1997 1500 5.2 automatic, all stock except for Flowmaster exhaust and K&N filter, 165,000 miles. I’d like a little more power for towing, and have heard about the tuner by hemi fever.

not looking for a drag racer, just better towing power for my UTV on a 16” trailer. The truck does good on flat ground, but suffers in the mountains. I apologize if I’ve asked similar, but trying to get a bit more power without internal engine mods.

 

Is this a 2WD or 4WD truck? What gear ratio is in the rear differential and what size tires are on your truck?

The easiest way to gain more towing power is to swap the 5.2 for a 5.9 motor. It's an extremely straight-forward swap and allows you to use your existing transmission and differentials.

 

It’s 2wd with 3.92 gears. I’d love to have a 5.9, but it’s not in my budget right now. Tires are 245/75 R16.

 

Have headers? Fixed the plenum? How many miles on it? It's already set up rather well as a tow rig.

 

165k miles, no headers, but Flowmaster exhaust. Plenum is not leaking. It didn’t come from the factory with the tow package, but I’ve added a transmission cooler after rebuilding the 46RE.

 

Changing the timing chain and gears would be a good idea. Even shorty headers will give a bit of an improvement.

 

Timing chain and gears were changed at 140k miles. I was thinking that I heard of the Hemi fever tuner here, but it may have been on another site.

 

Unless you're willing to step up to premium fuel, a tune doesn't tend to buy you much on a stock motor. If you're regularly running around in those steep hills near I-40 around Asheville, I'd budget for a 5.9 engine swap down the road.

In the meantime, in addition to changing the original timing chain and gear set out to a new double roller timing chain and gear set, a good tune-up may also help as well (distributor cap, rotor, spark plugs, spark plug wires).

 

Hemifever shows up here every now and again. And yes, he writes some good tunes. reducing torque management on the obdii trucks helps a bit, but, for the money, there are other things you can do that are more effective.

 

Timing chain and gears have been changed, and definitely needed it. Tune up was also recently done. The truck has gained a little power with the timing chain and tune up, but the biggest seat of the pants gain was the Flowmaster exhaust. I could definitely feel a difference after the exhaust was changed.