oldcjguy
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Jim
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2020
- Threads
- 3
- Messages
- 609
- Reaction score
- 760
- Location
- Central FL
- Vehicle(s)
- 16 Challenger Hellcat, 19 Challenger Scatpack, 20 JLUR Recon
- Occupation
- Software Engineer
- Thread starter
- #1
A little about my Jeep:
It’s a 2020 Jeep JLU Rubicon hardtop with the 2.0L eTorque engine. The suspension is stock, but I’ve added MetalCloak adjustable front upper and lower control arms, and a track bar. I bought adjustable control arms and set them to the same length as the lowers from the factory Mopar lift. Like many others, I had death wobble issues—even on stock tires. These upgrades completely solved DW for me. The Jeep is tuned with both an engine and transmission calibration from Superchips (@Superchips_Mrktg @Superchips JL), and I’ve installed an oil catch can. It’s my daily driver. While I haven’t hit the trails as much as I’d like lately, I’ve still done plenty of sand, local trail, and mud driving when conditions allow. I’ve logged almost 60,000 miles, with over 50,000 of those running on the 93-octane tune. I moved up to 35” mud tires on my stock rims at around 30,000 miles.
Why I’m Writing This Review
Last week, my Jeep threw a “Service Locker” error. Thanks to what I’ve seen on the forums, I knew it was the infamous locker sensor failure. I’m fully capable of handling the repair myself, but since I still have a bit of factory warranty left—and the dealer wanted $250 for the sensor kit—I let them take care of it.
I clearly told them I had a tune installed and did not want my ECU reflashed. When I picked it up, the invoice mentioned a module reflash. The service manager insisted it wasn’t the ECU, but I found out quickly he was wrong. As soon as I backed out of the parking spot, I could tell something was off. The responsiveness was gone. The power was dull. It felt like I was towing a trailer. And then—auto start/stop kicked in at the first light. One of my favorite features from the tune had been reverted. Ugh. I hit the disable button, drove home, and knew instantly: the tune was wiped.
I tried reflashing with my TrailDash 3, but it reported a new calibration and told me to contact support. SuperChips' tech team got me sorted quickly. I updated the device and reinstalled the tune. Instantly, my Jeep felt right again.
This is my 50,000-mile review of the SuperChips tune. I've used DiabloSport on past vehicles (including a ‘16 Challenger Hellcat that hit 699whp on their tune) and was always happy with them. I wanted something for the Jeep and, after 5,000 break-in miles, I started shopping.
SuperChips had released their tune for the 2.0T, and the TD3 had Jeep-specific features I found appealing. Since SuperChips, Edge, and DiabloSport are all under the Holley umbrella, I figured the tuning quality would be comparable.
I even test-drove a TD3 tuned ’19 JLUR with the same engine and 35” tires on big 20 or 22” bro rims (nothing wrong with it just not my taste). Despite the taller heavier wheels, that Jeep felt at least as punchy as mine—maybe even more. That sealed the deal for me.
Installation
Setting up the TD3 was straightforward. I connected it, and it prompted me to update via PC first. After doing so, I installed the 93-octane high-performance tune and the performance transmission tune. I also disabled auto start/stop. The disable start/stop just defaults start/stop to off every time I start the jeep. I can turn it on by hitting the button
The flash process took around 5–10 minutes. SuperChips claims gains of ~30hp and ~40lb-ft. I haven’t dyno’d it (it’s a Jeep, not a sports car), but the performance increase is immediately noticeable. From a dead stop or while merging, it just feels right—responsive, consistent, and confident. To be honest it was most noticeable when it was taken away!
The transmission shifts are smooth but more purposeful. It doesn’t hunt for gears (honest I don’t remember if that was an issue before or not), and the throttle response is greatly improved without feeling touchy or twitchy. The pedal isn’t aggressive like a ScatPack Challenger or Charger. It still drives like a Jepp and it’s easy to control wheel spin on the trails in dirt and gravel.
Reliability and Drivability
I’ve experienced zero overheating issues. Even in the Florida heat with a full load, I rarely see temps over 220°F. Normal commuting ranges between 190–205°F, maybe 210°F on long highway hills.
There are no cold-start quirks, no pinging on hot days, and no "tune-related" issues. Honestly, I forget it’s tuned sometimes—until I drive a stock Jeep. Then it’s night and day.
One thing I noticed during COVID was when the jeep was left sitting unused for days at a time (or longer) and then only used for short commutes I think it does hit the battery. The device turns off automatically when I turn the jeep off and comes back on when I start it. It comes back up on the screen I was on when I turned it off (which is the gauges and monitor screen for me). It must go into a low power mode, but still draw something. Back then, every couple months I would start the jeep and get a warning saying my Aux switches were unavailable because the voltage was low. The switches would reactivate once I drove about a block or two and it never struggled to start. When that would happen I’d put a battery charger on it over night and all would be fine for a few more months. The jeeps is 5 years old and on its second battery. I can’t say if it would have that problem without the TD3 or not, but it’s something I noticed. It doesn’t bother me enough to unplug it to find out. Now that I’m driving 50 miles 3 days a week, I haven’t seen that happen.
TrailDash 3 features I'v used
There are a bunch of features on the TD3 for jeeps. I’ve had my TD3 mounted on the dash for almost 4 years now. I’ve used the TPMS feature to disable the low tire pressure warnings when I air down off-road. I also used it to reset the pressure that trips the tpms light. I think I lowered it to 24psi. Off-road plus came out after I bought my jeep. I’ve used it to lock my rear locker in 2wd and 4wd high when I’m out in the sand. I think that saves my rear brakes since the BLD is constantly compensating for left right wheel speed variances. I don’t have a winch, but I tested the raise idle feature to see if it worked and it did. I also used it to set the tire height when I went to 35s to get my speedometer dialed in.
As an on-dash monitor I don’t care about the incline and tilt gauges but I usually leave it on that screen along and set the other gauges on that screen to monitor boost, engine temp, trans temp, intake air temp, ambient air temp, load%, knock sensor voltage, pedal pos% and throttle pos%. I just find that information interesting. The other screens I have much of the same pids being displayed. I have one screen that’s all just pid data and no gauges.
MPG
I didn’t buy a Jeep for fuel economy, but I average about 18 mpg on my daily 30-minute, mostly highway commute at 75 mph. On long trips (like Florida to NJ), I average 23–24 mpg—fully loaded with 35” Milestar Patagonias and stock 4.10 gears. Oddly, my north-south trips get better MPG than my east-west commute. Maybe it’s a wind thing. Either way, I’m happy with it.
Final Thoughts
The SuperChips TrailDash 3 tune has been a rock-solid upgrade. It improves everyday drivability, responsiveness, and overall engine/transmission feel without compromising reliability. The tuner also gives you useful features like start/stop disable, tire size adjustments, and more—all in a Jeep-friendly interface.
After 50,000 miles of use, I can confidently say: this tune made my Jeep better in every way that matters.
It’s a 2020 Jeep JLU Rubicon hardtop with the 2.0L eTorque engine. The suspension is stock, but I’ve added MetalCloak adjustable front upper and lower control arms, and a track bar. I bought adjustable control arms and set them to the same length as the lowers from the factory Mopar lift. Like many others, I had death wobble issues—even on stock tires. These upgrades completely solved DW for me. The Jeep is tuned with both an engine and transmission calibration from Superchips (@Superchips_Mrktg @Superchips JL), and I’ve installed an oil catch can. It’s my daily driver. While I haven’t hit the trails as much as I’d like lately, I’ve still done plenty of sand, local trail, and mud driving when conditions allow. I’ve logged almost 60,000 miles, with over 50,000 of those running on the 93-octane tune. I moved up to 35” mud tires on my stock rims at around 30,000 miles.
Why I’m Writing This Review
Last week, my Jeep threw a “Service Locker” error. Thanks to what I’ve seen on the forums, I knew it was the infamous locker sensor failure. I’m fully capable of handling the repair myself, but since I still have a bit of factory warranty left—and the dealer wanted $250 for the sensor kit—I let them take care of it.
I clearly told them I had a tune installed and did not want my ECU reflashed. When I picked it up, the invoice mentioned a module reflash. The service manager insisted it wasn’t the ECU, but I found out quickly he was wrong. As soon as I backed out of the parking spot, I could tell something was off. The responsiveness was gone. The power was dull. It felt like I was towing a trailer. And then—auto start/stop kicked in at the first light. One of my favorite features from the tune had been reverted. Ugh. I hit the disable button, drove home, and knew instantly: the tune was wiped.
I tried reflashing with my TrailDash 3, but it reported a new calibration and told me to contact support. SuperChips' tech team got me sorted quickly. I updated the device and reinstalled the tune. Instantly, my Jeep felt right again.
This is my 50,000-mile review of the SuperChips tune. I've used DiabloSport on past vehicles (including a ‘16 Challenger Hellcat that hit 699whp on their tune) and was always happy with them. I wanted something for the Jeep and, after 5,000 break-in miles, I started shopping.
SuperChips had released their tune for the 2.0T, and the TD3 had Jeep-specific features I found appealing. Since SuperChips, Edge, and DiabloSport are all under the Holley umbrella, I figured the tuning quality would be comparable.
I even test-drove a TD3 tuned ’19 JLUR with the same engine and 35” tires on big 20 or 22” bro rims (nothing wrong with it just not my taste). Despite the taller heavier wheels, that Jeep felt at least as punchy as mine—maybe even more. That sealed the deal for me.
Installation
Setting up the TD3 was straightforward. I connected it, and it prompted me to update via PC first. After doing so, I installed the 93-octane high-performance tune and the performance transmission tune. I also disabled auto start/stop. The disable start/stop just defaults start/stop to off every time I start the jeep. I can turn it on by hitting the button
The flash process took around 5–10 minutes. SuperChips claims gains of ~30hp and ~40lb-ft. I haven’t dyno’d it (it’s a Jeep, not a sports car), but the performance increase is immediately noticeable. From a dead stop or while merging, it just feels right—responsive, consistent, and confident. To be honest it was most noticeable when it was taken away!
The transmission shifts are smooth but more purposeful. It doesn’t hunt for gears (honest I don’t remember if that was an issue before or not), and the throttle response is greatly improved without feeling touchy or twitchy. The pedal isn’t aggressive like a ScatPack Challenger or Charger. It still drives like a Jepp and it’s easy to control wheel spin on the trails in dirt and gravel.
Reliability and Drivability
I’ve experienced zero overheating issues. Even in the Florida heat with a full load, I rarely see temps over 220°F. Normal commuting ranges between 190–205°F, maybe 210°F on long highway hills.
There are no cold-start quirks, no pinging on hot days, and no "tune-related" issues. Honestly, I forget it’s tuned sometimes—until I drive a stock Jeep. Then it’s night and day.
One thing I noticed during COVID was when the jeep was left sitting unused for days at a time (or longer) and then only used for short commutes I think it does hit the battery. The device turns off automatically when I turn the jeep off and comes back on when I start it. It comes back up on the screen I was on when I turned it off (which is the gauges and monitor screen for me). It must go into a low power mode, but still draw something. Back then, every couple months I would start the jeep and get a warning saying my Aux switches were unavailable because the voltage was low. The switches would reactivate once I drove about a block or two and it never struggled to start. When that would happen I’d put a battery charger on it over night and all would be fine for a few more months. The jeeps is 5 years old and on its second battery. I can’t say if it would have that problem without the TD3 or not, but it’s something I noticed. It doesn’t bother me enough to unplug it to find out. Now that I’m driving 50 miles 3 days a week, I haven’t seen that happen.
TrailDash 3 features I'v used
There are a bunch of features on the TD3 for jeeps. I’ve had my TD3 mounted on the dash for almost 4 years now. I’ve used the TPMS feature to disable the low tire pressure warnings when I air down off-road. I also used it to reset the pressure that trips the tpms light. I think I lowered it to 24psi. Off-road plus came out after I bought my jeep. I’ve used it to lock my rear locker in 2wd and 4wd high when I’m out in the sand. I think that saves my rear brakes since the BLD is constantly compensating for left right wheel speed variances. I don’t have a winch, but I tested the raise idle feature to see if it worked and it did. I also used it to set the tire height when I went to 35s to get my speedometer dialed in.
As an on-dash monitor I don’t care about the incline and tilt gauges but I usually leave it on that screen along and set the other gauges on that screen to monitor boost, engine temp, trans temp, intake air temp, ambient air temp, load%, knock sensor voltage, pedal pos% and throttle pos%. I just find that information interesting. The other screens I have much of the same pids being displayed. I have one screen that’s all just pid data and no gauges.
MPG
I didn’t buy a Jeep for fuel economy, but I average about 18 mpg on my daily 30-minute, mostly highway commute at 75 mph. On long trips (like Florida to NJ), I average 23–24 mpg—fully loaded with 35” Milestar Patagonias and stock 4.10 gears. Oddly, my north-south trips get better MPG than my east-west commute. Maybe it’s a wind thing. Either way, I’m happy with it.
Final Thoughts
The SuperChips TrailDash 3 tune has been a rock-solid upgrade. It improves everyday drivability, responsiveness, and overall engine/transmission feel without compromising reliability. The tuner also gives you useful features like start/stop disable, tire size adjustments, and more—all in a Jeep-friendly interface.
After 50,000 miles of use, I can confidently say: this tune made my Jeep better in every way that matters.
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