Has anyone every limped their LMM when using the Banks 6 Gun? I understand that the tunner us supposed to be very safe but was wondering if anyone has set it on lvl 6 and WOT limped the truck or tranny or whatever? Not so much pulling but just playing around town and hwy. I've been running mine on lvl 4 cause a little worried about limping it on 6. Wondering if it has happened?

I have been running mine of 6 for more than 6 months now. I have owned the 6-gun for 18 months. The ONLY time that I have ever had any problems while driving was once on the drag strip after going into speed loader mode the turbo warning went off and once on level six getting on the freeway at WOT the turbo alarm went off. Both times I backed off the throttle and the warning buzzer stopped and the truck was fine. It has NEVER went into limp mode.

Is this turbo alarm on the trucks computer "like on the dash" or on your Banks PDA? Is it from getting too much boost, or spool?
I think i may set mine on 6 and just watch WOT in the high gears.

It was on the Banks PDA. not sure what caused the warning.

Just because you have never limped your tranny, or have only limped it once, doesn't mean you haven't damaged your tranny when running a tune/module over 50-75 HP.

I ran just a 90 HP module--with all the safety features--for about three years on my 2002 and I never limped the tranny. However, when I had Mile L. beef the tranny with a SCIV, he found I had burned clutches. Mike said that was typical of what he saw with guys running even that little power on a stock tranny.

Now the LMM tranny is suppsoed to be a little beefier, but then again, the LMM puts down another 65-75 RWHP, which puts us right back where we ought to beef the tranny if we add more power.

It is almost a shame that it is so cheap and easy to add HP to our trucks, becasue we are all so tempted to add the power without beefing the tranny. In reality, we should beef the tranny first, then add power, and there is now a low cost way to do so. According to Mike L, a Transgo Jr kit will allow us to run up to 400 RWHP on an LMM with no issues. To go more than that then the tranny needs to be beefed even more.

Yess but as i understand it the transgo jr. only adds more fluid pressure in 1-4 shifts. As soon as the torque converter locks up the fluid pressure drops back to the same amount of pressure as before adding the transgo jr. yess adding this kit would allow you to keep your tuner on a higher setting but then again you still couldn't stay WOT passed 4 gear without a chance of clutch slippage.

I agree that the smartest thing would be to beef the tranny first then add the power but of course we are guys and pretty hard headed.lol

It should be a requirement that before you can excede an additional 50 RWHP, you must beef the tranny.

It's just TOO easy--and thus WAY too tempting--to make HP in these rigs. I fight that temptation EVERY day with this new truck.............

MAJ Painter,
You bring up a valid point. But I have an honest question about the transmission. Are burned clutches inside the transmission created by transmission slippage (difference between speed of input from engine and output of tail shaft of the tranny)? One of the settable parameters of the Six-gun is tranny slip. As cautious as Banks is with their tuners shouldn’t a truck with the Banks setup be less likely to see transmission damage than one with a programmer that does not monitor and adjust tor transmission slippage? If I am incorrect about the burned clutches what causes them, too much heat of a combination of both?
Regards,
Joe Burnside

You guys correct me if i am incorrect.
The Banks systems do have built in safety programs for your transmission. But i think that it reduces power when it detects transmission slippage. This is great but the transmission has already slipped and clutches have spunn, glazzed, lightly burnt or whatever. So next time you run up beside a buddies powerstroke and you want to get on your d-max, a slip in your trasmission is more likely since you have already slipped in the past.
I believe that you are right about what makes the tranny slip. And banks does monitor its slippage percentagte. And de-fuels when it is supposed to, to help the tranny.

I have the banks setup just for this reason. I wanted to be safe but I still want to do something to the tranny to enable me to put it on level 6 and keep the skinny pedal on the floor thru 6th gear.

You guys correct me if i am incorrect.
The Banks systems do have built in safety programs for your transmission. But i think that it reduces power when it detects transmission slippage. This is great but the transmission has already slipped and clutches have spunn, glazzed, lightly burnt or whatever. So next time you run up beside a buddies powerstroke and you want to get on your d-max, a slip in your trasmission is more likely since you have already slipped in the past.
I believe that you are right about what makes the tranny slip. And banks does monitor its slippage percentagte. And de-fuels when it is supposed to, to help the tranny.

I have the banks setup just for this reason. I wanted to be safe but I still want to do something to the tranny to enable me to put it on level 6 and keep the skinny pedal on the floor thru 6th gear.


The Banks systems do have safety features built into them to "help" save your tranny... You must remember that if you are hard on your truck you are still being hard on the tranny.. The Banks system tuners do help prevent damage, but you still do need to remember their are reasons why guys still built there trannys up... Becareful on level sl for sure.. Their tuners do work great... Watch the trans slip.. Watch in the stock level & also watch it in the different power levels. Just to compare... Anything under 33ish is just consider noise & not a problem.. A 100 is consider a limp or really close to one...

As far as the turbo warning, that is the EGT warning symbol. In level 6, I believe it goes off at about 1425 deg. F. I have had this happen many times, but if your EGT's are only that high for short periods you shouldn't have any problems. I leave my truck in level 6 unless I am towing, run it pretty hard, and have never limped it. My DPF is cracked and seems to be needing to regen more often. My tranny has started to shudder if I roll into the throttle while at freeway speeds, which I think is the converter. I should have installed my Transgo Jr. before the Banks, but I decided to learn the hard way.

MAJ Painter,
You bring up a valid point. But I have an honest question about the transmission. Are burned clutches inside the transmission created by transmission slippage (difference between speed of input from engine and output of tail shaft of the tranny)? One of the settable parameters of the Six-gun is tranny slip. As cautious as Banks is with their tuners shouldn’t a truck with the Banks setup be less likely to see transmission damage than one with a programmer that does not monitor and adjust tor transmission slippage? If I am incorrect about the burned clutches what causes them, too much heat of a combination of both?
Regards,
Joe Burnside

My understanding is the clutches in the Alli burn because they are slipping too much. The Edge had all those features as well. It would sometimes defuel so much at a shift it felt like I was putting the clutch in on a manual tranny. Like has been already posted, slippage has already occurred when the power box pulls power. In fact, IIRC, the factory TCM does this as well and the power boxes just "help it" a little.

A Banks or an Edge tuner set on no more than 75 HP when empty and 50 HP when towing ought to keep the tranny safe, but there is no guarantee. A Transgo Jr would be a very smart mod for even those power levels, and an SCIV would be even a better idea--then you could run up to 500 RWHP.

These so called built in safty features for trans, is for driving thru school zones.
Any/All of these tuners above 40 hp tune will screw with the trans and if you get on it one little bit, it will slip.
You guys that are running above 40 hp, and if do the least little hot dogging will have issues even with the trans go jr, you will eventually be out some major bucks.
We are starting to read here on D.P., people have big time issues with the engine and trans.
People real proud bragging about running 90 hp up, banks 6 gun on level 6, some towing on the higher levels, this is now starting to come out that they really have screwed up and pushed it to far.
Even Hypertech claims you don`t need a egt gauge with their tunes, theirs is safe enough you can even tow on level 2.
Then why is everyone with Hypertech that has towed on level 2 and 3 on real steep grades with no egt gauge and wondering why the engine has over heated enough to have to pull over to the side of the road.:duh:
At that point the egts was cookin.:(

Come on, Wake Up America.

or just don't worry tell it brakes all this worrying good lord i say no gauges and stop worrying

or just don't worry tell it brakes all this worrying good lord i say no gauges and stop worrying

Well, I`m happy someone finally has total control with everything.:)

Well, If I Kill My Truck Every Day And It Holds Up For 3-4 Years (like Ive Dun It The Past)but I Trade After That. But Lets Say I Keep It Around And One Day The Trany And The Motor Blew..bam So What!!! You Can Go On Ebay And Get A Low Mile Motor And Trany For 4500. And Do It All Over Again ,,,why Spend The Same Amount For Just The Trany Upgrade????

These so called built in safty features for trans, is for driving thru school zones.
Any/All of these tuners above 40 hp tune will screw with the trans and if you get on it one little bit, it will slip.
You guys that are running above 40 hp, and if do the least little hot dogging will have issues even with the trans go jr, you will eventually be out some major bucks.
We are starting to read here on D.P., people have big time issues with the engine and trans.
People real proud bragging about running 90 hp up, banks 6 gun on level 6, some towing on the higher levels, this is now starting to come out that they really have screwed up and pushed it to far.
Even Hypertech claims you don`t need a egt gauge with their tunes, theirs is safe enough you can even tow on level 2.
Then why is everyone with Hypertech that has towed on level 2 and 3 on real steep grades with no egt gauge and wondering why the engine has over heated enough to have to pull over to the side of the road.:duh:
At that point the egts was cookin.:(

Come on, Wake Up America.

As far as EGTs cookin when your coolant temp gets high, I don't think they necessarily go hand in hand. From personal experience while towing in hot weather, I could get and engine overtemp warning on my Banks PDA with my EGTs staying around 1200 on a long grade. I am not saying you are incorrect on their relationship, but just because your coolant temp runs high (engine fan clutch lags on applying) doesn't mean your EGTs are too high.

Well, If I Kill My Truck Every Day And It Holds Up For 3-4 Years (like Ive Dun It The Past)but I Trade After That. But Lets Say I Keep It Around And One Day The Trany And The Motor Blew..bam So What!!! You Can Go On Ebay And Get A Low Mile Motor And Trany For 4500. And Do It All Over Again ,,,why Spend The Same Amount For Just The Trany Upgrade????

Because if you spend the money on the trans upgrade you won't blow your tranny, and if you have a good tune and watch your EGTs and boost you won't blow your engine. I ran my 500 RWHP JK tune with a SCIV for two and a half years, was able to blow away just about anyone I felt like blowing away, got good fuel mileage, and had zero reliability concerns.

To do that you must move past the reactive, undisciplined "drive it 'til it breaks" mind set.

As far as EGTs cookin when your coolant temp gets high, I don't think they necessarily go hand in hand. From personal experience while towing in hot weather, I could get and engine overtemp warning on my Banks PDA with my EGTs staying around 1200 on a long grade. I am not saying you are incorrect on their relationship, but just because your coolant temp runs high (engine fan clutch lags on applying) doesn't mean your EGTs are too high.

Stock-Mild tune v.s. High tunes like you run.
With high tunes you will have more power and fuel which will keep the egt`s a little cooler even at lower rpm`s but was your RPM`s high enough to keep the coolant temps down. "NO".
If your running stock to lower tunes, "not extreem" the chances are if your coolant temps are so high that you need to pull over then your egts was more than likely high as well.

But, I`m happy someone else finally has total control with everything, and is not having any sort of problems, and has it all figured out.:)
Keep on truckin just like you are, you do not need to change one thing.:D

Because if you spend the money on the trans upgrade you won't blow your tranny, and if you have a good tune and watch your EGTs and boost you won't blow your engine. I ran my 500 RWHP JK tune with a SCIV for two and a half years, was able to blow away just about anyone I felt like blowing away, got good fuel mileage, and had zero reliability concerns.

To do that you must move past the reactive, undisciplined "drive it 'til it
breaks" mind set.

i don't worry about it one bit, my last duramax i tried to brake it for 2 months strait and couldn't do it, i had trans fluid so hot it was puking all over the ground and it was still fine after! i don't know what you guys are doing to brake them (with a stock turbo). i thank its a scare tactic to get people to buy your product!!! don't go over 40hp tune or your trany is gone..give me a brake.... maybe im just so hard on them from day one it just learns to like it...haha it does get stuck in 4th gear some times but i shut it off and its fine. gauges are a wast of money the motor is not going to blow!!!i tried that already to. not worried at all!!

I don`t know about anyone else, but I am real impressed with the "no fear mentality".

I don`t know about anyone else, but I am real impressed with the "hug my truck mentality" and then get on a power and performence form and tell everyone perfomence is bad.

Then you are not making the power you think you are or aren't running as hard as you claim. I suspect it is both. Too many here have destroyed engines and trannies running big power without proper safeguards. If you ever run big power and run the truck hard enough, you'll be impressed at the level of destruction you can cuase..............

well i had a hole page for you until my computer froze and im not writing it again. but lets just say your right you got me! all 3 dynos for all 3 trucks were wrong! the vid in my Sig is a fake. and i limp my truck around on the 6th set of tires ive had for this truck at 17k miles and thats no power braking b.s! but you got me im a liar

I don`t know about anyone else, but I am real impressed with the "hug my truck mentality" and then get on a power and performence form and tell everyone perfomence is bad.

You have never heard from me on my performance being bad.
Never have I posted anywhere that I`m having problems, please advise.
I have not had any issues, and if I ever did I would know what the fix would be anyway.
Plus, from what I have done, (everything is not in my sig), my trucks performance is perfectly fine.:)
Thank You :D

well i had a hole page for you until my computer froze and im not writing it again. but lets just say your right you got me! all 3 dynos for all 3 trucks were wrong! the vid in my Sig is a fake. and i limp my truck around on the 6th set of tires ive had for this truck at 17k miles and thats no power braking b.s! but you got me im a liar

I don't think you are lying, I just think your are talking out of your hind end.............

I don't think you are lying, I just think your are talking out of your hind end.............

X 2, especially the hind end part.

I know i got on mine yesterday pretty hard running an older 12 valve flatbed and that
4th to 5th sure did a little slipping. It didn't limp but i know it slipped a good bit. I usually don't let it shift to 5th still on the throttle but the other guy was running stacks and i couldn't hear mine and i guess wasn't paying enough attention. Sure wish i had to money to build the tranny so i could stay in it till the cows come home.

Stock-Mild tune v.s. High tunes like you run.
With high tunes you will have more power and fuel which will keep the egt`s a little cooler even at lower rpm`s but was your RPM`s high enough to keep the coolant temps down. "NO".
If your running stock to lower tunes, "not extreem" the chances are if your coolant temps are so high that you need to pull over then your egts was more than likely high as well.

But, I`m happy someone else finally has total control with everything, and is not having any sort of problems, and has it all figured out.:)
Keep on truckin just like you are, you do not need to change one thing.:D

I do keep my rpm up while towing as I do understand the added stress lugging the engine causes. The high coolant temp warnings on the Banks would come on when the temp reached about 230 deg, but I never had to pull over as the fan would kick on right after that and bring the temp back down to around 210 deg. When pulling these long hills with 17,000lbs. behind me I would keep rpms at around 2800 in fourth gear. On one 8% grade, fourth gear would not keep the rpms up, so I backed off and let it run in third.

I do understand that running this added power is going to shorten the life of components on my truck and have accepted that. If something breaks, I will fix it and keep the truck going. This is just my way of doing things. I do not fault anyone for wanting to drive their truck easier in order to make everything last longer.