cruise control

[jmwilso2]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board and havent posted yet but have been reading a lot. Anyway I will be purchasing a gryphon soon, I want to get my CAI, exhaust, and efan done first. I was curious if it is possible for the gryphon to make my cruise control drive more efficiently. What I mean is that when I am driving without cruise I allow the truck to accelerate down hills and allow some speed to bleed off going up hill keeping me in overdrive most of the time and letting gravity help me when it can. My cruise control however will back off the gas going down hill and downshift going up hill to maintain speed. Is it possible to adjust it so it will hold a range of speeds instead of just one. For example try to hold 55 but allow the vehicle to accelerate to 65 or decelerate to 50 if the need arises.

I'd appreciate any insight anyone can give me, I emailed PHP a month ago but have got no reply, I guess they are pretty busy, but thats how it is when you are the best at what you do.

Thanks

Joe

[88Racing]

My thoughts on this are.

If you like driving like this then use your foot instead of relying on an electrically programmed component to act like your foot does.

When I was a kid I named this style of driving "roller coastering"

[jmwilso2]

Fair enough

Thanks for the reply

Joe

[Jackpine]

Jon, I'll add to this. I don't think it IS possible to have the Cruise Control do what you ask, because it would then really not hold a speed on the "flat". Ford deliberately TRIED to engineer the CC to hold a speed. If you notice, going downhill with the CC set, the Torque Converter will stay locked up to provide engine braking. If you turn the CC off, the TC will immediately unlock and the speed will increase.

There used to be a "poor man's" CC in the olden days called a "Throttle Control". It essentially held the gas pedal in a constant position, uphill or down. It wasn't very popular.

You CAN actually get better gas mileage using your "foot" and "roller coastering", as 88 said. I tend to be lazy though and just use the CC as much as I can.

One more thing though. Bill can adjust the shift pattern in your truck to make the truck less (or more) aggressive in downshifting when climbing hills. I personally think Ford has it downshifting too quickly.

- Jack

[jmwilso2]

Thanks Jack. I just ordered my gryphon last week I'll ask about that when I send in the HEX code for my custom tunes. Or should I email them right away, I'm assuming Bill doesnt start working on custom tunes until he has the Hex code?

Thanks again

Joe

[Jackpine]

Originally Posted by jmwilso2

Thanks Jack. I just ordered my gryphon last week I'll ask about that when I send in the HEX code for my custom tunes. Or should I email them right away, I'm assuming Bill doesnt start working on custom tunes until he has the Hex code?

Thanks again

Joe

You're right, he doesn't start working until he has your hex and then that puts you in the "queue", so it really starts a few weeks later (maybe 4-6 weeks).

Looking over what I posted last time though, I MAY have been wrong. I actually think Bill can engineer "slop" into the cruise control. Trouble is, it would work on a downhill followed by an uphill, but you'd hate it on an uphill following a "flat", because you'd slow way down.

What you really want is something that lets you speed up, but not slow down and I don't know if he can do that. It's worth asking about though. Bill has PMs turned off and email seems pretty "chancy". Corey responds to PM's and you may be able to describe the "speedup slop" you want but not the "slowdown slop" when you send in your hex code (I haven't looked at the form used for this to see if there's a "remarks" section).

It would be best if you could call Bill and ask about this "feature" on the phone.

- Jack

[jmwilso2]

Thanks Jack, it would be really cool if my cruise wasnt so set on holding speed going down hill. Gas is expensive and gravity is free and I'll take free when I can.

Joe

[Jackpine]

I hear you Joe, loud and clear! I'd like mine to do this too, when I'm not pulling a trailer. (I'm VERY reluctant to get above 65 mph now that I had both trailer tires fail due to cord separation - at 2 years and 5,000 miles!)

- Jack