It seems like there aren't really a lot of Banks fans around here... I was looking the Big Hoss bundle they've got for the LB7, and it adds 385 lb-ft and 155hp at the rear....sounds pretty good to me, plus they don't destroy fuel economy, but no black smoke....So what's the word, howcome I don't see many people rollin' around with full blown Banks systems? Any idea what the cost of the Big Hoss bundle is? Their dealer locator page is retarded on the site and is more like a request form requiring all your information...

385lb-ft and 155hp sound like good numbers to me...that should put me at around 380RWHP and 775 ft-lbs at the rear. Of course, I'll have to shell out about $4000 for a transmission first...this will be further down the road.

 

There are other ways to gain power besides some of the bundle packs. Depending on the price of this bundle, I would be more apt to get EFI live, and do some minor modifications to the LB7's restrictive intake..

Banks's reputation is coming up since everyone is ANTI-smoke now to keep the left wing tree huggers at bay.. But most people want to make more power than Bank's lil PDA thing can put out..


And in all honesty, if you are planning a trans, might as well get the best stuff after that.. which of course is EFI Live..

 

Thanks for the info dude

 

No sweat bud..

 

Ya, Banks has a great product, but it's more of a 'all in one stop shop' type thing. Nothing wrong with that, but you are paying more for the name than anything and if you want to go above and beyond, you are limited and will be upgrading.

 

banks make good clean power, except that its not enough compared to what the truck can really put out. and you pay for the name like russel said.

 

I put the Banks kit on my truck 2 years ago. Took me about 16 hrs in the driveway (partly my fault trying to install one of the gaskets). If you call Banks, you can order it straight from them. You do pay for the price, but you do get a matched system that has been tested as a complete assembly. I did put in the pda and red "black" box (no egt probe) on in the hotel parking lot in 35 degree weather in the dark (yeah it sucks but I was working 1250 miles away from home). I am thinking about adding EFI live as the base programmer and the banks kit stacked on top just to see if it will work.

 

EFI live isnt a "programmer" ... if you have EFI live, you wouldnt need the banks tuning..

 

Well, Banks is sure gung-ho on a sale though....I got a letter and brochure sent in the mail to my house, and a sales guy actually phoned... Not bad for service, but I'm really just curious right now...

Anyways, I read through the brochure and some of the claimed power gains are a little misleading, but they've got some pretty decent looking packages. I do, however, like things a little 'dirty'....I understand they've got a high reputation to live up to, especially since they have worked closely with GM in the past to make products fit for commercial production, but I'd like something that smokes a bit, and makes some slightly louder than acceptable exhaust tones...

 

Banks does have aggressive sales & marketing. Their kits are well engineered and very high quality so you will pay a premium if you by them new. If you are patient you can usually find the 6-Gun & PDA used at a pretty good discount (either on one of the diesel boards or E-Bay). People get hooked on the power and tend to outgrow the safe limits that Banks tunes to. If you don't plan on upgrading trans/converter, stick with the Banks. I still have the Banks muffler on my truck and I would still have the Banks Ram Air on but it would not work with the GT42 w/o cutting it up.