Whos is the best company for tuning Duramax Diesel?

I have a 07 Ironhide 4500 truck that I need some customizing and tuning done on. It is my baby so I want it to go to the best. I don't know who the players are in this market so any help would be great!!

 

 

 

Can't help with tuning recommendations, but I think Emanon has a tuned Duramax, maybe he can help.

 

I remember seeing that monster in the background of one of Peak's garage shots. If you don't mind me asking, did you pick that up after his passing or did you share garage space for both of your incredible collections?

Can't help with tuning recommendations, but I think Emanon has a tuned Duramax, maybe he can help.

 

I remember seeing that monster in the background of one of Peak's garage shots. If you don't mind me asking, did you pick that up after his passing or did you share garage space for both of your incredible collections?

 

I actually purchased this truck before he passed.

 

Are you looking to send it out to have some serious work done to it, or just a plug and play tuner?

Sorry, didn't realize who I was responding to...

 

 

Merchant Automotive

https://www.merchant-automotive.com/default.aspx

 

PPE

http://www.pacificp.com/

 

http://www.atsdiesel.com/ats2/

 

I would start with these three, call them and discuss what you want to do. Despite it being a huge truck, your kodiak is a real bitch to do a twin turbo setup on, but it can be done.

 

 

Thanks! I will check these out.

You don't want any of that. You want EFI live tuning. What are you're plans for it? What motor is it? LLY? That makes a big difference too. I have an 06 duramax with all kinds of goodies like built Trans and it had twin turbos on it. I have lots of friends in the diesel game as well so any questions let me know.

I have a duramax in my H1 and it seems the EFI-live is the most popular tuner for the duramax. I still need to get that going - project #356.

Yes EFI live is the only way to go anymore.

I use it to haul my car trailer so I don't want to make it stupid as far as power.

 

When I bought the truck it had an old palm pilot mounted tuner. I took it to someone to local to get all that pulled out and put a good system on it. That along with a big list of other stuff. After about a month they called me and told me the turbo gave up (I have 12k miles on the truck), so we discussed stepping up in size and quality. 30 more days later they finally get it back to me and it runs like crap and engine lights come one. I just parked it and didn't let them fix it. However I do think they converted it over to EFI, just didn't know what they were doing.

 

1. I want it to have plenty of power and be very dependable. With absolutely no black smoke shit coming out of the pipes. That drives me insane.

 

2. There are quite of few custom things I want done to the interior and exterior. I even thought about wrapping it as a Zombie Apocalypse bug out truck to have a little with,lol.

 

3. Id like to see if there are any suspension options for it. It is not bad, especially for what it is, but I want a smoother ride.

 

4. I want to update the lights to all LED. And get one of those massive front cage grills that come over the hood like you see on some H1s

No personal experience with them, but Kelderman might be able to help with the ride. They are pretty popular with the big lifted diesel crowd, I have even seen their systems on a F550 based Earthroamer.

I'm not too familiar with the Kodiak interior, but you'll want some gauges. You want a boost gauge and a EGT ( exhaust gas temperature) gauge. There are a few ways you can do this. You can get pillar gauges or am edge insight. You can use the edge to change your tunes as well once you get EFI live. With EFI live you get tunes and a switch to flip between them on the fly. As long as you keep the tunes clean you won't have any smoke. That's all to do with the tuner.

 

I see you are located in texas. It's very hard to find a die hard duramax guy which is what you want to work on the truck. Josh Harris from top notch garage is located in Van texas. I think it would be well worth your trip and call to him. He would set you up with everything you need. He built a duramax van that clicks off 10 second passes lol he's also good with air ride setups.

His number is 903-963-4000.

Also it might be hard to get the LED grille for that truck because there isn't much aftermarket accessories for it. But I'd check out rigid lighting, good product and they have some cool shiit.

By "tuner" I assumed he was looking for a shop aka UR, not literally an engine tuner.

 

Obviously EFI Live is what he wants, I was directing him to turn key shops that put out high quality reliable products.

 

Crazy thing, compounded twin turbos will tow better than the stock setup. Ton more power along with lower EGT temps and should spool up quicker if sized properly. With EFI live you can easily have a switch to change tunes between tow mode and a higher power tune.

 

For suspension, big Fox shocks and a good set of leaf springs (Atlas?) will really help without hurting the towing capacity. If you want to go further then doing a multi-link rear with airbags is the way to go but it's a lot more $$$ and you're leaving it with a custom fab shop for some time.

 

His truck is most likely an LLY which is a perfectly good motor and will have no problem reliably making as much power as he wants. Just due to the weight of the whole thing it might need a built trans sooner than most, but that isn't a massive deal.

 

When it comes to literally tuning the efi live, it's really best to stick with one of the well known people. Every diesel shop claims they can tune them but as you have seen there is a big difference between someone who really knows what they are doing and a hack playing with his own stuff. Making power with no smoke, good drivability, and as a result good mileage is the hard part.

All this info is exactly what I was looking for! It is hard to google and stumble across options for this truck.

 

And yes I am looking for a turn key shop that can get the majority, if not all the stuff done. Sounds like the twins are the way to go. And I would want to look at tranny options. If I have to stab it while in tow I don't want to have to worry about shitting a tranny.

I got a 13 with the LML.. Would love to get rid of all of the DEF injection and shit but looks like tuning causes more headaches then staying stock

Depends on who you use to tune it. Lots of guys delete and and tune and see lots of mileage increases and powerelax increases.

And if you want you're transfer built FEVIPER, big dipper right here in Baltimore is one of the best and some with Inglewood transmission out in California. Josh H can build a damn good one as well. You want someone who builds them on the regular to build an Allison trans

But some big name shops are mark broviak at Danville performance. He's got a ton of built trucks and also makes his own turbos. Idaho Rob with ATP trucks also has a ton of experience. HSP makes some really nice quality stuff too. Go over to duramaxdiesels.com and that's the best forum for duramax. No drama and bs. Just guys who love the trucks and know a ton about them as well as all the shop owners are on there as well.

I would also suggest efi live from atp trucks in Idaho, talk to rob.

 

I have a topkick 4500 with this efi live and have not had a single issue. I tow trailers all the time for work and play.