A couple of members have asked me about the Edge / TS stack and the AFE so I figured I would start another thread. Shorty this should look fairly familiar to you, but, I have added a few things to it.

Sorry for the long post.

Edge Juice w/ Attitude:

In a simple statement…love the Edge Juice w/Attitude. I am a “Beta” tester but I can honestly tell you that over the years of running a whole bunch of different boxes/chips/programmers this one works very nicely (at least for me). I have had the Edge on the truck for about 6000 kms and have only had one problem with it and I may have caused it…the overhead gauge froze up and did not show any changing values on the display screen (I was going up on the power level and may have hit more than one button at a time causing it to freeze). All I did was pull over and shut the truck off and restarted it…no problems since then. I do not know if the Edge is officially available or not as of right now…I think it is but I am not sure. Being a beta tester we are supposed to get the official version when they are released but so far I am still running a beta.

Installation:

• Instructions are fairly straightforward. The only one that is a bit of a pain to follow is the turbo timer plug in the steering column. The picture is a bit dark and does not show really well what you are looking for. I just removed the three screws holding the steering column plastic and it was really easy to find what you need to connect to. Other than that the instructions were quite good.
• Running the connectors from inside the truck to the Edge box was easy in the 6 speed auto. I drilled my holes for the connectors where the 6 speed manual clutch assembly would be on the firewall plug. Some of the connectors were a bit on the larger side though…not sure what they are going to be like for the official version of the Juice.
• Total installation time for me was about two hours and that included putting the Attitude monitor in an overhead consol. The thing that took the longest was finding a drill that would fit into the rat’s nest of wires and tubes on the passenger side beside the exhaust manifold. Once that was done I would guess the rest of the install only took about an hour and a bit.

Features:

• The features of the Edge are really cool. I have my display set up to show me boost, EGT, engine temp and Regen on/off. There are probably a dozen parameters that you can have displayed depending on what you want to look at. The Juice plugs into the port under the dash and uses the truck ECM to display a bunch of this information.
• I like the regen on or off display. It is very difficult to see when the truck is actually in a regen cycle. Yes the mileage does go down and your engine temps & EGT increase but a regen can sometime only last 5 to 10 minutes and if you are cruising around town you may not notice those changes. This bothers me given the temps that I have seen coming off the EGT (800°F and increasing) when sitting at a light and the truck is in regen mode. Where I park the truck I am concerned that if the truck was in a regen mode and I backed into my parking spot I may have some melting issues. Another thing about the regen alert is that in my mind the temps do get very high and remain high until the regen is done…when cruising down the highway temps will go between 1200°F to 1300°F (normally) for the entire time of the regen. As I said before regen time can vary and if it stays this hot for over a 10 to 15 minute window I like to take it easy on the truck and also want it to cool down before turning it off (not a big deal considering the turbo timer). (Note: When you are in regen if you get on the fuel the truck will try to either increase boost or de-fuel to keep temps below 1350°F but if it can not it will shutdown the regen process until you ease off on the throttle in which case it automatically goes back into regen. I have actually found an operating range were the truck has a hard time keeping temps down while in regen...light throttle and increasing speed between 30mph to about 50mph my truck can not seem to keep EGT's in check while in regen. The highest that I have seen is about 1440°F. Please note that when my truck goes into regen I put all of the setting on the two boxes back to stock as it takes less regen time and the temps are usually more consistent.)
• The turbo timer is also another life saver. I was very shocked to see how long it actually takes this truck to cool down to a safe shut off temp (in my mind) compared to my 2003…I know for a fact that until I got the Attitude monitor I was shutting down my truck way too early. With the turbo time I no longer have to wait once I get to my destination for the truck to cool off. I would say that with the stock intake system my times to cool down to a safe shutdown (I use less than 350°F) were about twice as long as my 2003. Now with the AFE cool down times are quite a bit shorter and are very close to my 2003.
• Alarms and alerts work well. I would have to see where my current settings are at but I have chosen for the truck to alert me of a problem before the alarms kick in and the truck de-fuels. I think that I have my alarms set as follows: Boost 40psi alert / 45psi alarm, Pyro 1500°F alert / 1700°F alarm, Engine temp 225°F alert / 230°F alarm, Trans 200°F alert / 220°F alarm. The only alert that I have hit is the pyro. I have come close with the engine temps with a max at 218°F. (The Edge also has a spot where you can look at the maximum levels you have ever hit on various settings...for the life of me I can not remember them right now but I think there is between 6 and 10 different parameters that it records maximums on.)
• I have not tried the performance testing features (0-60mph and so on)

Performance:

• All levels work well…smooth power throughout the entire RPM range with no peaky feeling or dead spots.
• Level 1 and level 5 seem to give me the best fuel mileage…mileage did increase with the Edge over stock. I have an excel spreadsheet with all of my fuel mileage calculations and it did increase my mileage (best guess I would say a good solid 1mpg to 2mpg depending on the driving situation). One thing that I should mention is that I had my truck reflashed from the dealer to the Rev B flash and I do not like what it has done to my truck. I have lost fuel mileage with it over the original program that the truck came with. On average I would have had about 2 or 3 regens per tank on the highway with the original program...now with Rev B I get in the area of 4 or 5 regens. I have also noticed that my exhaust brake does not seem to slow me down as hard as it did before.
• Level 6 does give the most power.
• All levels do increase the EGT temps…regens seem to be more frequent in city traffic if you are hard on the throttle and on higher levels…under normal driving it does not seem any different than stock.
• You can also adjust your low end responsiveness and I can tell it makes a difference. I have all of the low end responsiveness set to either medium to highest.


TS Performance MP-8:

I don’t have a bunch of time with this module. I do have it stacked with the Edge and it can increase power over the Edge alone. The TS MP-8 and Edge are supposed to make the same amount of peak power but I can honestly tell you that the Edge feels like it makes more power...that might be due to the low end responsiveness settings though. The TS on full is in my mind similar to the Edge on level 3 or 4. Power is smooth with the TS but not as linear. It does not have any dead spots though. It seems to pull fairly hard on the top end (actually very well when you dial in the right % setting and the right Edge setting...more is not always better) and the bottom end is not as strong…good but not as strong. I do think that I go into regen more with this than the Edge though. I do have a fuel rail gauge but I do not have it installed on the truck yet. I am not sure what my rail pressure is at when the TS is on nor how it changes in the various settings and RPM ranges. I can not comment on any fuel mileage increases at this point, however, unlike fuel pressure boxes for the old 5.9 that seemed to throw off the overhead fuel mileage readings the TS does not seem to show any huge changes in the overhead.

The install was a bit interesting…you have to move the EGR tube and the whole intake horn to get to the fuel rail pressure pop off valve. The fuel rail pressure pop off valve has to be re-shimmed so it does not pop when the TS is on...well that is what the guy behind the counter told me at least. Getting to the pop off valve is actually not a problem but make sure the truck is cold. Getting the pop off valve out looks easy but man was mine tight…I actually thought I was going to break it off instead of getting it out. As far as the connector goes it is actually a bit hard to reach but it comes out not too badly…mine was goofed though as it came with a 5.9 connector instead of a 6.7 connector so I had to cut two small tabs off before it would fit…no big deal but it did slow me down a touch.

It works well and I am glad that I got it but I would probably do the Edge first then the TS…not the other way around. I do believe the Edge product is a better choice between the two because of the safety features, the turbo timer and the regen alert. Now when you add the price different between the two I could not say which is a better bang for the buck. So far I have like both products.


AFE stage 2 intake kit:

Install was very easy with the exception of trying to tighten the two bolts on the bottom of the air box…not hard to do but two people would be nice given the location of the two…I managed by myself but had to brace a wrench up on a metal line for one of them. Everything seemed to fit just fine as far as the intake tube was concerned. The one foam gasket that you use for the smaller sensor is a bit cheap. I am going to watch them closely as there is a potential for them to leak in a few years I think.

I got the Pro Guard 7 version and the filter looks really good to me…good quality build. The tube fits nice and is nice and smooth bend wise. I had to shim up the one corner of the tube to air box fitting as the two bolts holding the tube to air box was not quite square.

The intake does seem to help cool things off during normal operation, WOT situations and especially during cool down times. There is definitely an increase in intake noise under all conditions and when the exhaust brake is on. You can also hear (sounds like a turbo bark) when you go from exhaust brake to boost. I have also found that under certain conditions it sounds like the turbo does surge when conditions are just right…low boost, low RPM and almost lugging the engine. I am not sure if it is actually surging or if the exhaust brake is trying to come on…each time it does it I do have the exhaust brake on and I can never get over in time to shut it off.

Now I do not have enough miles on the new intake but to me it also seems to help with the fuel mileage increase (so far at least a good solid 0.5 mpg on top of my best Edge setting...not sure if this statement is entirely true just yet as I need more unloaded testing and more run time with me driving normal...gotta love that turbo whistle. From a towing aspect it seems true though as I did not hot rod around with a load on the back).


Hope this all helps.


I do have a Snow water/meth kit and I hope that I can get installed this week. I planned on doing it today but it looks like it is going to get a bit wet outside. I don't plan on setting it up for max horsepower but intend on setting it up more for the cooling aspect. It is going to be interesting to set this up with the regen cycle (high heat and low boost)...I will have to make sure that it is off more or less all of the time and only on when I need it for sure.

On a side note…with what I have already I think that the transmission is hurting and is in need of some help. Also, once I get my fuel pressure gauge and fuel rail pressure gauge it will be interesting to see where they sit too.

 

Very good explanation. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks a bunch!..I know i was one of the guys that sent you a pm. That is an awesome right up. I think it will answer alot of questions for alot of guys. Time will tell how these motors act and react to different items!.....

 

Excellent info. Interesting about the Rev B Flash. Lot of features and power but the tranny is not holding up...Hmmmm !

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to tell us these things. Its posts like this, that I am interested in. Keep us posted on the events you see. I hope to try the edge soon. But thanks again so much.

 

One of the most thorough write ups I've seen. Thanks for taking the time. I really enjoyed the reading. It was liking seeing a magazine on the rack with a subject you've been dying to read about-

BigD

 

Thanks for the info dude!

 

Best right up i have read on here!!! Thank you so much. Answered a lot of questions.

Only have one thought that has been buggin me lately. With the extra fuel and soot are you having any issues with Regens and Cat full messages on the overhead. Or just CEL's in general??

 

Thanks for the feed back on the write up. Hope it is useful. Like I mentioned before for me these products so far have been working well.

To add a few quick comments:

upnorth

Regarding the tranmission comment I should mention that to me I think the transmission flares up a bit between shifts when the power levels are set higher and so far that is the only problem other than kicking out of reverse from time to time. I do think that for a stock transmission it is doing quite well in getting the power to the ground. Typically when I do turn the power levels up I will run in Tow/Haul as I much prefer the way it holds the RPM's. If I was more conservative I would run the Edge with the transmission slip detection on so if and when I do slip the trans the Edge will de-fuel (I think all the way back to stock if needed) to save the transmission. What I should actually do is set it up and see how much turndown I can get on that parameter. Might be worth another test and may even be more accurate.


Diesel Goose

So far I have been very lucky and have never seen a CEL or an overhead reading about the catalyst. The only time the overhead has dinged for me was for an oil change...at that time I just had it in so I am guessing the dealer forgot to do the whole ignition / throttle reset. The only code I have ever seen is the SKIM key code. Even when my truck was running the original programming and would not start from time to time I never had a check engine light or code flash on me. I will say this though that the Rev B program in my truck from Dodge sure makes the truck go into regen more than the original program...the regens themselves might not be quite as long (close though) but they are definitely more frequent even in stock settings. I do get the truck out on the highway a fair amount and usually when I do hit the highway I run a good two hours with no stops...this might be helping me out a lot. My comments might be different if I was in town all the time racing from light to light and both boxes turned up. So far so good.


It will be interesting to see what will come out in the next few months from the different aftermarket companies. I seen in the 3rd Gen Aftermarket section that the Smarty is in development. I have heard through the grapevine that Don M is working on a set of Flux 1's and if I recall correctly II has a set of injectors listed already.

 

ctdklone how does the truck run with both of them stack togather.

 

rstone,

The stack seems to work well. No codes, no injector or timing rattle, no bucking and no hesitation so far. Power wise I would say that it would be like adding a level 8 or so on the Edge...a nice increase on overall power but more pull on the top end with freer reving RPM...right off the line not so much.

The biggest mistake that I made was to initially crank up the TS box but it seems like if I stay around the 50% to 60% range (can not really tell) the power is better and throttle response is crisper. Not sure if this is because I am running out of fuel with the stock system (still do not have my analog gauges in) or if I am just not in the optimum setting.