After reading through all the recent posts about boost pressure, & EGT's I'm wondering what I should load up in the TNT when I load my Slide in.
My sig is accurate as the truck is now.
My DD settings are TNT SW9.TM2/TQ2/RP2/WG-off, & the truck really likes it there. I have no problems with RP, or EGT's empty.
When I load my camper I gross about 12K, & a lot of windage. I have been setting the TM down to TM4, & TQ to TQ1, but leave the rest alone. So far as long as I keep the RPM up I have never seen temps above 1250* on a hill. I have spiked it hard a couple times passing for a few seconds.
So, should I also back down to SW7, or 5, or leave it alone?
Thanks.
P.S. I have my flame retardant suit on so have at it.

 

I would start at lvl 3 and put everything else at stock. Watch your gauges and go from there. I towed 16-17k across country, and 3 was good, but my fuel mileage was terrible, so I moved it down to 1.

 

Just to be clear. I'm not towing 12K. My truck with camper in the bed weighs 12K. That's it. Most of my hauling is for hunting in cold temps, so I also haven't had any water temp issues either. The worst I've seen is about 1 needle's width above 200* water temp, & that's when the clutch fan locked up, & scared the crap out of me. On SW9/TM4/TQ1/RP2/WG-off I will hit the bottom of an 8% grade @ 75mph in OD. The EGT will climb to 1250* & pretty much stay there, & I'll downshift, & it'll drop to 950*+/- & stay there. But if I downshift @ the bottom it will hit 950* anyway, & stay there.

 

Hey,

I have an 05 3500 that I just started using for a truck camper this year. My setup is very similiar to yours. I have pulled it a few hundred miles already with a boat or trailer w/jeep on it. The camper weight is about 4k with water, food and gear (1150 Artic Fox). I have not run in the Mountains yet, but so far I really like driving it with Smarty on sw1 and backing off the pressure and tm. HTS built my trans and it will try and hook up real hard with the tm turned up much, not good with all that wt on board. Level 3 is not bad either but mileage will not be as good. I pull my 33' 5th wheel on 3 sometimes in the "hilly" areas to stay on cruise control with no issues.

 

Thanks. I've been running on SW9 with the settings I posted for about 5 yrs now with no problems. But I started wondering whether my cyl temps were excessive under some loads with those settings. So I was thinking about lowering to SW5, or so. I did find out that if I punched it to pass a Subaru with a bunch of tree huggers on an 8% grade from about 45 mph (60 zone)with the T/C locked I hit 1670* by the time I was ready to pull back into my lane. It was only there for about 5 seconds tho. But Now I know not to do that any more. I also let off the throttle when the T/C is about to lock to lessen the hit on the components too. I put about 1500 miles loaded up for hunting every year, & almost all of it is in the mountains.

 

The TST takes care of any high temp issues the Smarty may create, no matter if towing on a lower setting or driving around on a lethal hippie tree hugger asphyxiation setting for a few smiles.... The max temp setting on the TST will defuel the ECM with the sw tune in it still so I can't go over 1450, unless I want to for some reason. Smarty can make some heat if left alone that is for sure....Nice thing about the TST with the Smarty too is that I can run a lower sw#(usually 3,5 or 7) for daily use and if I need a little more the TST can be added to it on the fly.

Don't tell anyone (that can't tow real well they might whine about something I did) but I hauled a 20,000 lb AM General truck back from OK to MI last month on my 29' Big Tex 22GN trailer. I was heavy, yes, but I could accelerate good, maintain speed no problem and most importantly I could still stop/slow very well. Started driving in the E. OK mountains on sw 3 but decided to back off to sw 1 due to temps/smoke (it was 101 outside). Once there the truck would pour all it could and not overheat or exceed 1400 egt on any hill with the cruise set at 65 mph and stay there. Drove all the way back to MI that way and had no issues.

 

With stock timing 1400* egt is OK, but if you have any timing advance, that can be dangerous. I like to run a little timing to try for better milage when I'm loaded up, but don't like to see anything over 1250* egt there.