Questions for those that have superchargers

I have a low mileage 5.7 TRD Pro that I’m about to install a supercharger on. From what I understand, the transmission becomes the weak link after installation. Has anyone had any issues with their transmission or anything else on the vehicle? I saw one video that said you should upgrade the “valve body” on the transmission but I’m not really sure what that is. I am about to be out of warranty so I’m not so concerned about that. What about re gearing? I did put bigger tires and heavier wheels on the truck so I’m a little concerned about stressing the tranny. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

I blew up a tranny from being lazy on the beach and not airing down since the blower had enough power to push through it. That was like foot to the floor in 1st and 2nd gear and it overheated. So my first advice would be get something to monitor trans temps when you're in high heat scenarios--I use a $15 bluetooth adapter off of Amazon and Torque Pro on my phone (and can monitor coolant, afr, timing, ait, etc). Besides that (which was completely self induced) I've never had any issues. Some people get valve bodies (you drop the trans pan and the valve body is sitting there and you unbolt it and bolt the new one in) but it's mostly for adjusting the shifting performance/speed, not necessarily exclusive to making the trans live. In general I've never heard of a trans failure where the thing just blows up, I don't know how much power it can handle but it seems certainly capable of the 600+ whp range. I honestly wouldn't touch the trans at all and just get more telemetry and send it.

I was on 35s with the blower (and a pulley) on a 200k+ trans and it was fine, including towing trailers often. The gearing will reduce stress on everything upstream, and it will correct for the torque/power loss of the larger tires, but again I would not say it's a mandatory upgrade. With that said, supercharged and 5.29s fucks hard, so if you have the cash it'll become a yeet machine and a torque monster.

 

@snivilous gave you some great comments and advice. I don't think you'll get a better answer.

The IPT seems to be a good upgrade when you start hitting the rev limiter and/or you are having issues shifting into the first few gears. You shouldn't see these issues if you are going with stock SC tunes on a larger pulley.

What year truck? It will tell us if you have a trans cooler or not. If you do have one monitor temps. If not get a trans cooler installed and monitor temps.

One of the companies selling IPT upgrades claims the transmission is rated for only ~450 HP or so. It is hard to tell from the anecdotes since people rarely spec out their builds and rarely describe their usage. I've read others claim it is as high as ~700 to 900HP.

 

Thanks. Both great advice. It is a 2017 Crewmax 5.7 with the tow package. What is this touquepro you speak of?

 

I've read that OTT (overland tailor tunes) can now adjust the shifting and torque tables enough with hptuners that the IPT upgrade isn't necessarily needed. Depending on how hard you plan on going

 

trd supercharged since 2010 at 29k miles. at ~100k now. only towed a few times and don't really offroad. i bought the supercharger for the smiles and it has delivered. don't baby the truck and go wot at least one or two times each time i drive it. only tranny issues im having were there before boost. like not shifting up well when cold and the jerky shift points in lower gears.

 

I’ve got about 6000 miles supercharged on mine so far, no regear and larger tires. I have my fun with it for sure, seems to be holding up well knock on wood. When I’m ready to drop the cash I’ll probably upgrade the valve body though. Definitely not an immediate must have.

 

You wont need to add a cooler your year has one.

This the one?
https://overlandtailor.com/tundra-performance-tuning

 

That's the one. I've worked with @JustDSM from tacomaworld (he now works for OTT) in the past on my previous Tacoma and I gotta say he's a wizard. Everyone over in the TW s/c tips and tricks thread will say the same! He was able to all but get rid of the 4th-5th gear Tacoma flare up by tuning it out with hpt. Matter of fact, he just posted a new dyno chart for the 3UR they tuned today.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ricks-and-mods.518932/page-2166#post-27394573

 

So if I understand correctly, I will use the hptune that will be installed using the rtd device as per magnusen. Once that is installed, I can use this company to “fine tune” the vehicle computer to smooth out shift points, increase hp etc.??? Sorry, I’m a newbie when it comes to this.

 

Hptuners is a whole separate cost. So you buy their hardware, which will be good for any vehicle. But you also have to buy credits for each and every specific vehicle you tune with it. I believe the Tundra is 4 credits at $50 a credit. Now you have access to do very specific tunes. However it is complicated. So instead you'll again pay a fee to someone for custom tune files with support. It is a steep initial cost, but honestly it ends up being worth it.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hptuners-the-tacoma-faq.705981/

That's for the taco but it will give you a good idea.

 

The problem is you are paying for overlapping services twice. Your shop doing the install usually does tuning to dial in your blower.

The OTT guy posted a few days ago you may be able to ask him what he charges for dialing in your shift points.

 

Thank you. I believe I’m able to download several tunes with the initial purchase of the supercharger but it sounds like there may be better tunes available.

 

https://www.tundras.com/threads/5-7l-v8-tundra-tuning-custom-calibrations.93968/#post-2373371

The poster's name is @Boltripper

 

@cjscinta Is the shop doing your install granting you a warranty? Magnuson will give you a 3 year/36K Miles warranty if the shop is "certified" to do the install. I would check the terms of the warranty to see if someone retuning the truck voids the warranty, especially if Magnuson is just loading a precanned tune.

 

Well unfortunately, what you are saying is true. However, the Magnusen warranty only backs up your factory warranty. Or basically covers you for the parts of the warranty that Toyota won’t cover. Mine is about out of warranty. It will cover parts etc. but that is all.

 

ditto. for best results - Get your ride tuned on a dyno. then, you won't need a gadget. the tuner fella simply uploads the tune and you are done.

unless you look like @ViktorG in a Gandolf outfit , don't even attempt a "do it yourself thing" with HP tuners. it's wizard level complicated.

 

Isnt there a “tuner option” when buying the supercharger which is a little cheaper? It doesn’t include a tune so you’ll just source that yourself from DAP, Prospeed, or some other tuner. Then you aren’t paying for the crap magnuson tune that you don’t even want. I’ve seen several people have issues on this forum with a bad magnuson provided tune, with pinging and knock all over the place.

 

I purchased the supercharger new in the box from another guy but it already came with the device and tune so I essentially already paid for it.

 

If I am understanding the tuner credits correctly it may not make sense for the shop to spend credits to upload some precanned tune only for you to spend credits again to tweak and refine the tune and shift points.

Not sure what the best solution is and I don't have experience working with a remote tuner but hopefully someone with direct experience can chime in. I would imagine getting some dyno time is optimal to dial your truck in but I understand their are other options to pull logs too.

If it is possible to temporarily run the Maggie on the stock map just like the Harrop Stage 1 it may make sense to just have one person do your tuning and tweaking too. Its not just from a cost savings perspective but from the perspective of having a single belly button to push if you have any issues. Having two different people playing around with the ECU gives them both an out if any issues arise; I think you'll have an easier time dealing with one person.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! I'm excited for you. This platform responds nicely to a blower, its a hoot!

 

Thank you. Should be fun. My installer is much better versed in this so hopefully he can give me some insight. From what I understand I can go the tuner route through Magnusen or go the dyno route without the tuner. I will probably go the tuner route seeing I already have that. Who knows, maybe I will be satisfied with that. If I have issues though I will probably have to go another route. Great info though. I feel less confused thanks to you all.

 

The credits for hptuners unlocks your vin for tuning. Once it's done you don't have to do it again to flash your truck. My understanding is this is different than the RTD device or whatever it's called which just allows for a generic tune to be flashed to the vehicle. It does not unlock the vin for normal tuning (just my understanding). If you get five different tunes with hptuners, you only buy the four credits once and can now have the truck tuned for life by anyone essentially.

OP I wouldn't get wrapped around the axle right now about tuning, whatever came with the kit just use that to start with and then you can go down the rabbit hole of tuning on your own time. With that said, having a good tune is critical for longevity, performance, and overall drivability which is why there's so many comments of who, how, what. Your truck should run fine with what came in the kit, start there and then look around if there's local places or someone to do remote tuning and what options you want for yourself. I've been through three softwares essentially and multiple iterations within those: the tune, software, person or company, etc can be changed out to your hearts content as better and different options pop up. The main thing is to get the truck running mechanically first.

 

You can definitely run the magnuson tune for the time being, I’d just count on that being your first upgrade after installation. It snowballs though, since if you’re going to get it tuned you go down the rabbit hole of what other mods it makes sense to do before you get it tuned to avoid having to retune multiple times. As for better real world impressions of the provided magnuson tune, maybe @AZTundra and @CrashRat can comment as they both have personal experiences with it.

 

Wow. Once again. Great info. Thanks all.

 

I can tell you, on my s/c 2014 Tacoma, it was a night and day difference between the dealer installed TRD tune and the custom tune with HPTuners. NIGHT AND DAY difference. I returned it to stock TRD tune before trading it in and omg it felt so sluggish

 

@Silver17 thanks for the tag.
@cjscinta here are my comments and feedback while using the provided Magnuson tune and after getting a custom tune from @ViktorG. Read post #123 (my comments) and post #126 from @ViktorG talking about my truck/tune. The Magnuson tune definitely has it's flaws that may go unnoticed. https://www.tundras.com/threads/viktor-g-tuning.89986/page-5#post-2579761

 

Great info Paul. I think this is the direction I want to go in but I feel like I’m getting in over my head. The supercharger isn’t installed yet but it does come with the hp tuner and tune so do you think I’m better off just installing Victors tune initially? I get the impression that you recommend the custom tune. I think I’ve subscribed to victors YouTube channel. He seems like he is a master of his craft. Not exactly sure where to start but hopefully my installer has some insight.

 

You should be fine to run the Magnuson tune at install, then after install I would start looking for someone to do a custom tune specific for your truck. I'm not sure if ViktorG is still doing remote tunes, but you could check with him. There are definitely more tuning options available now compared to a couple years ago.

 

Just arrived....!!!