Hi, I purchased a brand new 2005 Ram srt 10 quad cab 1 month ago.

Twice now, at high(er) speeds, say 200 kph (125 m.p.h.), the truck body did a nose dive in the passenger side front,
the *** end lifted and the truck shifted over 1/2 a lane or so. It scares the hell outta me when it decides to do that!!

I am wondering if it is because the box has no cover.

Anyone else had bizzare handling with these trucks at high speeds?

P.S. My Hemi truck picked up a lot of power after it hit 5000 km (3200 miles). Because it was so rapid a change,
I am assuming the computer unlocked more power through timing and/or fuel delivery. Do the Viper trucks do the same?

I went to a K&N cold air kit but other than make it LOUD , it didn't seem to do much else...

P.S.S. This thing gets better mileage than my '03 Hemi Ram 4x4.

Thanks

Ron

 

First, congratulations on getting your truck.

It doesn't take much of a bump to cause problems at that speed in any vehicle, much less a 5,500 lb. truck. Our streering and our suspensions are pretty highly strung. It makes for better handling on the track where the surfaces are more uniform but can be hyper-sensitive on uneven roads. If you're going to go that fast, make sure you're familiar with the surface you're on. I have to say that I have never been too big on street racing or running those kind of speeds on public roads. My family and I believe in getting our jollies at the track. A 12 year old boy was killed a few days ago just blocks from my house because a yahoo on a crotch rocket was racing around and t-boned a family in a Suburban. He hit right where the 12 year old was sitting at 70 mph. Needless to say the biker didn't survive either. The tragedy is that he took the boy with him.

The air flow over the bed and wing is designed to work best with an open bed and the tail gate up. They found that bed covers disturb the airflow and actually produce lift at high speeds.

Yes, the pcm seems to have a progressive tune based on mileage and leans out with more use. I used to get soot on my tail pipes early on and at 5,600 miles it's gone. I could definitely tell a difference at around 2,000 and 5,000 miles.

I have the K&N. It has been the subject of some discussion. Some feel it works better than stock in cold weather. Some feel that the stock air box with a drop-in filter is better in warm weather. In my experience, the benefit from mods is the sum of the entire system. One mod may or may not make much of a difference but as you add more components the benefits are more obvious. For example, If you open up the exhaust with headers, high flow cats and a cat back system, the benefits of better intake capacity become more apparent. Also we have just gone from spring to summer. The hotter temps will make a huge difference in your truck's performance. You may not be getting a good comparison if you are comparing performance in cooler spring weather to the summer. I live at 4,500 ft. and the air density changes daily. One day the relative altitude here is over 8,000 ft. Other days, we get a high pressure front and it's like we're at 2,000 ft. Our weather is too fickle for me to really tell if the K&N makes much of a SOTP difference. But, to me it's worth it just for the extra growl at WOT.

I also get as good or better mileage than my son's Hemi Sport. Well, not in the city because I drive around in 2nd and 3rd a lot to hear that growl I was talking about earlier. I got 17 mpg on the way to California.

 

Thanks for the information.

I too pick and choose my spots for cruising and limit high speed runs to the wide open prairie highways.

I think this truck really IS holding back and I have booked some dyno time to see what is going on.
Currently, it struggles through the 200 km/hr. "barrier" and it has been suggested that it may be experiencing preignition/detonation which would explain the
lag in acceleration, if the pcm is taking timing out of the engine. On this topic, it was suggested NOT to use Esso premium
fuel and instead use Shell, Petro Canada or Husky which boasts 94 octane. I have tried Shell, instead of Esso and it does pull
harder than it did. I only have 2500 miles on the truck however so I am sure it is still fairly tight.

Glad to hear the truck doesn't like the box covers.
I have the quad cab which is 5700 lbs; no lightweight, that's for sure.

I have faith that Chrysler didn't develop a "Garage Queen" when they designed and built the SRT10. I purchased the truck because it is capable of
extraordinary things. Although I don't intend on pushing the truck to it's limits on a frequent basis, I do need to know what it is or isn't capable of.
HIGH speed handling is quite good, so far, but the behaviour of the truck detailed in my last post is unsettling to say the least....


Thanks again for your input and I look forward to reading the posts of others enjoying their SRT 10s.

Ron

 

Hi - I'm new here - just purchased an '05 quad cab in awesome black. Anyway, I'm concerned with what big asp stated:

"The air flow over the bed and wing is designed to work best with an open bed and the tail gate up. They found that bed covers disturb the airflow and actually produce lift at high speeds."

My SRT-10 quad came with a stock bed cover and permanently mounted wing. Is this bad for high speeds, and if so, why did Dodge produce it this way?