ASD Dad

Pete - thanks for the reply. I may look into one still. I have a few other things I'd like to take care of first but the BD tuner may be on that list of upgrades down the line.

Nice to have a ASE Master around. I've been wrenching a long time but I am definitely not certified. Nice to see you build cars as well, I was a cone dodger for about two decades and did quite a few track events when I lived up north. Mid-O, Nelson and the old BeaveRun were all local tracks. I never ran actual IT or NASA wheel to wheel events, just track days and time attack events. I do know about the "stock motor/ecu" combos being run in "spec" cars. Remember the Neon ACR days? Buddy was a Dodge tech and they did quite a bit of tweaking! Anyways - I am not sure if you have used or seen the Bully Dog units but the BD actually flashes the ECU which is one reason why it is so easy to brick your ECU. It is not a simple piggyback, you can actually flash and then remove the unit entirely although you gain a nice gauge tool leaving it in. I have run piggybacks in the Tundra and my old cars and with modern cars many ECU's will simply learn around the piggybacked tuner. You may see a short term gain but as the ECU adjusts you can lose down the line. It is certainly no AEM or Haltech standalone but it is supposed to be one of the better flashing options over something like a Unichip or Hypertech. I know diesel guys swear by them and my neighbor has one on his F350 that saw huge gains. I also know the Tundra supercharged guys saw huge gains. The NA Tundra guys it was very hit or miss. I do know that if you need to reflash to stock if you bring your vehicle in for service. Not so much for warranty issues but if there is some TSB or recall out that you dont know about and they try and flash the ECU overtop the BD tune it can brick it. You then have an expensive fix!

Pete - Any updates to your Bully Dog? Any changes to MPG? Any other issues? I assume this flashes the ECU each time you change tunes, any issues with that? I looked into the BD Platinum for my Tundra and there were issues with battery voltage not reading high enough and you had to have a pretty strong charger connected to the battery at all times during tuning. If voltage dropped mid-tune you would brick the ECU and need to get it towed into Toyota for an expensive fix!

Ask him if he would build another and what it would cost, I would happily drive up to Charlotte to get it. Wife loves IKEA so she would be up for the road trip!

I love good lighting, it is normally the first thing done to a new vehicle when we buy one. I remember the factory HID Hella ralleye 1000's when they came out. Crazy bright and crazy expensive! On that first link, which light did you use? They have a lot of models! I was looking at Superbrightleds.com for the 20" Titan model. Thought I may be able to get it in the lower bumper opening but never got far enough to measure things really close. I have looked at the retrofit kits in the past, I didnt know Amazon sold them. I looked on DDM and sites like that. I wasnt sure how bright they were and I was afraid of baking my headlight housings to open them up! Looks easy enough but I could see my wifes face now if I told her I need to borrow the oven for the afternoon to bake my headlights...

That looks nice. Was it all welded? Looks like front and rear bars are curved as well which is a nice touch. I'd buy one from him if he wants to make another!

Most all of the LED kits I have read about so far get bad reviews. Poor longevity and bad beam placement due to where the chip/bulb is placed. I think they are out. HID, I had fantastic luck and results with the basic DDM 35W kit in both my Tundra and wife's Sienna. Tundra was a reflector and Sienna was a projector. Cutoff was of course better on the Sienna but on the Tundra the beam pattern was very good and I never got flashed. I have never used a hi/low HID kit so I am not sure about the pattern it could throw and I dont want to blind anyone. I know of the retrofit source and they are good if a bit pricey. I am looking at putting a 20" LED bar in the bumper opening possibly. I've had upgraded lights for years, my old vehicles I would just slap some Hella drivings on it and/or upgrade the actual housings and be done with it. Much easier and cheaper then!

I am in the Greenville, SC area so not all that far from you. I actually car shopped Charlotte and couldnt find much available on the NV SL. I had it narrowed to local, Columbia and ATL. ATL flaked on me so they were out. Local had a '14 blue that we almost bought but it needed paint work already (deep scratch on door) and we thought it may be too dark. Columbia had the '15 Silver we wanted and we almost drove down but Greer called saying they just unloaded a '15 silver and they beat Columbia in price so we bought it... Greer service already has a big ding against them though, they aired up my tires to 95psi on delivery!! All of them were that high. Definitely doesnt give me the warm and fuzzies taking it to them for any work.

Anyone have a BD tuner on their 5.6? I thought I read somebody had one but cant seem to find a thread now. I know some Titan owners swear by them. On my Tundra they were hit or miss with way more misses unless you had a TRD supercharger or longtube headers. Then the BD made a nice difference. If you do have a BD, which model and what tune are you using? Any changes with performance, mileage, etc?

Surveys are huge for dealers, I worked for several years in sales many years ago and moved up to asst manager before leaving and I still have friends in the industry. Both on the sales side and service side there is only one score that matters - 100%. Anything less than that counts as a failure and can definitely ding you on pay, bonuses, perks, etc. Some dealers used to even bribe customers to get that 100% score - free bottle of touchup paint, free wipers, etc. I've gotten to the point where if it wasnt perfect I just dont reply to the survey. I have seen first hand where dealerships will almost "blackball" a customer who leaves bad surveys. If you have a specialty vehicle like the NV with service centers spaced far apart the last thing I want to do is piss off the people who need to work on my $40K car I plan on keeping a long time. My "closest" dealer is almost an hour away even with two closer Nissan car dealers. The next closest NV dealer is nearly 2 hours away. As for service/complaints, I agree with above. Headlights are terrible. The gauge reflection in the side window is annoying when you have almost zero rearward visibility and need to use those mirrors. The blindspot mirrors on mine dont adjust up far enough. I am only 6'-2" and the drivers side blind spot mirror shows me more road vs. vehicles in my blindspot. It works but not ideal. I am having issues with drivers seat comfort with the leather but that is another thread. My local dealer does have one big ding on service already. When I took delivery of the van and got home I was playing with the dash display and checked out my tire pressures under the TPMS menu. All four tires had 95-98 psi in them! I checked with a very good tire pressure gauge and it agreed with every sensor. No clue what they did at the dealer but that pissed me off. I called to complain and the service manager didnt care. Just said mistakes happen and there was no danger and would have been caught at my first service.... right.

Well I did take some photos and they look normal, from just looking at it the seat looks identical to the passenger side seat. I can sit in that seat and it is fine. Maybe a bit harder than preferred but it's brand new and not remotely broken in. Driver's seat is still driving me crazy. I am at the point where I have an 80lb bag of concrete sitting in the seat when it is parked to try and break that seam in!! I need to call the dealer but they are an hour away and their service dept already messed up once so I am not really in a rush to get there.

2015 3500 SL - just did my second fill up and both times I am right around 14.0 - 14.5mpg. Ouch. I was sort of expecting that but still hurts! My 2010 Tundra 5.7 avg was around 17-18mpg as I drive 70% "highway". Where I live is mainly two lane 55mph roads so even if I never actually get on the highway I am still mostly driving along at 60 with my cruise on.

I'll take a photo tomorrow. I've had my wife and two friends sit in the seat and they all feel it right away. Driving me nuts! Thanks for the feedback, I didn't want to go to the dealer if it was "normal".

I've had Yakima amd Thule racks in the past but never a huge cargo rack. With my other racks I'd use a fairing or the diy cheap method of wrapping the crossbars with rope. Look at our radio antenna on the NV, same concept. Disrupts airllow and causes enough disturbance to stop a lot of noise. On antennas it stops whistling, larger bars it helps other frequencies. You just need to experiment with spacing and rope size. On a rack this size I'm not sure a rope would work but maybe a fairing? If I build one from Yak parts I can put it towards the rear of the van, that should help.

Well I found out I'm not nuts but wanted to ask if it's common before I talk to dealer. 15 3500SL with the factory leather. Front lower seat cushion has a thick seam that runs right down the center. Feels like I'm straddling a rope or something!! It literally feels like I'm balanced on the seam and it's more than a little uncomfortable. I had three others sit and they all felt it immediately without me saying anything. Does the seam break in? It's bad enough I'm looking at how to rip the leather off to get redone or taking it to the dealer. I have a whopping 400 miles on my van and it's going to drive me insane if I can't fix it. Passenger seat isn't as bad but it's but been sat in long.

Happy to see the 3500SL tows well. We have a 2012 Forest River Surveyor SP295. Triple bunkhouse, outside kitchen. It was at the time the lightest bunkhouse we could find with the outdoor kitchen. Fully loaded on a CAT I get between 6500-6800# depending on what trip we are taking. Tongue weight was 810#. I used to pull it with my Tundra 5.7 Crewmax and it had more than enough power but we were over payload with 3 kids, 2 dogs and gear. We have a longer camping trip coming up in June going up through the mountains to a KY state park and then coming home through TN to Pigeon Forge for a few days. Should be a good test for it going up and down those 7% grades! We may take it out for a short weekend trip just to see how it does locally. I have a Tekonsha P3 controller and a Blue Ox Sway Pro hitch. I've been pulling campers for quite a while and have never had sway issues as long as the camper is loaded right. Same thing with small trailers, get it loaded correctly and a trailer shouldnt sway. You'll always get that push/pull from something like a passing semi but it should never really get out of hand. We camp about 4-5 times a year mainly at state parks across the SE region. Sold the Tundra since we were over payload and flat out running out of room in it!

Just an update - their price on the ladder is $495 and it is only for a low roof NV. The top attaches to their rack and the bottom attaches to the pinch weld seam of the body so minimal drilling. He told me they had 350lbs on it with no issues. It doesnt stick out past the mirrors so clearance should be an issue. Total package price is definitely an issue and we're holding off for now. Even with my huge freight discount the delivered price came out to be $2500 with a 8-10 week build time. That is the standard double loop rack with the standard slats package plus the ladder. I could just do a Yakima setup but I really like their ladder design vs drilling one into my rear door.

Look forward to seeing some pics. I am getting my front windows tinted today, those huge windows and SC summers wont mix... I am still looking at headlight options. I plan on disabling the DRL's today, I dont like the dim highbeam look. If you want to do DRL's put some proper ones in! I'll also need to disable those if I do a HID/LED upgrade. Thankful it's as simple as pulling a fuse.

Andy - please post photos and how the install went when you get it installed! What brand/size bar did you go with? I was planning on just doing one of the more popular eBay specials vs. something like a Rigid. When I was looking at the bumper hole it looked sort of shallow so I wasnt sure if it would fit in there or not. The grill would easily hold some square LED's but I dont want to block too much airflow to the coolers.

I am looking at HID's as well as LED replacements. May try LED this time around although lumens are a little less than HID. I normally dont like messing with single bulb headlights as they are hard to get beam patterns right vs. a single bulb but the high beams are really lacking right now! Still may end up going the LED bar mount but I want long throw which isnt their specialty unless you start spending a lot.

The "stock" rack they offer - double loop, standard slats. Waiting on price on the ladder, it is brand new. It mounts to the rack and attaches at the pinch weld seam at the bottom so minimal body damage. It is $1795 for that setup plus shipping. I use a ton of truck freight through work so I can get a rate less than half their quoted freight so that helps and they dont mind if we send in our broker to pick it up. Pricey but it looks very well made and it only weighs 130# despite the size of it.

Anybody have the rack? Looks like a very well made piece and it is Huge! Thinking of ordering one to haul some stuff I am used to putting in the bed of my old truck when camping. Not sure how easy it will be to get up there but they have a side mount ladder now to climb up there. Any other rack options out there that dont look like a contractor? I want something flat I can stack stuff on and tie it down. Only downsides I have seen are price and lead time. I was quoted 8-10 weeks to get one made and shipped.

Doctor - not sure if you are still active here but did you ever mount the second tank? That was a major concern of mine before buying the NVP. My Tundra had a 26 gallon tank and hauling our 6600# camper I averaged 9mpg overall so it ate that up quick. We actually had a close call driving through GA into FL when we were in the middle of Fort Benning and Tates Hell Nat Forrest. No gas station! I almost resorted to dropping the camper on the side of the road and driving off to get gas at one of the tiny small town stations. I havent towed with the NVP yet but I imagine I will get similar mileage if not worse.

Thanks Chris. A wee bit more involved than most vehicles! I'll take a look inside this weekend and see if I still want to go that route. I am used to being able to get the dash apart and even a radio back in within a couple hours at most and that is for a hard install!

I am not sure what my upgrade will be yet. My Tundra had good HID's installed for 5 years that worked fantastic for lows and the high beams were replaced with higher wattage halogens with a relay. The NVP being single bulb will narrow down choices. There seems to be a ton of room up front for an LED bar but those dont throw light very far unless you get a lot of emitters up there. I am looking at getting the Aluminess roof rack and if I do that I can mount anything up there! Congaree is very nice. We camp 4-5 times a year all over the area.