Greetings;
I just (had) installed a Banks Economind diesel tuner, with the PDA option to view the engine & trany parameters that the OEM computer uses. Early into a 5% grade in Tenn. last month towing our 15K# 5th wheel, motor sounding great @ 65mph, then I saw the Torque Converter Slip jump to 67%, oh yea, the foot came off the throttle real fast. Then I realized I was experimenting with my new toy earlier & left it in Power Level 5. Ooops.
EGT was 1200 deg. , that's OK. But without a 'window' into my transmission performance, I could easily have toasted the torque conv. & our vacation, whilst thinking my dear Cummins was humming right along.
I too thought pillar guages were the thing to have, but the Banks engr. convinced me to consider buying the PDA interface instead of the 1-6 position switch. I now feel that was good advice. It was only a little more than triple pillar guages.
I read a recent comment re: "chip" manuf. and Banks was noted as "overpriced". I really couldn't disagree more. Their design & production engineers are available to illuminate and educate the customer. I never experienced such a high level of intelligent service & dedicated customer support. There is no 'bums rush' when conversing on the phone. They'll let you go when they are convinced you're OK with the info or instructions.
Yup, without monitoring torq. conv. slip, is like walking around a barn yard with white shoes & a blindfold.
Safe travels.