Any Experience Yet with the Superchips TrailDash

[mhiscox]

Time to finish up the thread . . .

The Trail Dash has, after a few months, become a permanent part of the XV-JP's cockpit. About 40% of the value is in the flexibility of the gauge setup:



which gives a ton of information that's sometimes useful, but it's not in your face when not. I like the "digital" setup I have now better than the more arcade-like analog setup I originally used:



as it seems much less intrusive. However, the special off-road setting screen (especially well-suited for the Rubicon):



can be called up in literally a few seconds.

Part of why I'm liking it now has to do with the better positioning. I had previously had it where the Scangauge had been, just to the left of the wheel.



It was easy to reach to manipulate there, but it was too intrusive. Given that I've no reason to even touch the unit most times, it seemd far better to have it out of my line of vision to the center of the truck:

.

All in all, the change in presentation format and the move to a different location have made the Trail Dash's readouts useful and very easy to live with.

The other 60% of the value was, for me, in supplying a new performance program for the engine computer. As noted before, the Trail Dash gives you a number of non-stock programs:



and I've lately been running the Performance 91 program for those willing to run premium gas. I've been using this program for a while now, and I believe it's done some good. Not that it's clear what engine parameters might have been modified, but the truck does seem to have more power, plus it seems more ready to downshift to a lower gear when needed and overall throttle response seems improved. They're not knock-your-socks-off improvements, but I believe they are there. (Yep, I could run some empirical tests if I really cared, but I guess I don't. Heck, I already bought the thing, so I might as well believe it works.)

All in all, it's not anything I'd recommend as an important purchase, but it seems to work as advertised and seems fair value.

 

[X-plorenow]

Good to hear. Thanks as always Mike!

 

[mhiscox]

I know I put this thread to bed a couple of weeks back, but I've got some more miles with the Trail Dash unit now, including a longer trip with a lot of hill climbing.

One of the things that makes me crazy is dropping a couple thousand feet of altitude to get down to the river bed (for a not-that-huge river; geology in action, for sure), so you can have the honor of immediately climbing two thousand feet back up the other side. On a recent trip, I had this situation at Cottonwood, Clarno and Maupin, and each time I came away more convinced that the 91 Performance Tune I'd dialed in through the Trail Dash was doing me a lot of good. The grade-climbing was overall better, but even more improved was the response on kickdown, which seemed smoother and better integrated with my actual power needs.

It would have been even nicer to have had an eight-speed transmission or a truck that weighed 3K less, but given that the unit installed in a minute and cost $500--and you could figure half that value for the gauge displays and trouble code reader/clearer--I'm thinking it's an important addition to the truck. I'm pretty skeptical of things that claim to add a bunch of power with no downside, but I monitored the temperatures and the knock sensor voltage pretty carefully and there wasn't anything that looked different from stock.

The bottom line on this, and the reason it's worth posting again, is that it looks like the combination of using Superchip's engine tune and premium fuel has noticeably improved the driveability of the XV-JP, and I'm now going to outright recommend it for consideration by people with heavy JKs who might otherwise be contemplating $7K superchargers or $20K engine swaps. Not that a simple tuning change is anywhere as good, but in my particular case, it's proving to be good enough, and I'll be happy to live with this amount of power, especially given the modest investment.

 

[X-plorenow]

Well Mike, I have to say I think you finally talked me into picking one up!

 

[mhiscox]

An Update to the Updates

My supposedly "final words" on the Trail Dash given above summarized my opinion that it had proved a useful addition to my cockpit, and that a large reason for the positive report was the ability to get more power out of the XV-JP's 3.8 liter V-6 by using the Trail Dash to optimize the engine computer for 91 octane fuel.

I'm now more convinced that ever of that opinion. Last weekend, Jeremy and I blitzed down to California to see some scenery. It was a good trip, with about every kind of road and terrain involved. But in a moment of brain fade, perhaps brought on by the sticker shock of a gallon of California gas, I pumped the main and aux tanks full of regular. Oops . . .well, nothing to do but drop down to Level 3/87 Octane programming and spend 400+ miles running out the 87 octane.

The decline in performance was substantial, especially on steep grades, where flooring the throttle didn't do all that much. And the lack of power also created a lot more instances where the engine and four-speed auto couldn't keep the revs up in third and so I got a downshift to second, which on the 3.8 produces an unpleasant-sounding, near-redline fury for a few seconds until it too-quickly shifts back to third . . . for a while, until the revs drop, the tranny downshifts, ad nauseum. That situation happened a lot more with the regular than would have happened with the premium tune.

I want to stress that we're talking about an unusual JK, one that weighs about 7,000 pounds and has the aerodynamics of a barn door, and so I don't claim my good experience changing the engine tune would make this much difference for anyone else. I am, though, convinced that changing to the Trail Dash Level 5/91 Octane programming was one of the best things I did to my truck.

As expected, once I changed the programming back and filled up with premium, all was well.

 

[kojackJKU]

I was thinking of going with the Diablosport as I want tuning for my 2011. But after reading this, and then going to the SC website, they have tuning for 2011's now. hmmmm. decisions. I may try to pick one up in florida. I have to make sure they have tuning available to the 2011 first. Once that's confirmed then I will probably drop the hammer so to speak on this. The trail dash, along with the afe intake and exhaust should get me some much needed hp back.

 

[UnlimiDozer]

Thanks, Mike, for all the helpful information. I have been interested in the TrailDash for my JKU since I first saw them. But as mine is a 2012, I've had to wait for them to update the TrailDash for the 3.6, which, thankfully, they have now done. In the meantime, I had heard some horror stories about issues with the TrailDash so I did some research comparing the TrailDash with the DiabloSport Trinity.

For kojackJKU's benefit, it seemed to me that the Trinity would be less capable than the TrailDash (as I recall, the major difference was in the tuning modes, and the Rubicon-specific controls that the TrailDash enables). But the real deal-killer for me with the Trinity is that their site states that it is not certified as C.A.R.B. legal, so cannot be used on "pollution controlled motor vehicles driven on public roads or highways, blah, blah, blah" in California. I'm sure the laws are different in Newfoundland, but I thought this was worth pointing out for public consumption.

The combination of my own research and the real-world feedback in this thread has sealed the deal for me. I'll be adding the TrailDash as soon as I can fit it into the budget. Thanks again Mike!

 

[mhiscox]

Thanks, Mike, for all the helpful information.

You're welcome, and I am pleased to have been of some help. I can't say that it'll be as valuable for everyone, but for a sufficiently porky truck powered by the not-so-mighty 3.8 liter, the ability to run on premium has been a real benefit.

 

[range_time]

My reasons for purchase were covered here to a large degree but i just wanted to call them out in a clear and concise list.
1/ Gives a set of gauges that are easy to read and are easy customize.
2/ With my tire carrier i i could see nothing out the rear window, the addition of a $15 back up camera really added a nice feature.
3/ The ability to load new tunes for my style of driving, be it off road or the opposite end of the scale a freeway road trip is nice.
4/ The user interface is clean and easy to use.
5/ Got to turn off my annoying flashing sway bar light on my dash after the motor stopped working on my Rubicon and control the lockers in the order i see fit.
6/ Allows me to set up almost any combination of day time running light, which i have to say i really like!

Now none of these things alone make it worth the $460 current retail price in my opinion but in combination make it well worth my money.

Dave