gmkilr

I am getting ready to purchase a box for my 03 HO and I am confused why there is not more talk about the Banks setup! Please let me know! I am looking for extra towing power to pull my 38' toy hauler, not a bunch of tuning problems. Thank you for your help!

glowball

Look into the bully dog power pup. Way easier to install. Good smooth power. You can get it for around $430 if you look around on the internet. I'm pretty happy with mine.

Kris

Barrett_Fodder

One of the biggest appeals for me at least with the banks setup was the overall protection i felt it offered through the EGT based defueling and the Transmission monitoring. Though some would argue that the multiple connections are a huge pain in the butt I personally found the hour and a half i spent doing it well worth the time and learned a little about the truck itself. If i had it to do over again It would be a close race between the Banks and Power Pup Downloader, however I would still choose the Banks for the above mentioned reasons.

As to your question about why you dont see much on Banks. There have been several long running threads on the Banks systems Esp check out "Six gunned my 03 and cant stop grinning". One thing to consider is that you wont find a lot of problem threads on the Banks system where that is a lot of the hits off a search for say TST will return a lot of threads about throwing codes and will it kill a turbo and etc...

Keep in mind anythign you do you run the risk of damaging driveline and turbo simply by pushing it beyond factory settings thus you may well become your own warranty service station.

On the issue of towing. My understanding of the Power Pup you shouldnt tow on the highest setting (this is true of most boxes and programmers). Banks warns of the same thing with the 6 gun and Speedloader on settings of 4, 5, or 6. However I have towed 12,000# on level 3 just fine and even ran it up to 6 while out on the highway and noticed no ill effects and EGt were more than manageable. I think the primary concern on higher power levels is the potential for unnessecary driveline wear as well as the possibility of EGt spikes during initial acceleration.

Any which way you go if you budget $600 bucks for the box set aside 5 times that for all the stuff youll want to do as soon as you are infected with the Musthavabomb virus.

Good luck, shoot me a pm if you have any install questions if you do go with the banks setup.

zzsdad

I still think one major reason some choose to stay away from the Banks in the substantial gain in fuel line pressure. They take it to the service limit. Many of the other boxes deal with timing and duration and some offer modest boost's in the pressure. That's why I chose to stay away from Banks.

big red psd cc

The thing about the Banks unit it that it does it all.

Monitors EGT and Tranny
Adjust TIming
Adjust Fuel Pressure
Its adjustable.

As for the number of plugs....big deal. You want to be lazy, then you less features. You put out the effort (extra 20 minutes), you get a box to do everything.

As for pushing the fuel pressure to the limit, where's the problem in that. Its only a problem if its OVER the limit, and the Banks doesn't do that.

With mine, I gained 2 mpg.....hand calculated over multiply tanks of fuel.

No SES lights.

The truck will smoke in levels 5 and 6, won't in 2,3,4

I would go the Banks way again if I had to do it.

tcr

BANKS, ALL THE WAY! EASY YET TIME CONSUMING INSTALL. PIECE OF MIND AS FAR AS THE SAFETY FEATURES. THEY DONT THROW CODES, AND WHO HAS BEEN TUNING DIESELS AS LONG AS BANKS. THEY MAY NOT BE ON TOP W/ #'S, AND THEY ARE NOT THE CHEAPEST, BUT IF MY AZZ IS IN COURT W/ WARRANTY ISSUES I'D WANT BANKS AND THEIR DEEP POCKETS THERE W/ ME, NOT ONE OF THESE NEWBE DIESEL TUNING COMPANIES W/ BS CLAIMS AND NO SAFETY FEATURES.

SuperGewl

Go with the Banks, the only downfall is NO you cannot remove it prior to going tho the dealer. Oh well, just check with your dealer to see what their stand is on after market boxes, trust me it helps

As far as the rest of the boxes you will find most people are stacking them because none of them will do alot of things well. The Banks on the other hand does a good job of making all the adjustments for you without having to STACK them.

I love mine for towing and just aroud town power. Yes you can feel the difference when it's on and when it isn't.

It pulls great and does give you some more power when towing w/o sacraficeing any fuel mileage, actually I gained about 2mpg. I keep mine on Lev3 all the time, I am curently testing it on Lev 1 for 3-5 tanks and see what happens.

Banks ALL the way man

Car_nut57

The Banks system is a very good one for your 03. The monster exhaust has a true 4" down pipe that replaces the cast iron elbow on the turbo charger and the mufffler has an expansion chamber int he front to keep the dreaded drone away. The Six-Gun box works very well all around, we have one on Jeff's 2004 here in the shop and with the Banks Six-Gun the truck gained mileage. Last but not least don't forget the gauges and the Scotty RA3 intake. We like the Di-Pricol gauges because of the quality of the gauges and the match to the factory instruments. The Scotty intake has a 2-stage foam filter element which is superior at stopping dirt and providing great air flow. You might also want to consider a Turbo Air Guide TAG-III to further enhance air flow and reduce EGTs.

StrokeThisCTD

installing takes about 6 hours, so when you want to go to the dealer they are going to see it since you cant take it off so quickly.

Someone at DTW also said his banks six gun melted his cummins. the guy had to buy a 3500 dually just to make it home since he had a huge boat with him.

warranty issues or not, banks isnt going to help you. putting a power adder onto your truck and then your truck exploding will lose the warranty regardless of how deep banks pockets are.

Briman

I have not used Banks electrical products. I have a Banks exhaust system. I looked at intallation PDFs from all manufacturers for exhaust brakes and power enhancing products while doing research for my own needs. I deceided against the Six Gun because of all the connections under the hood. Banks requires you to tap into several (is it 5) wires, some under the hood. This "T" tapping provides an opportunity for moisture to wick/propogate through the factory wiring harness. It does not take too long to destroy said harness. If you trade trucks fairly often this would/could not be a bother to you. One of the posters here mentioned that it would be good to have Banks on your side if you had problems and that is not going to happen. I won't post the link to a thread that says this is not reallity. The fine print in the Six Gun owners manual says that you use this device at your own risk (so do other boxes). As Peter at Banks has said, if you need their support for their product, use the towwing (stinger?) stuff. As far as the Six Gun monitoring EGT and defueling as nesesary, I would not trust Banks, TST, or any other manufacturer to provide fail safe operationg peramitors for my engine. What happened to drivers keeping track of temps and not leaving their foot on the floor , while believing that their "box" would save their AZZ/pocket book from expensive repairs. I can't make a recomendation for you (I hope you end up as happy with your decision as I am with mine), other than do your home work well. This is my point of view and is a minority vote in this thread. Don't flame me, simply take it for what it's worth (my opinion).

Barrett_Fodder

tapping 3 wires if i remember correctly. 2 on the trans unit under truck easy to reach.. unplug tap with dielectric grease and replug. Then 1 tap on wiring by the brake booster... Again dielectric grease and your done. I would rather tap 3 wires and plug in a bunch of conectors and have the safety of the banks than throw codes every other day and not know for sure if the defueling will work as the result of some stacking attempt. Again just my $.02 but I think the banks offers the greatest protection and the most useable power of the bunch.

I would be curious to see the proof that the banks system "melted" a truck... Would be a little scary if its even possible? I fyou have something to back this up please post it on here so that everyone is informed about those events... Thanks.

PS: I too have noticed a gain in fuel economy. Around town I have picked up about 1.5mpg even after winter fuel, on level 3. On the freeway I have found it best to run on level 6 if not towing heavy or level 4 if towing for a gain of about 1.5 - 2.0 mpg depending on speed.

Would like to see what stacking with some form of timing enhancement would do... Possibly with the Power Pup to get the combined timing advance effect... mmmm timing .. aahhhh

StrokeThisCTD

i cant find his post. it happened a few months ago. he posted on here about how much he didnt like banks. ill keep trying to find it.

AK RAM

Nothing wrong with Banks stuff. Its just more expensive than most think it should be. You can get more bang for your buck.

As for warranty or "standing behind you", don't ever expect that type of support to be there when you need it regardless of who your talking about. That is a fallacy. You are your own warranty station.

http://dodgetruckworld.tenmagazines....c.ten?id=91120

http://www.turbodieselregister.com/f...d.php?t=115140

Pay particular attention to the Banks rep's comments on the TDR thread. Seems he makes it fairly clear that it is a use at your own risk policy.

gristle missile

i love my setup and i must admit i roast people the edge comp box of course i have 100 hp injectors and killer b turbo and ats level 5 tranny

gmkilr

I have a couple more question! I already have a EGT gauge installed in rear half of the manifold collector, would I be able to tap in on that sensor's wire for the banks setup or would I have to install a whole nother probe. Also is there any where online that one can go to look over the install instuctions for an 03 HO. Last thing, where is everyone running their gauge wires through the fire wall? Do most go through an exsisting grommet or drill a new whole! I would like to thank everyone on their input so far!