Tuner

[Big T]

O ok what about buddy's tuners he emailed me back and I herd he was a good one

My son's '94 has a 4 position Buddy tune. It works great. He can do up to 6 position tunes. As THEFERMANATOR noted, these forums have issues with him not paying vendor fees.

 

[Big T]

WOW! I go to the Husker Spring Game this afternoon (72,995 attendance for the final spring practice) and come back to the forum to find that all hell has broken loose and the feces hits the rotating airfoil!

How are them Huskers looking?

I fell asleep watching the final USC scrimmage on PAC 12 Network. Not really a scrimmage at all.

Most excited about Utah. Their DL is looking to be the best in the PAC 12 and is downright nasty in the best of Utah defensive tradition. Utah finally has some QBs who can sling the ball, so next year should be another top 25 team and possible contender for the PAC 12 South.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

My son's '94 has a 4 position Buddy tune. It works great. He can do up to 6 position tunes. As THEFERMANATOR noted, these forums have issues with him not paying vendor fees.

It's not just that he doesn't pay vendor fees, it's also his choice to sneak around the forums backs, and sell via PM's(unfortunately with help many times) circumventing the very rules that EVERY forum member agrees to abide by when they join.

And before anybody thinks I have some personnal beef with buddy, I was the one who brought it up in the backroom about him being a vendor here even after everything that happened with him. I was FOR letting him be a vendor here despite everything that had transpired with him, but you can see what became of that.

 

[CtChevy427]

Hey Buddy, go crawl back under you rock. You have not been missed.

 

[Husker6.5]

How are them Huskers looking?

I fell asleep watching the final USC scrimmage on PAC 12 Network. Not really a scrimmage at all.

Most excited about Utah. Their DL is looking to be the best in the PAC 12 and is downright nasty in the best of Utah defensive tradition. Utah finally has some QBs who can sling the ball, so next year should be another top 25 team and possible contender for the PAC 12 South.

It was Offense vs. Defense, 1's against 1's, 2's vs. 2's on down the line with a little bit of subbing. 20 minute quarters, clock running except for out of bounds or time outs. In addition to normal scoring, there were points awarded for things like gains over 20 yards, 3 and out by the Defense, converting or stopping a 4th down, intercepting a pass, holding the offense inside their own 40 yard line, having more than three 1st downs in a drive, etc. It was a little different, but kept the score close. The game was decided on the last play of the day. Starting the 4th Quarter the Red (Offense) was leading the White 41-30. White won the game 46-41 on a 4th down interception (6 points for the D) plus a point each for holding them on 3rd down and stopping the 4th down for the D.

That freshman quarterback from California, Patrick O'Brien, is the real deal! Kid graduated from High School in December, enrolled here in January, lived up to his props as All-Everything California. Same thing with that true Freshman Cali All-Star receiver that came here. Oh, Keyshawn Johnson Jr. & Sr.were here in street clothes along with the Quarterback from Calabasas, too.

Looks like we picked right up from where we left off from thrashing UCLA in the bowl game. 1st string Offense and O-line is a monster, definitely more power running in the mix with three interchangeable I - Backs who run power, are fast with moves, block well in pass protection and have great hands receiving. Got two monster Fullbacks, one is a converted Tightend, 6' 4" 240, power runner who destroys people in front of him either running or lead blocking and showed some amazing catches in traffic coming out of the backfield. O-Line is big and quick.

Defense, we have 10 linemen who could be starters at most programs. The redshirt Freshman twin brothers, Carlos and Kalil Davis came out of Missouri as the top prep athletes and four star Rivals as Defensive Rush Ends. They both are about 25-30 heavier now, just as fast, and were playing side by side as Tackles wreaking havoc.

The team looks good, guess we'll know more come September when we open here against Fresno State, at Wyoming, then have Oregon here before heading into B1G conference play.

 

[NVW]

How did it compare to a tune from Lyndon, Leo? I forgot to put him in the list, and most of these guys use his def files

Jim, IIRC the EGT's were down some and the performance was up. It's been over a year since I had Wester's chip in. Lyden's chip was pretty good but I hated TTC lockup at 30 mph, especially with a 9400 lb truck.

Leroy's price was better too.

 

[JiFaire]

Thanks Leo .. I know Dennis was pretty happy with his tunes, and lord knows he is savvy about the fuel/air curves, but it's nice to hear an apples/apples comparison from someone I trust.

 

[CtChevy427]

Yup, just a hobby.

 

[BoostN]

My son's '94 has a 4 position Buddy tune. It works great. He can do up to 6 position tunes. As THEFERMANATOR noted, these forums have issues with him not paying vendor fees.

Because it costs me money out of my pocket to run this place. Simple as that.

 

[Big T]

Because it costs me money out of my pocket to run this place. Simple as that.

I bought the tuner from Buddy before the whole Forum thing blew up, so I was not aware of it. At the time, it was the only multi position tune out there, so we gave it a try. It was bought for a '95 Suburban K2500, which ended up totaled in a rollover accident. First thing retrieved from the wreck was the ECM and the tuner. It is now on a '94 Suburban K2500 and works great. Just relaying that experience because the OP asked for anyone having experience with the Buddy tune. I understand this Forum's issues with his marketing tactics, but that had nothing to do with his product and how it worked.

 

[Burning oil]

I liked Buddy in the beginning, he was always helpful to other members. I got one of his first multi tune (prototype).
He sold it to me for $425! IIRC. I remember thinking Wow thats full retail. It really hit me the wrong way when later I found out he was selling supposedly at the "hobby" price of $50 not making a profit but doing it for a hobby.
So what did you guys pay for yours?
Wasn't there a "Buddy fund" to pay for his vendor status too! Where did that money go?

HA! LEROY! We traded products, you never "paid" me a dime. So who is the jerk? What do YOU make on your products, the markup that you charge me in that transaction? I traded you for retail price straight up. AND you have the gall to charge $399 for a tune that would take someone 15 minutes of work and then bitch about $425 for a custom chip I spend many hours to design custom PCBs, sourcing parts, and tuning 3 or more tunes. I personally spent hours soldering it togethers, how much time did you spend shipping stuff? So there you have it, $399 for one tune from Leroy and he bitches about $425 for a custom piece with multiple tunes. THAT about sums up the story. And Theferminator is the slimiest person I think I know, would never trust his opinion, completely biased. I never copied anyone's tunes, period, and this comes from the guy using pirated software to look at mine, Heaths and others tuning to make his own.

I did not call you names, I think I was pretty respectful in my reply. Why so defensive?
You are correct I remember now (its been a few years now) we did trade parts at a $425 value. I sent you $425 worth of parts, so yeah that didn't cost me anything right? NOT. You by far came out better in the deal, but thats OK I agreed to it.

I don't claim to be a "hobby", my costs for a tune are higher than yours but I still charge less than you.

Members here were willing to pay YOUR supporting vendor fees!! REALLY! and you still whine. I was even willing at the time to take you under my belt, so to speak. Anyone want to pay for my fees this year? There not much, but hey it would be a nice gesture. I won't even demand the forum change for me.
( I could say at this point "so who's the jerk" but I won't).

Im not privy to all the back room dealings you had with the forum, but the more that comes out does not make you look any better now.

 

[Will L.]

I don't know Buddy, never talked, bought, or tried to help sell anything for him. Never put him down either. I rode in a pickup that had a 6 tune in it and the owner of the truck (not a member of this forum afaik) said "from buddy". I thought he just meant a friend of his till aI put it together later. Never knew of this mess until seeing the mudbog here.

I bought a little from Leroy, but haven't needed much of what he sells so far, but a list is growing and I try to help him how I can- he's probably sick of my pm's at this point.

An option for the future?:

On a hummer forum I joined, there are multiple vendors. But for small volume guys it doesn't pay to become a vendor. Whether $5 profit or $500 profit a year, they have a "per sale" donation that the not quite vendor makes.
A Guy makes a little part that sells for $10. Once he sold enough of them -through the forum threads recommendations - he sends in a $20 donation. Yes it's the honor system, and no it won't always be followed. But this allows win for TTS, the members, and the guy doing the side thing. Anyone wanting to skirt the system will find a way by the sounds of it. But if becoming a vendor is cost prohibitive for a part time gig- no extra $ to The forum anyways.

I thought about doing injectors. Leroy sells injectors, but is too busy to get into flow and pressure balanced injectors, I asked him. Rock auto does not even know what that means. So buy of the shelf or do it yourself. I have the KSA for it, and could make it happen if I knew the time would pay off. (Then I'd finally do my own set also) But vendor fees, and business license etc for it makes it not worth it. I can't do it here legally in my town without a city council meeting getting a waiver. Most shops that can balance injectors only know of balancing the pressure, and have no clue of volume adjustment. It adds 5 times the time requirement once you know how to do it. I showed the site to one of my city council members and asked the legal side of me doing it. If I'm a listed vendor- I need to set up full business licensing, including store front. If I did things on occasion and chose to make random donations, and was recommended only on one at a time basis- no license needed.
TTS vendor fee could be $1 a year but the legal tie makes it in unavailable to me, but sounds like a few would be vendors - that is what kept them from doing it.

My impression is Leroy is a full time vendor, obviously Rock auto is. If Buddy is full time at these tunes he must sell a lot of them, and I meet 1 new 6.5er every other week. Only seen one 6 tune truck I know of.
I could only dedicate 1 or 2 sets a week at most and it will never happen because I can make a lot more, much easier doing a couple hours OT on a regular job.
There are others I'm sure, but it can't happen for some because of being a listed vendor.

Before anyone says anything, no one contact me about doing a set for you- no. It's simply not going to happen.

I want whoever owns TTS to profit. They don't, they could close it down and everyone suffers. I am guessing it's a full time job in itself. But maybe there is an option here somewhere. Just my thought.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

I did not call you names, I think I was pretty respectful in my reply. Why so defensive?
You are correct I remember now (its been a few years now) we did trade parts at a $425 value. I sent you $425 worth of parts, so yeah that didn't cost me anything right? NOT. You by far came out better in the deal, but thats OK I agreed to it.

I don't claim to be a "hobby", my costs for a tune are higher than yours but I still charge less than you.

Members here were willing to pay YOUR supporting vendor fees!! REALLY! and you still whine. I was even willing at the time to take you under my belt, so to speak. Anyone want to pay for my fees this year? There not much, but hey it would be a nice gesture. I won't even demand the forum change for me.
( I could say at this point "so who's the jerk" but I won't).

Im not privy to all the back room dealings you had with the forum, but the more that comes out does not make you look any better now.

I wasn't a moderator here during the 1st blow up, but from what was posted in open forum showed the board did EVERYTHING possible to work with him. The final straw was his unwillingness to become a vendor, so he took to PM's to sell his products with the help of others that also did PM's of email address's and such. If that isn't as underhand as you can get to skirt what is probably some of the most reasoneable vendor fees out there(that also gets you exposure on google and some other search features), then I don't know what is. I know several like his products, but I can't support somebody who thinks he's owed everything for free, and then has the nerve to demand others cater to him. This board is here for the memebrs to help each other, and the rules are pretty fair IMHO. And even AFTER his 1st dustup, he wasn't run off, just had his PM's taken away(hence why he got others to do the PM'ing for him), yet everytime he comes back it ALWAYS erupts into a blow up.

He made promises to help when the DIY tuning started by posting up some of his .bin files, did that ever happen? Did he even offer anything constructive? He also said he would help us out with DURAMAX tuning, but couldn't with his software, so I told him how to obtain it, but yet he ignored it and quit coming around for awhile. He got called out by me for copying somebody elses work, but yet I'm the "slimiest person he knows"? Makes one wonder how he continues to pedal his product, AND still has others that help him do it. And like I posted earlier, DESPITE ALL THIS, I still brought it up in the back room about him being a vendor here, and we reluctantly said we would IF he payed the fees himself. We see what came of that(And the details of that PM would paint an even WORSE picture of him, but it was a private message, so I won't bring up the details).

This forum really runs quite well EXCEPT for when his name is brought up, or he decides to visit. He ALWAYS brings drama with him, starts a storm, and then takes off back to DP to talk bad about us there(hence why I got tired of going there, that and the outright STEALING of OUR tech info).

 

[GM Guy]

No I'm not a coal roller I just wanna get all the power out of my truck I am always pulling big trailers but my truck is a 94 Chevy 3500 6.5 turbo

@Tim3596 what transmission do you have, and how big of trailers? How long of pull?

The biggest deal with keeping a 6.5L happy while towing is maintenance. cooling system is the big one that needs looked after, radiator needs to be spotless, and the fan needs to work. Never let it get above 210.

I would save your chip money for a big exhaust, and keep putting money in the bank for a big turbo.

My favorite vendor is Leroy Diesel, but other safe options are Heath, Kennedy, Lube Specialist, DSG, etc.

For a heavy puller, a Diamond Eye 4 inch exhaust, and a Fluidampr, and a special spec t-stat from LeroyDiesel.com, and a fresh fan clutch and whatever other maintenance parts you need from Rockauto.com would be my first stop.

As far as the turbo, everyone seems to love the A-Team Turbo, especially for towing. a Holset is another option, and PT wiring solutions offers a kit to install the Holset, but by the time you source all components, the bolt on A-team will likely be the cheaper option.

If my opinion matters, I will be going with an A-Team when I can hold onto the $ long enough. But with the fleet I have, the $ seems to disappear just keeping them all maintained, let alone buying performance parts.

All of mine are for work only and tow relatively heavy, most of them only have the trailer off for an oil change or tire work, the last one was bought at 238K and I blew the motor at 269K, and there was less than 1K trailer free miles in that time frame. I haul farm equipment out west (California, Oregon, etc) so I get to pull alot of mountains.

 

[GM Guy]

@Tim3596 as you can tell, there is still many old wounds over the Buddy deal, but the fact you can read any of this is also why I love this forum, its all out in the open.

From a morals perspective, I refuse to deal with Buddy. I have heard of too much shady stuff to think its all a "coincidence". I know there was a collection to try to pay his vendor fee, but it was never paid, and the fund disappeared.

There are no issues with KOJO, and from what I hear from folks who know tuning, its a more refined better written tune anyways. I know it will be my choice.

As far as healing old wounds, I think buddy could realize how the forum system works and consider paying a vendor fee, or negotiating out a per tune fee for the forum, or partner with someone. It costs money, but it also costs money to run a forum, and forum threads live on forever, unlike facebook groups, so positive relations with a forum goes a long ways for business.

If the fee is too high, consider selling the tune through a vendor. Maybe team up with PT Wiring?