Another power robbing 'feature' of the 98 and up trucks was 'torque management'. The PCM would pull timing at lower RPMs so engine torque wouldn't be real strong, thus, you have a truck that doesn't feel as powerful as the older versions. A tuner will not only get you a few horsepower/torque, it will also dramatically reduce the effect of torque management. A worth while investment as far as I am concerned.

 

Only thing I can do with my deathflash anymore is replace the PCM and I'm not gonna spend that money. My truck has been slow its whole life but its also still going strong at nearly 260k so I'll just be the tortoise and not the hare. After all, I have my Harley for going fast

 

Good information! So is this "torque management" in place on both the 5.9 and the 5.2? Presumably it was to try and make the re46 live longer with heavy loads in tow? I'm really wondering if my van has that feature, but have no earthly idea how I might find out for sure anyhow... I'm already about done building a transmission for it, so I'm not worried so much about that part of things...

 

Yeah, even the sixes got it. Maybe just not quite so pronounced. And that is exactly the reason they implemented it. Save the trans..... If you have a 98 or newer, then you got torque management. You can get rid of it with a tuner, just use the 87 octane tune from HemiFever, or Flyin' Ryan. They both DRAMATICALLY reduce it's effect.

 

Unfortunately, I don't think any of the tuners / tunes will work for the ram vans... My truck is a 1995 1500 4x4, my van is a 1999 ram van... kind of wishing there were other options for the pcm in it, but haven't come across anything yet... I haven't looked really hard yet though...

 

i just bought a 2000 ram sport 4X4 5.9 auto with factory tow package. i don't know what mods were done to it. but i think it's has a lift kit on it. don't know what gears are in it but it turns about 1200 rpm to do 55 mph.
it has factory 7.5" rims , i THINK. bought a set of 265/75/16 tires . these https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...d&autoModClar=

 

This is my 95 with 285/75/16s... a few years ago right after I painted it, before I finished putting everything back together... All it has is a couple inch lift and the 33's work great except for a slight rub on one side at full lock. That could have been adjusted out, but I never took the time ...ppg dbc9700 black (the only black I would use outside HOK), outer few layers cut with inter-coat clear and a little silver and gold sparkle pearl pigment added, 3 coats clear, wet-sanded flat, 3 more coats clear lightly wet-sanded and then buffed out - too bad the depth of the paint and the hint of sparkle doesn't show in pictures... and when I did the body work, I took the time to remove every dent and mark then used a longboard to sand the entire thing flat and straight... turned out pretty well...

 

My RAM with 40s and 4.5in lift was going to repaint it but getting deployed

 

Van has the same drivetrain as the trucks. Wouldn't hurt to give either of 'em a call, and have a chat. Nothing you can do for the 95 though. Those are still OBDI, and not flash programmable. Best you could do would be a Mopar Performance PCM, but, those make hens teeth look downright common.....

Deployed???? Are you in the reserves?? National Guard?

 

From what I understand re van pcm is that it's different enough for the trucks that no one has any options to tune even simple things on it... so I'm glad it's working pretty well the way it is. Not sure how low the rpm is for the timing pull on them, but perhaps the somewhat higher stall in the converter makes up for it... truck I'm not worried about...


nice trucks above... did you ever get the one painted?