Hello everyone - I have a stock tranny, 180k miles on the truck. Most of the miles are highway miles but pulling a trailer.

I was thinking about buying a smarty JR before leaving this Saturday to head back from FL to WI. Desire would be to see if the JR provided better towing mpg.

Do you think I should try the smarty with a stock tranny? I am pretty easy on the throttle, typically only use 1/3 of the pedal or half when climbing the mountains.

Thanks for any response.

scott

 

I would say go for it, you've got all the other right mods and gauges, and you know what it runs like stock wise in egts and trans temps. I would do it, if you don't like it, sell it on the board here, they sell quick and you won't lose much.

Run it on the lowest setting. Describe your trailer and weight if you could.

If your towing, knock out of od when you feel the pedal can't accelerate anymore, keep the rpm above 1700, downshift, keeps trans line press up, and lets the engine breath and better on egts.

Might think about a double deep pan, thats the only other thing i would add.

 

Thanks

Right now I have a Mileage Max box which will come off if I get the smarty JR.

Trailer is a 33' gooseneck, weights 5,500 lbs plus 2 cars at roughly 3,500lbs each.
I tend to drive FAST - actual 75mph sometimes 77mph - that is actual per my garmin, speedo with stock tires would read around 80. I have 285 / 75 so my speedo actually shows slower than my actual speed.

On the flats at 75mph, my EGTs are around or slightly below 900F, boost is 18psi. Trans temp tends to follow the outside temperature - I found typical rule of thumb is 100F over outside temperature. Loaded I get a TRUE 10mpg, unloaded I get around 11 mpg or slightly better. I think the wind resistance is the biggest factor since I tend to drive / keep up with the flow of traffic.

As far as the difference between a Smarty JR and Senior, I think for what I do the JR would be more than sufficent.

Thanks
Scott

 

To be honest, even with a Smarty/Jr, towing that much at those speeds (I won't even go into the safety issues) your not going to see any improvement in mpg. The biggest improvement you'll see is from slowing down. I see 12-14 towing my 35' 10,000lb TT at 60-65mph. I can't imagine towing my trailer at 75

 

With the JR you can't adjust the timing, I'm pretty sure its fixed, the Senior you can adjust it, but not real time (I think). I don't have the pod.

I believe these are the timing numbers.
12 deg- stock
16 aftermarket injectors
18 stock injectors
21 economy

With the weight you tow, to be safe I would rather have the Senior/POD and keep timing at 16. Other guys might chime it and not agree, but 21 for me is to high while towing heavy, more cylinder pressure, more heat in cylinders. Egt's are cooler though, but that can be misleading. 21 is fine for empty towing.

If you had the POD you can back down on power if she gets to hot on the fly.

65hp is the safe for the auto. I personally would not do 70 with the JR, 40 would be plenty.

Adding the issue of driving 75mph, thats definately not helping mpg, I notice for every 5mph slower, I get 1 mpg fuel economy.

Then again you are towing a trailer, so yeah, expect at best 11-13 mpg, theres not a whole lot you can do.

Whats the highest egt you see now on a mountain climb?

 

I have a similar question and sorry for jumping on your post. What settings do you guys suggest when I pick up my Smarty & Edge Insight (to be used as gauges only) tomorrow? I also tow my sig vehicle but it is no more than 7,000 lbs. I have heard people using different settings while towing, winter and summer. Any help would be appreciated. I will not be racing my truck or burning the tires, just want some extra power, better MPG, lower my EGT's, and be part of the Smarty Family . I have a stock 48re, and want it too last.

AH64ID and Blake Clark have been a huge help prior and I lost all their messages when I cleaned up my inbox , sorry about wasting your guys' time..... Again.

 

Justen,
Seems we have identical trucks. But you have the JR. My recommendation would be Sw1 40hp only. No more. If you had the manual, you could do 70 safely.

Your weight is less, but wind drag is more than a guy with an open flatbed trailer.

Make sure to put the trans reading on the hot line out, thats the front line, the rear line is the return.

If your getting the JR with POD option, thats even sweeter, cause you can adjust it as you go.

Like the other guy, you might consider a free flow muffler, and double deep trans pans.

Don't be afraid to kick it out of OD, let it run to 2300-2500+ rpms.

Overall,
You might see a 1-2 mpg increase. The auto slushbox is really the mpg killer on these things. If you have a better tc and vb, some have reported better mpg and towing.

Smarty is more for egt's, keeping it in a taller gear longer, and customizing it to fit your driving style and load. Unfortunely theres no one answer, as everyone has different results. I find more people do trial and error till they find the niche.

 

What muffler would you recommend? I don't want a lot of noise, and would like to get rid of the cat. Thx.

 

My EGTs on flat grade is 900F, up a hill is 1250F

The trailer I have is a gooseneck, it tows really good at 75mph. If I had a bumper hitch, I would agree that 75 mph is pushing it. I guess I accept the worse MPG in order to get to FL in a reasonable amount of time as well not having people constantly passing me.

 

The 51" donaldson straight thru is most popular for guys that want free flow, better mpg, and decent sound, but wants to keep family and wife happy to, good for long trips.

Add a turn down tip on it, the sound will push to the ground, you won't even know its there, also helps with drone on some trucks. Genosgarage.com has a 4" turn down tip.

Donaldson has several versions/models in 51", so best to check the past threads on which one worked best.

Mufflers are like oil, everyone has there own preference to sound and application, best to search thru the forum, and read up on each experiences. Hope that helps.

Getting rid of the cat won't help you any actually, its best to leave it on, it will help with drone, from what I've seen and read, it does not greatly if any improve mpg. You might have the Smog police or trooper stop you, especially if your not local, and give you a hard time about not having one. I would leave it installed.

 

With the Smarty, you will see on avg a 100-200 deg drop on egts.

I would agree, gn is safer. And its safer to follow the flow of traffic and not impede and be the slower vehicle.

Overall I think you guys will love the Smarty, either JR or SR, you won't be disappointed with the results.