2015 Pentastar V6 Towing [SUPERCHARGER SUCCESS!]

[PoMansRam]

If you were to drive it as is, what would be the concerns? Would the fuel trims be dangerously off?

 

[engineering]

If you were to drive it as is, what would be the concerns? Would the fuel trims be dangerously off?

My biggest concern would be knock and/or lean mixture. I am not sure how well the stock programming can deal with such a big change in airflow. I suspect that I could putt around the neighborhood, but not so sure that any significant load on the engine would be safe.

 

[PoMansRam]

My biggest concern would be knock and/or lean mixture. I am not sure how well the stock programming can deal with such a big change in airflow. I suspect that I could putt around the neighborhood, but not so sure that any significant load on the engine would be safe.

That's were I was going with that. I'm not sure if programming alone is going to compensate for the extra air being thrown into the cylinders of if larger flow fuel injectors will be needed.

 

[engineering]

That's were I was going with that. I'm not sure if programming alone is going to compensate for the extra air being thrown into the cylinders of if larger flow fuel injectors will be needed.

I did install new (higher flow) injectors, MAP, and MAF sensors as part of the kit - intended to keep up with the additional air. Curious how the stock PCM reacts to such drastic changes on its own.

 

[engineering]

Yet another day just blew by without any word from Sprintex or Diablosport.......

I sent a few emails and all I got was a message from Sprintex saying they are giving Diablosport 24hrs to respond. Yay.....maybe tomorrow? Maybe next week? Maybe never? Hard to say.

 

[GsRAM]

Wow man.....just brutal. Hang in there!

 

[dearchristopher]

Have you tried taking to Facebook or Twitter to get in touch with Sprintex? It’s pretty appalling how they are treating you. I would imagine other potential customers would like to know. I would *also* imagine that Sprintex would prefer to not have the bad publicity of your experience. You may try making this situation public there, and seeing if it will elicit a faster response.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[engineering]

Have you tried taking to Facebook or Twitter to get in touch with Sprintex? It’s pretty appalling how they are treating you. I would imagine other potential customers would like to know. I would *also* imagine that Sprintex would prefer to not have the bad publicity of your experience. You may try making this situation public there, and seeing if it will elicit a faster response.

Communication has picked up this morning with an email thread that includes Diablosport and Sprintex. The confusion on how to solve the problem remains at the moment - but at least the two people that have the best chance of figuring it out are together on the same communication.

Right now, I have THREE Diablosport i3 programmers sitting in front of me. Maybe one of them can be made to work.

 

[engineering]

Another day has passed...
This one at least had a lot of communication from both Sprintex and Diablosport. They are working together and responding - yet in the end, the result is that nothing works. All sorts of variations have been tried, full resets, new units, the works.

I sent them an email that explains how this needs to be resolved or I have to simply reverse it and move on. it would be horrible it that was the final result - but I cannot continue like this.

Next week, I have to spend $500 renting a truck if I don't get this one working. Tomorrow is the last practical day to wait for a solution.

 

[engineering]

I am not the only one......
The latest on my end is that my wife now understands that looking for a V8 2500 truck is a good idea. [SEE FIRST POST]
We would sell her Honda Pilot though and have 2 trucks - her fathers truck for little stuff and a 2500 moving stuff.
Lets see if I can sell her on that idea, finally.

from:
https://www.challengerforumz.com/threads/part-1-of-sprintex-supercharger-install.131894/page-3

 

[GsRAM]

I am not the only one......
The latest on my end is that my wife now understands that looking for a V8 2500 truck is a good idea. [SEE FIRST POST]
We would sell her Honda Pilot though and have 2 trucks - her fathers truck for little stuff and a 2500 moving stuff.
Lets see if I can sell her on that idea, finally.

from:
https://www.challengerforumz.com/threads/part-1-of-sprintex-supercharger-install.131894/page-3

View attachment 242438

There you go! That would be cool if you can swing it. I love my 2500.

 

[engineering]

Party people.......Diablosport has come through after all this.

The RAM 1500 V6 is now SUPERCHARGED and ready for road testing! I took it for a putt-putt drive around the neighborhood and used it to move my travel trailer out of the way. Temps looked good and the little whine under the hood will not let me forget what is under there.

I need to let it cool down, do one last coolant check and put the front grille parts back together. Then I can start the road tests and see what the practical result of all this is.

Super happy that it is drive-able again. Photos and videos can happen, but for now, I am focused any finding any issues during business hours. The weekend can be used to prep for the trip into the mountains next week.

 

[GsRAM]

Party people.......Diablosport has come through after all this.

The RAM 1500 V6 is now SUPERCHARGED and ready for road testing! I took it for a putt-putt drive around the neighborhood and used it to move my travel trailer out of the way. Temps looked good and the little whine under the hood will not let me forget what is under there.

I need to let it cool down, do one last coolant check and put the front grille parts back together. Then I can start the road tests and see what the practical result of all this is.

Super happy that it is drive-able again. Photos and videos can happen, but for now, I am focused any finding any issues during business hours. The weekend can be used to prep for the trip into the mountains next week.

Man that's some great news! So glad to hear that. Looking forward to the videos whenever you can get to them. Happy that you got it to this point.

 

[engineering]

Test run was successful - no clicks, knocks, pings, squeaks, rattles, etc, etc.

A few laps in the local city streets to see if slow stop-n-go traffic would create any temperature spikes. It all looked normal. Filled it up with 91 octane and took it on the freeway. I did not want to hit it hard just yet until I am confident nothing is going to explode - but a few spirited accelerations indicate the power is there.

Then I hitched the trailer and took it on its 60 mile hill climb. It really worked well. It tends to stay 1-2 gears higher and is able to get up these hills at 65mph without any wide open throttle. Previously, a 65mph run up these hills would be nearly wide open and 5k rpm. Now, it is more like 3500 or so. It is a huge improvement in drive-ability.

Temps stayed nearly identical to the stock configuration - maybe a few degrees higher. That surprised me. I was expecting a jump in temps, but that did not happen.

Starting, idle, and slow maneuvering with the trailer are just as easy as stock - no bad behavior. No lurching or surging. So the next thing is to let it cool down and I will do one last pass tomorrow to make sure all fasteners are tight and all the wires/hoses are secure.
For the first trip - we are going to take our SUV as a backup in case anything goes wrong. At least we can pull the trailer back home slowly. I don't yet trust it yet.

The next big test is next week - 600 mile trip into the hills and mountains. Nothing too crazy, but a good place to start.

 

[White six four]

Awesome! Hopefully its smooth sailing for you. Glad to see they got their crap together on their end and the countless hours of work and waiting for responses weren't for nothing.

 

[GsRAM]

Test run was successful - no clicks, knocks, pings, squeaks, rattles, etc, etc.

A few laps in the local city streets to see if slow stop-n-go traffic would create any temperature spikes. It all looked normal. Filled it up with 91 octane and took it on the freeway. I did not want to hit it hard just yet until I am confident nothing is going to explode - but a few spirited accelerations indicate the power is there.

Then I hitched the trailer and took it on its 60 mile hill climb. It really worked well. It tends to stay 1-2 gears higher and is able to get up these hills at 65mph without any wide open throttle. Previously, a 65mph run up these hills would be nearly wide open and 5k rpm. Now, it is more like 3500 or so. It is a huge improvement in drive-ability.

Temps stayed nearly identical to the stock configuration - maybe a few degrees higher. That surprised me. I was expecting a jump in temps, but that did not happen.

Starting, idle, and slow maneuvering with the trailer are just as easy as stock - no bad behavior. No lurching or surging. So the next thing is to let it cool down and I will do one last pass tomorrow to make sure all fasteners are tight and all the wires/hoses are secure.
For the first trip - we are going to take our SUV as a backup in case anything goes wrong. At least we can pull the trailer back home slowly. I don't yet trust it yet.

The next big test is next week - 600 mile trip into the hills and mountains. Nothing too crazy, but a good place to start.

Man that's wonderful to hear after you went through all of that. That's great. To me, it's also a testament to your mechanical and technical abilities and your attention to detail.

It didn't run that well right out of the box by accident and anyone with any mechanical ability (I've been spinning wrenches over 30 years now) knows that. Well done Sir!

 

[engineering]

Quick update -

Just completed a 600 mile trip with a considerable amount of steep hills, twisty roads, traffic - the works. All seems to be quite good. The difference is about as big as it should be considering the expense and the effort.

It really does amazingly well through some pretty steep hills (Grapevine pass in southern CA on I-5) where the big rigs are going 30-40mph....I am able to maintain 60-65mph at 3,000 rpm. The same pass before the supercharger, I was maxed at about 50mph but only if I was running at 4500 rpm. In more normal freeway driving, the truck is typically in 6th gear at around 2300rpm which is about 65mph or so.

Very comfortable, never need to floor it. I can still pass/accelerate going up a hill. The temps are only a few degrees higher than normal - even with an extended 20-30 min uphill run.

I did a lot of idling, slow driving through the national park roads, cold starts, hot starts, and so far it has not had any hiccups at all. One nice thing is how smooth the power comes in at any speed. This makes precision maneuvering a trailer very easy - no lurching or other bad behavior that I have experienced with pure performance oriented vehicle mods. This one is invisible to the driver - which is good for my wife.

After all the pain of the installation - I am glad the end-result is what I planned for. I still think the rear gear change is should happen. Mainly to take some load off of the transmission. The transmission does not always shift when I feel it should be shifting - perhaps because it is nearly maxed out going up a hill. Even though the temps are still in the middle, it couldn't hurt to give it a little head room.

Anyway - the trans thing is minor. Overall....this is perhaps the best possible V6 tow vehicle now. Pulling max load up the big hills like a champ.

 

[ramffml]

Quick update -

Just completed a 600 mile trip with a considerable amount of steep hills, twisty roads, traffic - the works. All seems to be quite good. The difference is about as big as it should be considering the expense and the effort.

It really does amazingly well through some pretty steep hills (Grapevine pass in southern CA on I-5) where the big rigs are going 30-40mph....I am able to maintain 60-65mph at 3,000 rpm. The same pass before the supercharger, I was maxed at about 50mph but only if I was running at 4500 rpm. In more normal freeway driving, the truck is typically in 6th gear at around 2300rpm which is about 65mph or so.

Very comfortable, never need to floor it. I can still pass/accelerate going up a hill. The temps are only a few degrees higher than normal - even with an extended 20-30 min uphill run.

I did a lot of idling, slow driving through the national park roads, cold starts, hot starts, and so far it has not had any hiccups at all. One nice thing is how smooth the power comes in at any speed. This makes precision maneuvering a trailer very easy - no lurching or other bad behavior that I have experienced with pure performance oriented vehicle mods. This one is invisible to the driver - which is good for my wife.

After all the pain of the installation - I am glad the end-result is what I planned for. I still think the rear gear change is should happen. Mainly to take some load off of the transmission. The transmission does not always shift when I feel it should be shifting - perhaps because it is nearly maxed out going up a hill. Even though the temps are still in the middle, it couldn't hurt to give it a little head room.

Anyway - the trans thing is minor. Overall....this is perhaps the best possible V6 tow vehicle now. Pulling max load up the big hills like a champ.

My guess; re-gear will not help.

The transmission has shift points, tuned specifically for how a stock v6 makes power. It thinks it can't upshift because if it does, you will lose power. It doesn't realized you turned the torques up to 11 and can actually do the upshift now. A transmission tune is "all" you need.

 

[engineering]

My guess; re-gear will not help.

The transmission has shift points, tuned specifically for how a stock v6 makes power. It thinks it can't upshift because if it does, you will lose power. It doesn't realized you turned the torques up to 11 and can actually do the upshift now. A transmission tune is "all" you need.

That sounds reasonable.
I am not sure how to develop a transmission tune - maybe contacting Sprintex for some guidance or a solution they have already developed.

 

[RLJ10X]

I disagree. When you're working a truck, there's no better advantage than mechanical advantage. Who is to say that regearing won't help shift points?

I'd do 4.10s, and let that little Six spin.

I always say regearing my truck is the best thing I ever did for it.