After seeing the performance benefits his Ford Ranger pickup showed following an engine remap, Sam Mepham decided to explore what the professional technology could do to his forestry equipment, with his forwarder showing a 30% reduction in fuel use for the same output.
Mr Mepham runs SJM Tree Surgery operating across the south east of England and his fleet of machines including a Valtra T234, a Jenz Hem 581 woodchipper, along with a trio of 360-degree excavators and a Komatsu forwarder.
“The work we do requires a lot of horsepower,” says Mr Mepham. “The remap to the Ranger increased power by around 30hp, but in turn improved fuel economy by around 5mpg when I was towing, which is the bulk of its work.
“This is mainly down to the pickup revving lower to achieve the same output as before, so the engine isn’t working as hard and using less fuel in the process.”
The business has been running 10 years with hard work key to an increasing customer base and a busy work schedule, but reliability and operational efficiencies were key factors to maintain when installing the remapping software.
Valtra remap
The remaps have all been installed by Avon Tuning authorised agent Nathan Peto of DVS vehicle services in Kent, and the first machine was the Valtra T234, which covers 1,100 hours per year.
The Valtra spends a lot of time on the road towing a Jenz Hem 581 mobile woodchipper. The chipper has its own 600hp Mercedes engine to process the timber, but the Valtra handles moving the rig between jobs, which tips the scales at a train weight of 32t. Mr Mepham says the Valtra was at its limit when it encountered a hill, so a remap was installed around 18 months ago.
The specialised alteration changes the ECU to adjust the fuel delivery and timing characteristics. This alters the points where peak power is delivered and allows more torque and power to be available within the engine’s capabilities. Mr Mepham explains how these changes work in day-to-day operation.
“The key difference since the remap is the Valtra can pull the chipper up hills in a higher range at lower rpm, as there is more torque available lower down the rev range. This increases efficiency and allows me to get to the next job quicker but use less fuel in the process.
“Previously I had to be in a lower range and a higher gear, which meant I was revving the engine harder and burning more fuel to achieve the same power output I’m now getting at lower rpm.”
It may not seem like a big change, but Mr Mepham says the alterations to his fleet has seen some significant fuel savings and allowed him to keep his current machinery, rather than investing in new kit to achieve greater output.
“Across the fleet we use a lot of fuel, so any small savings add up to a substantial total over the lifetime of a machine. For me it was more about tailoring the power of our current machines to suit our workload. The Valtra required more power on the road, and with the price of new machinery going up, the most cost-effective solution was a remap that edited the software at the source and saved a backup of the original should I need to put it back to standard in the future.”
30% less fuel
The 600hp Jenz chipper also had a remap fitted and used to drink 600 litres of fuel on a full day’s work, however this has almost been 40% less due to the remap. Mr Peto explains how it works.
“The biggest change for these engines is the utilisation of torque, which means the engine isn’t working as hard as it was before to produce the same output. As standard, the engine was revving but wasn’t producing the torque in line with how much fuel was being used.
“This meant that a lot of fuel would have been wasted as it was revving beyond where the torque conversion is most efficient. The Avon Tuning remap edits key engine characteristics, such as throttle pedal calibration and torque and smoke limiters that are based on the engine’s limits, to achieve peak torque lower down the rev range.”
It is common for users having an engine remap carried out to increase power and torque that a by-product of this is a reduction in fuel consumption as the engine isn’t working as hard to reach the same output.
One of the biggest fuel savings has been seen on the 2016 Komatsu forwarder, which Mr Mepham says is in use nearly every day of the year hauling timber out of woodlands in very unforgiving environments, clocking around 1,800 hours per year.
“It used to drink around 200 litres a day, which I wasn’t surprised at given the work it does. However, since the remap, we have seen quite an astonishing fuel saving and it is now only consuming 140 litres per day, no matter how hard we push it.
“A few weeks ago, between all the machines we used 14,000 litres in 10 days, so by remapping the fleet, we are seeing savings across the board and some of them are adding up to be quite significant.”
Maximising current machinery
One thing that was none negotiable with the engine remapping was reliability as keeping clients happy and arriving on time is a key requirement, especially working with road closures.
The Avon Tuning remaps are tailored to the customer’s requirements, but within the characteristics and limits of the engine. The maps are created in the UK, and all the parameters, such as turbo size and cooling packs, of the vehicle being remapped are checked to ensure the machine can handle the increases.
“We haven’t had any negative side effects from the remaps on any of the machines. The extra power has been really useful, and the fuel economy benefits are saving us a lot of money across each machine.
“The machinery we run I have chosen because it suits the work we do and is the right size to tread lightly across delicate woodland floors. If I had to increase the size of this machine to up work rates, I would not only be spending thousands of pounds to do so, but the customers I have may not like the heavier kit I’m putting across their land. This is where the remap, which matches the power to the application, has been an ideal option for us,” concludes Mr Mepham.