The lower elbow has directional vanes that smooth the air as it makes the final 90* turn into the turbo. Holset claims this makes the turbo up to 30% more efficient. There is no aftermarket CAI I know of that does this, right off the bat you have lost performance there with a CAI. This is a low-mid range rpm mod.

I never knew this good info, is there a link to this. I have had the cool hose on mine since I bought it with the stock air box mod and amsoil filter which doesn't flow very well as my restriction indicator is constantly pulled up about 3/4 just daily driving it, will have to go back to oem and see if it helps any. do you happen to have a PN for the oem filter?.

Smarty is the only way to go on the CR. Just my

I never knew this good info, is there a link to this. I have had the cool hose on mine since I bought it with the stock air box mod and amsoil filter which doesn't flow very well as my restriction indicator is constantly pulled up about 3/4 just daily driving it, will have to go back to oem and see if it helps any. do you happen to have a PN for the oem filter?.

I too ran an Amsoil filter forever, but returned it a few months ago. I am much happier with the OEM filter. The new OEM filter is a 53034249AA. In fact Amsoil no longer offers the EAA189, from what I presume is too many returns/complaints. I was told they are working a 4" version, but time will tell. Here is a link to the MIT. http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/product.aspx?pf_id=AR-300-928

I really liked the ease of my edge jwa on my 06 with built in gauges, turbo timer, and adjustable power by the touch of a button it is hard to beat if you are looking for an out of the box tuner. I had an 5 level edge, aem brute force intake, and a shift kit. It was good for 47Xhp and 900lb ft. Picked up the edge off of cragslist for $200, bought the intake used for $50, then $90 for a new AEM dry air filter, the shift kit with billet servo covers cost me about $120 and I also cut out the cat and muffler in favor of a pro-flow 4" muffler I got from a buddy.

Smarty and a set of gauges.

Smarty and a set of gauges.

What I have now. Smarty Revo.........EGT, boost, LP and RP.

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I really liked the ease of my edge jwa on my 06 with built in gauges, turbo timer, and adjustable power by the touch of a button it is hard to beat if you are looking for an out of the box tuner. I had an 5 level edge, aem brute force intake, and a shift kit. It was good for 47Xhp and 900lb ft. Picked up the edge off of cragslist for $200, bought the intake used for $50, then $90 for a new AEM dry air filter, the shift kit with billet servo covers cost me about $120 and I also cut out the cat and muffler in favor of a pro-flow 4" muffler I got from a buddy.

I liked the Edge J w/A. I ran it for almost 4 years. It makes good power.......but does so by running hot. EGT would go 1300*+ and still be climbing. Be careful with it.

It makes good power.......but does so by running hot. EGT would go 1300*+ and still be climbing. Be careful with it.

I spaced about the egt's. 1500-1550* on the pyro was about the max it would go WOT on a hard run with the speed limiter sitting at 108 but from 1300-1500 it jumped up pretty quick.

I spaced about the egt's. 1500-1550* on the pyro was about the max it would go WOT on a hard run with the speed limiter sitting at 108 but from 1300-1500 it jumped up pretty quick.

That's why most everyone loves the Smarty!!!!! More power and cooler temps than the J w/A. I also get better all around and highway cruising mileage with the Smarty vs. the Juice. Not arguing, just saying!!! This is "on edit" here.........I forgot to say above, that I've only seen 1100* on the EGT gauge less that 5 times since running the Smarty. All were due to me in part by lugging the engine while towing going up an incline in too high a gear. I can say with confidence the the Edge warning sirens would've been going off and the the EGT's would've been 1500+. JMHO.

Thats NOT good:banghead:

That's why most everyone loves the Smarty!!!!! More power and cooler temps than the J w/A. I also get better all around and highway cruising mileage with the Smarty vs. the Juice. Not arguing, just saying!!! This is "on edit" here.........I forgot to say above, that I've only seen 1100* on the EGT gauge less that 5 times since running the Smarty. All were due to me in part by lugging the engine while towing going up an incline in too high a gear. I can say with confidence the the Edge warning sirens would've been going off and the the EGT's would've been 1500+. JMHO.

You only see 1100 wot with the smarty on the 170hp "tune?"

You only see 1100 wot with the smarty on the 170hp "tune?"

I drive around all the time on SW5 on the Smarty Revo program. IIRC, it's the 130hp tune. And, yes, on SW5, i've never seen over 1100*..........even towing!!!!!!!

This is the same setting that got me 23.3mpg and 734 miles on one tank of fuel, (non-towing) this past summer. Now, when I work, I drive around with a 3500lb trailer in tow. Not the mega weight many are towing, but I tow all the time. So I think what I say would be good advice to others on this forum.

On edit here........I've tried SW7......the 170hp program on the Smarty Revo. To me, the SW5 setting was faster and cooler on my truck. SW7 was about the same power(SOP) but really smokey!!!!!! Not arguing just saying. All my mods are in my signature..

So I think what I say would be good advice to others on this forum.

Dorkweed, I am looking at all the different Smarty's & other programmers as well... Can you explain the difference in the Smarty TNT and the REVO & all the other options? I don't understand what's different about each version.Thanks for being patient with the noobie.

The TNT is for all out performance. The REVO is just an updated standard tune. POD means power on demand which means you can leave the tuner plugged in and change settings on the go just like a regular comp box. Smarty JR has same tune as revo but only uses 3 programs instead of 10 it also comes with or without POD option to change sub settings such as timing and touque management ect. The JR is safe to run with stock trans and engine ect and doesn't require gauges. I run the standard smarty JR and it has more than enough gitty up and go for me. Here is the direct link to Bob Wagners site for the Smarty. http://smartypower.com/ It will give you more info than us trying to describe it.

I'll have to go look around at their website. Thanks...

So, you can pretty well run the JR with no gauges? Or at least no concerns over damaging motor stuff?

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What do people think of the TST PowerMax? Is it worth pursuing?