the 268 cam is about the biggest that you cam run without haveing to change your pcm like weedahoe said. idk what kinda exhaust you are running but if it doesnt have the propper back pressure you loose your low end (but you gain top end) since you are looking for low end, you dont want to loose your back pressure. The gears are probably the fastest way to got low end accaleration.

 

I would have the tranny checked if it isn't pulling right in the upper gears.

The 4.56/4.88 gears will allow the engine to gain rpm faster thus better acceleration. Since you have 2 OD's, the highway rpms will still be down at an acceptable level.

 

Is the converter matched to your truck and cam combo? A lowend cam doesnt necessarily need a higher stall. The 260 builds power right around 1500rpm give or take so really with the stall at 3000 you are already loosing 1500rpm of power. What brand is it? Who installed it? Hows the trans fluid look? How are the trans temps? Do you have a larger trans cooler? Do you have a wideband O2? Do you have a way to log to see what your truck is really doing? Are you running rich? are you running lean?.... There are so many variables here to discuss...

Also to not care about top end and want to focus on lowend and expect to be the fastest 0-90 truck around is hilarious. If you stick with all lowend mods, you may have a quick 0-60 but after that you loose power and thus time. Fast street trucks care more about mid-top end than lowend. The lowend comes from gearing and the coverter that match the cam you put in.

As for your question though, cheap and performance dont go hand in hand. If you were to put a 4.56 or 4.88 on your truck as it sits now you wouldnt be able to keep up to a stock truck because you'll be shredding the tires before you even budge and while smoke shows are fun, they dont do a damn thing for street tires and cost valuable time. So IMO first, take a look at the converter, make sure its not slipping, do a trans flush, pick up a wideband and a trans temp gauge (or just an AI gauge that moniters everything and their wideband kit) so you can see what you are doing to the the truck. Then see if you can get it tuned correctly via SCT (that bully dog isnt doing squat for you) and have someone else do it who knows how to tune or you will be replacing the whole engine. Then look into gears, headers, TB, and all the good stuff

 

The 268 will not run on his truck as he has it now. It absolutely HAS to have a custom tune for it to bump the idle and adjust the fuel/spark/timing or it will destroy the engine and his tuner will not do that, the SCT might be able to but I dont think it can bump the idle. The 268 is a big cam.

 

See! There ya go haha

 

oh it has a custom tune lol and i took it to the tranny shop, i had 3 clutch packs out, gotta get the tranny rebuilt then we will go from there

 

where do i need to get it tuned, i damn sure dont need to blow my motor.
trans needeed a rebuild 3 clutch packs were out.
the stall is a yank 3000
trans fluid was dark but its getting a nice 1900 dollar rebuild :/

 

It has a custom tune or it has a canned tune off of the tuner? There is a HUGE difference between the two.

This is where you need to go for your 03':
http://www.hemifevertuning.com/

There are other places but this guy has been around and has tuned many many rams and with the revisions can get it dialed in relatively quick.

You really need to monitor your truck though before you can do any tuning. Throwing parts at it blindly will just hurt it It sounds like the converter burnt up the trans and if you had a way to monitor it you could have possibly seen this coming. At bare minimim pick yourself up a wideband and a trans temp gauge before you add anymore parts. spend a couple hundered and save yourself some heartache.

Personally if I were you I'd just grab one of these:
http://www.aeroforcetech.com/

It has everything you want to monitor built into it and then pickup thier wideband add on. Yes it is pricey, no it doesnt download a data log, but it will monitor everything you want and then some.