Tow Time: Maximize Your Towing Abilities With A Tune From SCT

Extracting additional horsepower and performance from a vehicle is part of what makes drag racing fun, but what about making sure the truck that tows your trailer is also making plenty of power? That’s not something that most racers think of, however, tuning your tow vehicle is a great way to make trips to the track more efficient and cost-effective.

Most trucks that are pulling a trailer loaded up with racing gear and a car are controlled by an ECU of some type, and that means it can probably be tuned for additional performance. There’s a wide range of things that can be tweaked inside the truck’s computer to help it perform better when it’s under the stress of pulling a trailer. Jill Hepp from SCT goes over how a tune can change the way a truck pulls under a load.

“When a tow-specific tune is applied, creating more torque allows the tow vehicle to accelerate and better maintain speed, especially in challenging terrain such as hills. Torque converter lock-up and shift schedules are modified to help keep the vehicle in the sweet spot, offering better performance for pulling the load. Additional power and torque are created through manipulation of fueling and spark, and for some vehicles even boost.”

The idea of tuning an ECU might not be attractive to some, but that’s where SCT steps in to make life easier. SCT offers a wide range of handheld tuners that will work on different vehicles and they have the ability to load tunes that are designed to optimize the towing abilities of a truck.

“SCT products are very flexible. You can start with a preloaded tune (when available) or go to a variety of custom tune dealers that specialize in optimizing vehicles for your specific needs. The device plugs in and loads the files to your vehicle in minutes. It’s also very easy to return to stock with a few clicks. The device does not need to remain plugged in after you load the file either — you can use it for data-logging or you can unplug it and put it away…the choice is yours,” Hepp explains.

Check out the SCT website right here to see what kind of tuning solutions it offers for your truck.

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About the author

Brian Wagner

Spending his childhood at different race tracks around Ohio with his family’s 1967 Nova, Brian developed a true love for drag racing. Brian enjoys anything loud, fast, and fun.
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