We do have a tune that is working extremely well. I'm going to put miles on my 900 ranger this weekend to make sure we have no hiccups.
As of right now we do have some little issues, but customer's who want performance will have to deal with them. Turf mode in your performance tune will not be working which does throw a code on the dash. Also, the gauge will say you are in high gear all the time due to a resistor needed to be plugged in. The nice thing about our custom programmed bully dog GT is that you can tune the machine back to stock at any point(takes about 2 minutes). This will allow turf mode to work again, you just won't have all the extra power.
We have been working on these issues, but it's very tricky to find these value's in the ECU and change them to do what we need. If we ever find a fix for these, we will send updated tunes via e-mail to load on to your bully dog GT.
We will have the 900 motor on the dyno next week. This motor is the same as the 2015 RZR 900, so we will be developing parts for both of them. Cams and exhaust are going to work very well with this tune!
Since the ranger is clutched extremely heavy, this tune will work MUCH better with our clutch kit developed for this tune. Our clutching allows the motor to rev which is huge. This motor was designed to rev high, and makes much more power at those higher RPM ranges. More RPM's also equal more speed.
Exhaust is also a good idea to let the motor breathe at high RPM's.
They say huge gains but we will have to wait to see for sure. But this is going to be more like a tuner for a vehicle. I believe it's a bully dog tuner with their custom map in it.
We have sold nearly 100 of these units for RZR's so far without one ECM failure. We have had a few people not follow instructions while tuning and disrupt power which required a bully dog tech to reset a few things, but no real damage was done.
So the good news from the weekend... the Ranger flat out rips! It literally sounded and felt like I was driving an RZR. The acceleration compared to stock is not even close! Top speed increase is also huge, we hit over 75mph and it was still climbing. Letting this motor rev, opening the throttle 100%, and getting those insanely heavy clutch weights out of the machine help so much. This was on a ranger with a full cab! Mods include: Custom tuned Bully Dog programmer, our stage 2 clutch kit, and our slip-on exhaust.
We need about a week to finalize the files and make some resistor plugs. I'll also be doing some new 0-60 testing with programming, then back to stock.
I will also be creating a modified stock tune that most will use when needing turf mode. This should hopefully take care of the hard (timing) rev limit so you won't have to worry about hitting that with the lighter clutch weights.
So for those of us that have a clutch kit and exhaust already are going to be able to make a small adjustment to the clutch and let it rip? Also, is there a future plan to enable turf mode with the full tune up?
We are going to do a bit more clutch testing with the helix we have been using on the stock setup. That helix has the potential to work very well also, but we have to see how it likes the higher RPM's. The weights have to be swapped. Since we are running such high RPM, we need to run the lower gram starting weights. Right now we are at 65 grams.
One more thing to add.....I want to thank Bikeman for going after the HP but I also know that if people buy a product that is not quite right or finished, there is no incentive to keep full resources on it.
Yes....I could probably do it but I have way to many projects on my plate right now and Bikeman really seems to be on the right track.
It is quite the job to find these values, you put that well . We have many many hours of guess and check work into getting this far. Even though we really have been holding off to try and make this perfect, so many people want the tune it's hard to keep turning them away. The nice thing about the bully dog is that the customer can flash their own ECU with files sent via e-mail. If we can figure more out and have an updated tune where turf mode is working, we will do that at no cost. We can't promise that will happen, but I'll make sure we try our hardest.
Motivation - My family has a ranger 900 which stays at our cabins up north(except for now because we are testing with it). It's mostly driven on trail rides but does haul some things around our 5 acres. I'd like turf mode to work as much as anyone just to keep people from complaining about tearing up the lawn!
Another note I forgot to mention.... sound. The trails were dusty up in northern WI and I was out in front on another machine while Neal was getting some ranger seat time. While I was waiting at intersections for the group, I could not stop thinking how good the ranger sounded coming from a distance. With our exhaust and the rev happy tune, it was such a mean sound without being obnoxious. I could not stop laughing and saying "I can't believe a ranger is about to come through the woods sounding like that".
So for those of us that have a clutch kit and exhaust already are going to be able to make a small adjustment to the clutch and let it rip? Also, is there a future plan to enable turf mode with the full tune up?
So for those of us that have a clutch kit and exhaust already are going to be able to make a small adjustment to the clutch and let it rip? Also, is there a future plan to enable turf mode with the full tune up?
We need about a week to finalize the files and make some resistor plugs. I'll also be doing some new 0-60 testing with programming, then back to stock.
I will also be creating a modified stock tune that most will use when needing turf mode. This should hopefully take care of the hard (timing) rev limit so you won't have to worry about hitting that with the lighter clutch weights.
I didn't miss anything other than they have modified a script file that effects the turf mode and have not figured out where it is. It appears they have figured how to modify certain tables and still get turf mode but not a full horsepower tune up. There are certain tables that have modifiers linked to them that cause these issues. That's why tuners like H&S could not figure out how to remove the speed limiter without disabling the cruise. There are reasonability tests in place that have to be modified to make system operate as designed.
I am very familiar with cal files and compilers to make changes but if you don't have the software spec. it is all reverse engineering and some things are very difficult to find in the tables or the operating system.
One more thing to add.....I want to thank Bikeman for going after the HP but I also know that if people buy a product that is not quite right or finished, there is no incentive to keep full resources on it.
Yes....I could probably do it but I have way to many projects on my plate right now and Bikeman really seems to be on the right track.
One more thing to add.....I want to thank Bikeman for going after the HP but I also know that if people buy a product that is not quite right or finished, there is no incentive to keep full resources on it.
I don't think I want to reflash my ECM to a special tune just so I can use turf mode then flash back to performance mode...
Having balls to run like a RZR sounds cool, but what will this do to the work/utility side of things? I've been intrigued by the Duraclutch concept myself.
As soon as the tune is released i am purchasing it! I have a dd clutch kit in mine that i hope will work, I know its adjustable! I also have 30" tires if that maters?
Do you know how light your base weight is? We are running about 65 grams @8000rpm with the tune. This is 20 grams lighter than what we run in our stock ranger clutch kit.
Do you have the ability to test this at different altitudes and see what clutch changes may need to be made to adjust? I think we loose about 6-8% HP per 1800ft of altitude so at 5000ft in the mountains, a slight clutch change would need to be made to get the most out of the changes. I hope you have really good luck with this since it appears you actually want this project to be right.
I am in no way telling you guys how to do things but merely making suggestions from experience in validation so you have the best outcome.
Mountain clutching is no problem. We do a huge amount of business in the snowmobile market and elevation clutching is huge. Your basic rule of thumb on a NA motor is to drop 1 gram of clutch weight for every 1000ft. Here we are around 1000ft. So at 5000ft, you'd want to drop 4 grams.
Good thing about the performance tune is you can clutch it light as the power is very flat up top. When going up in altitude you'll just be down on RPM slightly, but power will be good.
We did a bunch of testing late last week. Found the best clutch setup and did some experimenting with different modified stock tunes. What I thought would work in fact did work very well. We made a stock tune in which took the hard rev limit out. You see, the problem with going back to a stock tune with such light clutch weight is you hit the rev limit very easily. By taking the hard limit out, it rev's to 7000-7100 where the soft limiter keeps it from going any higher. This performance is not ideal, but it works well if you need turf mode at that moment. I could still hit 55mph with this setup (with a full cab).
The ranger we have at our family cabin will stay in this modified stock mode so everyone can use it around the land. When we go out trail riding, we will put the performance tune back in.
Can I take this to a different machine if I was to buy a newer one or even sell it seperate if I sell my ranger? I guess is it a one time use. If I can only use it on one machine I will be buying empires for half price, turf mode and gear selection works on theirs. If I can transfer it to other machines or resell it sometime for a different machine, it would may be worth the extra $350.00
Yes, you can use it on another model later down the road. All you have to do is use the bully dog to return the machine back to stock which will unlock it and allow you to tune on another vehicle. This will work on a new ranger, rzr or ranger. However, the custom tune fils are linked to your ECU serial #. You will need us to create new files for whatever new model. Upgrading/creating new tune files are $50 each.
Do you have the ability to test this at different altitudes and see what clutch changes may need to be made to adjust? I think we loose about 6-8% HP per 1800ft of altitude so at 5000ft in the mountains, a slight clutch change would need to be made to get the most out of the changes. I hope you have really good luck with this since it appears you actually want this project to be right.
I am in no way telling you guys how to do things but merely making suggestions from experience in validation so you have the best outcome.
Can I take this to a different machine if I was to buy a newer one or even sell it seperate if I sell my ranger? I guess is it a one time use. If I can only use it on one machine I will be buying empires for half price, turf mode and gear selection works on theirs. If I can transfer it to other machines or resell it sometime for a different machine, it would may be worth the extra $350.00
Is there any chance you guys have made any videos yet doing comparison riding or videos period? Very interested in this but kind of hard to bite off on it without any info. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you guys are doing, just looking for some supporting evidence.
We are gathering our field testing results on our GPS data logger to show real world gains. Dyno testing will begin shortly to show gains there also. I'd like to get some video if we can find a stock ranger to race down the road.
Everything with detailed information will be posted on our website within a few days, and i'll be sure to include links here right away.
Burning the midnight oil here trying to get some of this stuff organized an online. If I'm missing any facts or any questions you have to help others understand let me know. Here is the link to the programmer!
I will have a bolt-on kit available soon which will be the programmer + exhaust + clutch kit.
The link has the GPS performance graph but I'll post it also. Amazing that we dropped 2.81 seconds off the 0-60 time... that's huge! Not to mention the pull from 60+ is excellent. If anyone wonders about the tip of the graph shooting up so fast, thats where we came to the top of a slight hill so thing sped up there. You can see I was hitting 60mph with the mods just before the downslope. With the stock setup, it would not hit 60mph until just after the downslope which actually makes the 0-60 time slightly faster than it should be. However this is with a full cab setup. Windshield was open on the bottom, rear window open, and both side windows down.
All times were done on the same paved test area and repeated many times for each variable to make sure they were consistent.
What about those who like the quiet of the stock exhaust? Are there gains to be had?
I think I misunderstood earlier about Bully Dog's involvement. Sounds like they just make the hardware and Bikeman is doing the calibration? That is MUCH better.
The dyno will tell us horsepower loss with the stock exhaust shortly. Even with stock exhaust, this tune is going to be a huge gain over factory. Of course a free flowing exhaust is only going to help the motor rev quicker and make more power.
Yes, this is our custom tuning, we are just using the Bully Dog device as a flash unit. Makes it much easier for customers rather than sending ECU's around. Not to mention you can change tunes and do so much more with this device.
My prior comments about Bully Dog are no longer valid id they are not the ones writing the tuning. Not sure I really need more power for what I do but I may still try the tuner once the Turf mode issue is corrected.
I really like the quiet stock exhaust. It's surprising how stealthy these things can be when on a direct approach. I've been in my blind and seen the headlights in the woods at say 150yds well before I heard the machine.
WOW, THIS IS AWSOME!!!!!! Thank you bike man!!! I am so glade I did not have to turbo this thing to get what i wanted out of this ranger. I am still messing with clutching a little to fine tune almost there!! Should finish the primary tonight!! Anyways going back to the shop to finish it. I just wanted to stop to say thank you!!!
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
PRC Polaris Ranger Club
703.8K posts
49.5K members
Since 2007
PRCforum is the best Polaris forum community to discuss RZR 1000, Crew 900, PRC Ranger Club, XP 900, RZR XP 4 900, RZR 570, HD, 170, RZR-S, XP 900, RZR XP 4 900, ORV, side by side, SSW and off-road information.