Idaho Guy

I don't lurch around the High Performance portion of the site much, so I hope I don't get flamed too badly for what is maybe a newbie question...

Is there a chip/programmer that's best for increasing low-end power -- and, by that, I mean below 2000rpm? I haul a AF 811 truck camper and, at 65mph, I can run 2500-2600rpm in 3rd gear or 1700-1800rpm in OD. I'd prefer to keep it in OD where possible since the mileage is better.

Opinions, advice, feedback welcome. Thanks.

jdwest

Where you at in Idaho? I'm a Smarty fan myself...

jiggerman78

I've been through the Smarties and the Bullydog and between the two for low end power i'd go to the bullydog with the low end power feature. However i wouldn't run this without a valve body upgrade since it puts lots of power down low where theres no line pressure building. I'm about to go back to the BD after having a Smarty Jr. stacked with a Quadzilla X2. But than again i've never towed and i dont think those two go together well.

Its really all about preference and which cheerleader look the best....

rudy

This is just my 2 cents, but i just got the smarty jr. and I love it. I hauled 20 cows to sale with a dual axle trailer. Weighing in about 23000 ibs. The only problem i had was the DOT at the scales. I was running on the 40hp setting or the SW1. Plus I have to go over two passes that are not very kind either. Trust me I had it floored the whole way, except when my gauges told me not to. The point being you need to ask yourself what you want and what the truck is capable of. For me towing 23000 lbs. with a grin on my face is very appealing to me. just me thought.

qzilla

I am not going to "claim" it has the very best bottom end bar none but, for your application look at these:
https://www.quadzillapower.com/produ...ne-Dodge-03-05

In short you can do so much that for towing this is an awesome product.

First you can control exactly when you want the fueling based on TPS and Boost, all on the fly. So you can make it more aggressive, less aggressive, smoke more, smoke less etc. You can control Rail pressure and injector stretch amounts. All on the fly.

From there you can set some of the de-fueling options and never have to worry about egts or anything else. It will automatically take care of everything for you, even if you just bury your foot. It has tons of gauges as well but, it is nice to know you don't have to watch them if you get into tight situations.

It monitors all the important stuff and a whole bunch more. EGT, Boost, Fuel Pressure, and rail pressure. It also monitors transmission slip % plus about 15 other things!

Works really great for towing stuff!

C Schomer

I love my Predator on 100hp for towing. Great, smooth and all usable power after about 1500rpm to redline and low egts (never over 1225) but I have a much better (than stock) turbo. There is noticable defueling below ~1500 but that's fine with me. That makes sure I keep the rpm up where it should be. I think they claim 100hp is about the limit for stock autos, too. Craig

mattfolsom

I would probaly say smarty cause I haul a 40ft PJ with 20 bales on lever 1 and runs great and then when its play time you got level 9 for all the fun

shortbed rv

I am assuming you have an auto because at 1800 rpm my speed is about 65 in OD. If you have an auto you can reduce turbo lag and help the low end by reducing torque management. Now the "con" is if you reduce torque management too much it is hard on the tran. Look for a programer that has several stages of torque management so you can chose and at least 65 hp. If you fuel a little harder down low you will get a little smoke.

tcr

Since we are talking about an 03, don't even consider a BD. A Smarty or Quad's Adrenaline both run great on my 03. Both are VERY adjustable, and will increase your low end power drastically. For a cheaper non-adjustable option, there are alot of Diablo Predator 03-04 owners that seem to be happy on lightly modded trucks, but Diablo's CS is nothing like the above companies.

RAMRODD

What worked for me is the TST. The TST really seems to come on hard at 1600 RPM's. I got the smarty just so I could change my speedo. I tryed just running the smarty and egt's were a issue but it did have better low end then the TST. But running the TST and the smarty together by far worked the best for me.

jcmoyer2004

I had an early 04 before the smarty became really popular. i first had a bully dog on it and it was just ok for me. then i got a diablo sport preditor and fell in love with it. for me, it was the most bang for my buck for what i needed. it ran great on the performance setting with all the horsepower i needed and it towed great. i never had a problem out of it and it was only about 380 new. so for me the price was right and had alot more low end power than the bully dog. just my .02

5POINT9

2003 Dodge.. go diablosport predator. Works awesome on 03's, affordable, proven. Other year trucks it's more of a coin toss.

cquestad

A VA3.1 would be the best at low end grunt...and cheap if he finds one.

Idaho Guy

Thanks all for the advice. I'll be doing some research into all of the products mentioned.

A follow-up question...I assume that my stock tranny (with close to 90k) will need to be upgraded with a valve body before I start "chipping" it? What about the stock Torque Converter -- will it hold the extra power?

For what it's worth...I'm not looking for the extra 100hp+ gains available. I'm only interested in a few extra ft-lbs/ponies for towing -- which is really the only type of driving she gets these days. I have no interest in getting the absolute maximum power out of it for drag racing, sled pulling, etc.

Thanks again.

cwgtex

A Smarty would be your best bet. The Revo software they come with lets you adjust a lot of options. If your clutch or transmission (you should put auto or stick in your signature) can handle it, you can set it level 4 for torque management and it will have more low end grunt than you want! The other settings are stock, mild, and moderate. As an added benefit your EGTs will be a lot cooler at every power level setting 1 through 9.