Vararam or Pedal Commander? Both?

[Shawn Dietz]

Will they give the same feel on acceleration? Better throttle response with just one or the other? Any other true CAI that are legal in CA, that give actual HP gains?

 

[bchap05]

Completely different items. Pedal Commander will give you more of a feel of acceleration. That's what its designed for to adjust your throttle response making the truck feel faster, even though its not faster. The Varraram will give actual HP gains. Not sure Cali illegality I don't follow their over the top ridiculous rules.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

I have the vararam and the Diablo Tuner. I'll be honest, I installed the vararam mainly because of the looks. I like the old school look, I haven't been to the track with it to know the numbers but the ram air part of it just simply makes common sense to me. I have the diablo tuner to get rid of the MDS, top speed limiter, raise the RPM'S and have the 87 and 93 octane download by Hemifever Tuning. It runs great,(better by the seat of the pants) sounds great and I get an honest 19.5 MPG highway driving sensible. Not sure if that answers your question but I would do it to mine if I had to do it all over again!

 

[Shawn Dietz]

Are any of the lower priced throttle controllers worth it? Work as well as the pedal commander?

 

[NJMOPAR]

Vararam & PC go well together, two of the best mods I've done.

 

[Ramm5.7]

 

[Shawn Dietz]

Which would you do first? Vararam or Pedal Commander?

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

Not fair for me to say between the vararam and pedal commander but between my vararam and Diablo Tuner I probrably would do the vararam first.

 

[Pull Ya]

The two mod's that you will see the most difference in your performance are a custom tune and long tube headers(discounting happy gas, a turbo or supercharger). The Vararam is the only CAI that has track proven performance gains, with the exception of the Custom Track intake built by Moe's Performance. The PC decreases the lag in acceleration, it does not however increase your hp or tq. It is more of a "fun" mod, IMHO it makes your truck more fun to drive. There are a lot of knock off's that have recently been hitting the market however the PC has been around quite a while and has proven to be pretty reliable, however, some people have had some problems with them. Of the two mod's your talking about I think you will see the most noticeable difference if you install the PC first.
Jay

 

[Plankton]

^what he said

Pedal Commander will take the lag out of throttle response by increasing the voltage. FCA found a happy medium for the factory throttle response and a PC acts as a plug and play way to adjust it up or down.

Vararam will increase air flow to the combustion mix. More unrestricted air throughput from initial intake all the way to the exhaust tip is where you'll see the most HP gains, so the only HP gains you'd get will be from the Vararam. Like Pull Ya said, long tube headers are the best BFB as far as air throughput. The factory headers on these trucks are restrictive in the sense that they're low volume and tiny in comparison the after market ones. More air = more power.

 

[Shawn Dietz]

Thanks for all the feedback! I'll get the PC and go from there!

 

[Pull Ya]

I think there might be one for sale in the "For Sale" section right now--maybe save a few bucks
Jay

 

[Nick@GotExhaust]

Pedal Commander will give you the biggest eat of the pants feel. If you are interested in one, we have them in stock and offer great pricing. Message me for a quote on one if interested.

 

[bchap05]

I had pedal commander and bought a Pulsar and sold the PC. Pulsar you get actual gains plus the throttle basically feels like the PC if you run it on Performance mode which I usually do. Unless towing I'll use tow or on long freeway trip eco.

 

[Dobaramguy84]

I have the vararam intake and the jms pedalmax. it definitely changed the truck quite a bit. more responsive off the line and at mid range. Also saw an increase in mpg around town. Highway driving didn't change much. The only thing that i wish the truck had is a better tune for the 6 spd transmission and get rid of the mds system.

 

[b52crewdawg]

Which would you do first? Vararam or Pedal Commander?

I did the Vararam first but wish I would have done my Hikeit throttle controller first. I have a 2017 Big Horn Crew Cab 2WD and 3:21 gears and run a 0-60 time of 5.99. Just did a run this am 3/4 tank of gas and about 100lbs of junk in the bed. Hope this helps.

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

I have the vararam intake and the jms pedalmax. it definitely changed the truck quite a bit. more responsive off the line and at mid range. Also saw an increase in mpg around town. Highway driving didn't change much. The only thing that i wish the truck had is a better tune for the 6 spd transmission and get rid of the mds system.

I have the Diablo Sport Tuner and a tune from Hemifever Tuning and it deleted my MDS, speed limiter and gave me 3rd gear on my transmission all the time. I have the 6 speed. The 3rd gear shifting is not that much of a difference in RPM wise between 2nd and 4th so I'm not impressed with that part as much. Don't know if deleting MDS is that important to you or not, just letting you know.

 

[Dobaramguy84]

I have the Diablo Sport Tuner and a tune from Hemifever Tuning and it deleted my MDS, speed limiter and gave me 3rd gear on my transmission all the time. I have the 6 speed. The 3rd gear shifting is not that much of a difference in RPM wise between 2nd and 4th so I'm not impressed with that part as much. Don't know if deleting MDS is that important to you or not, just letting you know.

I'm guessing your still running stock valvetrain with the mds disabled? What was the speed limited to on stock tune? and was there a noticeable difference with the tune on the trans? (like shift points or responsiveness)

 

[2012RAM1500RT]

Yes sir, stock valve train, MDS disabled. If I'm not mistaken the speed was limited to 108 MPH give or take a couple. I don't know top speed now but I know it will bury the speedometer now (120 MPH so I'm told depending on who's reading this) lol. It also raised my max RPM to 6000. For me the difference in transmission shifting was making it use 3rd gear which it normally skips. The difference was only about 200 RPM going from 2nd to 3rd and about the same going to 4th. If I tried driving it normal it seemed like it didn't shift right all the time from 2nd to 3rd then to 4th, it seemed like it would go back and forth before it finally went to 4th and so on. I am very happy with it now as I had the 3rd gear delete put back to normal. This tune was done by Hemifever Tuning if you're interested in it.