Hello from Lake Limestone, Texas. New to this forum but certainly not new to Dodge. Have been around Dodge products all my life with my dad owning many. I have owned 340 Duster, a hopped up 1970 challenger and many trucks including 1990 and 2000 diesels.

Just bought a new 2008 4x4 QC hemi. It was a choice between a CTD and that. The hemi won out strictly on the purchase price and cost of gas vs diesel. I pull a 30' fifth wheel toy box with my HD inside. It seems to handle it fairly well but needed airbags to help the squat a bit.......a set of Firestone Bags are now on order. The hemi does a reasonbable job pulling in the tow mode but is a bit weak with a head wind and on hills..... which is to be expected given the amt of the wind drag with a fifth wheel trailer.. What mods would some of you guys suggest to increase HP and torque as well as help out on the 6-7 mpg pulling. I get 14-16 normal hiway driving. I probably should have bought another diesel for pulling.........but I didnt, so.... I have to use what I have. Any positive input would be certainly appreciated.

Thanks
Daryl

 

is it too late to take it back and get a CTD, i dont get people thinking its better since gas is cheaper than diesel, youre gonna get a best 15mpg avg (not trailering anything) the diesel is gonna get 22 (everyone i know gets 22-25mpg) so ill use the low end, and 15mpg for a hemi is very generous, so thats almos a 50% increase in fuel econ, so that will mean diesel would have to be 4.86 since avg cost for gas is 3.24, mind you if diesel does get that high gas wont still be at just 3.24....................
also good luck when youre trailering anything, the diesel would give up fewer MPGs than the hemi.

as for what could help, get rid of the fan clutch and go with an E fan, itll free up a small amount of HP and keep your engine cool during inclines and stop and go. you may want to look into a tranny temp sensor as well as switching to a synthetic like amsoil for your tranny fluid as well as for your crankcase, and while youre at it use that for your diffs as well. you could also look into a deeper tranny pan if your doing a lot of towing. did your truck come with the towing package? if so youll have an aux tranny cooler. what are your gears, again if it came with the towing package youll have 3.92, if you have anything higher like a 3.73 or worse then look into 4.56 gears. it may not be worth the cost going from 3.92 to a lower gear like a 4.56, but if you decide to put taller tires on and still tow then def need to regear. buy a chip as well to help out with the towing.

 

you can get a full exhaust (headers,high flow cats,muffler) intake, a cam and programmer. and it should bump you up close to 100hp. A comp 260 cam and krc 210 cam have good tq down low which is good for towing

 

Cat-back, CAI and a Tuner will give a little power boost and a tad better fuel economy. Nota lot of product cost and nothing (easy to do yourseld) in labor costs. The Superchips tuner will also help towing quitea bit as it has a dedicated towing tune and also stiffens up the tranny shifts a good bit.

For bigger gains your gonna need to look at gears (4.56) and possibly that KRC 210 or a Comp 260 Cam. The KRC has a better torque boost, but the Comp requires less support component changes and is a little more PCM friendly, but now your starting to talk $$$...