I live in NJ and been to the rockies with my 3500 CTD Auto,4:10 towing my 5er (GCW of 22,870#) four times camping and going next year again..the upgrades that I'm doing to my truck over the winter- exhaust brake and thinking of doing a Meth/water(cooling mist) system to keep my Exhaust temp down..what other upgrades do you have done towing in that area? I don't have alot of cash so cost must be under control..A example of my travels was on Rt50 Co going over Monarch pass,wow what a ride up and then down..my speed going up was 25-30mph and black smoke just pouring out the exhaust pipe and EGT at 1375 to 1400 in 2nd gear,stoped at the top to cool off the turbo, then had to stop twice to cool off the brakes going down...So this time around I'm going to have a exhaust brake and something to keep EGT in spec and get a little power from it..What are your upgrades and did it work? What would you think you should have done instead of what you did? Thanks I just want to do it right the first time-- like my idea would be Exhaust brake BD,pac /trans upgrades TC,VB and controler/ 50hp injector tips, Turbo but which one and did it work right for you? and there is how to spend about 5g's...................

 

I dont tow heavy...but Ive read on here numerous times that the Edge/juice combo is notorious for high egts. Its been suggested that the smarty is better at keeping egts in check. I also noticed you have a larger intake, but I would suggest a more free flowing exhaust. Other than that, the Ex. Brake is probably going to be your best mod for towing in the mtns.

Scott

 

I tow heavy in the same kind of territory you are planning to tow in, the exhaust brake really makes a ton of difference, you will be glad you got one. I am planning to go to an aftermarket exhaust manifold and also the cooling bypass for the rear cylinders, better exhaust outflow should make a difference in EGT's. I'm not running a programmer, outside of some intake changes and a ME my truck/engine is stock. EGT's have gotten as high as 1200*s pulling 18-20K up 6% grades.


CD

 

Have the brake fluid changed, EBC green stuff pads, braided steel brake lines.

Aftermarket air box and filter. Upgrade exhast?

 

i can help in every thing except the auto, i am not a fan of them. the smarty jr is the best. the pac and bd are the only two good ones on the market. i run more bd than pac just because of were the compressor is located. it is out of the way, cool air on it and no vibration. this cuts compressor failures. there is less mechanical parts on the bd than the pac also. both have the same stooping power and considerably more than jake, banks or others. your truck has a in cylinder egr scheme for emissions reduction. if you will install a pdr cam and 50 hp nozzles at the same time, the smarty jr, pdr cam and ddp 50 hp nozzles will get you 40% increase in mpg, 300* lower egt, and a 75% reduction in soot in the oil.a fbd 5"turbo back straight pipe kit and a donaldson m090535 muffler for quiet helps also. use the delete pipe to extend the exhaust out further to keep the dually fender cleaner. you will have to run the smarty on economy or watch the exhaust in the mirror you will start to run out of air at the tow or power setting because of the nozzles. the nozzles were necessary for many reasons to help get rid of the egr the 50 hp gain was not one of the things we wanted. if you change the turbo to utilize the upper settings of the smarty jr the size turbo to get will depend on how often you tow, get a htt 62 65 12 ss and ss manifold if you do not tow often or a htt ss 62 65 13 and ss manifold for a lot of towing. install turbo and manifold blankets on both. the following items do help but are very small in comparison a psm kit, cool hose and tag. for the intake side of turbo and cfm+ and grid heater delete on the other side. look up airtabs.com and install on trailer. dynatrack free spin hubs will give you a 2wd low range that will make backing the trailer a pleasure. change the brake controller to a maxbrake or smartbrake. for the auto i can only tell you what i observed from watching others i do not think you will get very far with these mods or you will have a more worthless bucket of junk that will require a wrecker i would suggest you get a full bd upgrade on the auto. with the bd upgrade you will be able to down shift and keep the tranny locked in and with the bd brake you can descend the steepest grades with out touching the brakes. the maxbrake and smartbrake controllers are the only two on the market that are proportional as heavy as you are the inertia ones do not even work.

 

carl48 thanks for the info.I have 35,000 miles on the truck and its only used for towing are camper.So my improvements are done step by step/watching how I spend my money..but in 2010 I'm going out west to Ca,oregon coast-its a 2 month trip,and I just love the Rockies.. but towing a 13K 5er through them just feels like the turbo is too small( not enough air)..I just want to do it right the 1st time,thats why I asked for info from people that live there and have done mods...............

 

Intake horn is cheap for some egt drop, exhaust manifold helps as well as a Smarty jr should drop your egts to a more manageable level. I've never pulled a mountain pass nor driven an auto but towing large loads up hills those mods helped me. 1250 F is the most I would see with the JR on perf(100hp) setting towing. Check out my sig nothing fancy or expensive.

 

I pull a 16,000 lb 5ver up some big grades and maxed out up 6% i never see above 1100 degrees with my mods. The Smarty works very well and the extra boost from the Quad Boost Fooler and homemade boost elbow work great ! I could not believe it !

 

I gotta dissagree with you here Carl
The BD brake is good but their charge system sucks.
I still use BDs brake but use Pacs compressor and 2.5gal tank
The BD compressor was very noisy and where it mounts you can hear it when its on in the cab, plus its on every time you turn on the brake. The other thing that sucks about the BD system is you have to wait for air pressure to activate the brake evrey time because it has no reserve tank so the brake takes a few seconds to come on and its very progressive as air psi builds.
The Pac setup is instant and I can never hear the compressor running since its mounted to the engine. As a side bonus I also have onboard air for flats and my airbags.

As for the rest of your claims well.......................

Wantabe
Timing from the smarty will help your egts and so would a cam but whatever you do don't think you can add more fuel with nossels and cool it where/what you tow with out twins.
FWIW I would suggest.
An upgaded valve body with lock up mods done to it so you can lock up the converter in low and second. With my autos I could get outlet temps as high as 240* when the converters unlocked on big pulls.
A converter upgrade would be nice but if budget is your main concern the VB would be priority.
A timing box (smarty gets my vote also but your edge may do the same?) but keep it on a lower setting.
Anything you do to open your exhaust will help.
A water/meth system will help also but just spray the water.

 

well i don't tow much in the moun tains, but i have towed heavy in the mountains with someone elses truck. it was a 03 dually , 2wd, and a 04 dually ,4x4. both trucks pretty much didn't make it up the grade on our way to California. the 2wd truck suffered from a bad tranny which caused it to over heat about half way up, due to slipping and a bad torque converter, which will help fry the clutches in the converter.the 04 made it, but at about 5 mph at the top, and it was hurting too. none of the trucks have gauges, which i thought was a joke considering this is a race team who needs to get where they are going. i know my 03 truck would have made the grade and with some extra HP at the top, and probably wouldn't have lost much speed going up. keeping in mind we were pulling about 16,000lbs easy.
so with that said, i would strongly suggest a tranny up grade, torque converter and VB anyway. the better your tranny works, the better for your truck and less heat due to slipping. then from there i would maybe upgrade the exhaust a bit, and air intake.turbo after that, no sense in turbo mods before the rest really. i say this as you are watching your money, and thats probably the best way to go about it in the steps you want to take.

 

From what Ive read in the posts and from other forums is that a smarty is the way to go,and a goerend 48re triple TC w/VB or at least a shift kit.The most important thing is dependability,and then power to make it up a few big mountain passes.(on vacation-towing my camper) So here's my list for my winter mods-get rid of the edge Juice/Att. and get a smarty,buy a Goerend TC and do a shift kit,the exhaust brake is going to be either a PRXB or BD w/towloc but,I like the Banks unit too..and then if I have enough cash left a Snow Performance stage 3 water/meth kit.(hopefully to drop my exhaust temp about 100* when towing up the interstate inclines or those mountain passes) I was under the idea that a turbo upgrade would do,but thier not needed until I start using some fuel....let me know what you think,I'm looking for ideas................Rich

 

Having mountains around here I can tell you what has worked on my 05 and my dads 06.

We both have a Smarty Jr set to SW1, no extra fuel just timing and it keeps things much cooler.

I also have done a couple intake/exhasut mods and run about 50-100* cooler than my dad does. I have a Airaid TT for the intake, and have ditched the stock cat/muffler for a Donaldson 40" and Megacab resonator.

We both also have an exhaust brake, Jacobs OEM, and wouldn't tow without one.

Good luck. I would do things in stages... Start with a Smarty Jr and a exhaust brake and see how you like it. Maybe a slight exhaust/intake mod. But you don't need a full intake it won't do you any good with the power the SJR can provide.