My truck seems to have very poor throttle response. I have nothing to compare it to except for my old 01. I have to step on the throttle more then halfway in order to get this truck rolling. It seems as though the truck does not kick into action untill the throttle is pressed more then halfway. I have changed fuel filter last week as well as air filter. My 01 had a very sensitive and peppy throttle response unlike this one. I rarely had to step on my 01 to get it going, a little over qauter throttle and she was rolling. I have not been impressed with this new to me 06 with 34K on it. My 01 would walk circles around it with little effort. Any help on why the truck has such poor throttle response? Thanks

 

When I first got my 06 the one thing I noticed is the shape, angle, and placement of the accelerator on this truck is completely different from any other large vehicle I had driven. 1 - The pedal is curved, not flat like every other gas pedal has been forever; 2 - The pedal is placed at too vertical of an angle, at least for me, making it uncomfortable to sit with your foot in that position for long periods of time. 3 - The pedal is placed much farther forward in relation to the brake in any other vehicle I have driven.

Now maybe it's just me and I'm wierd but all these things made up to give me the sense of this truck being a slow and uncomfortable ride. Being that the bottom of the pedal is curved down so far, you aren't able to drive with your toes or it will feel like you have only 50 hp under the hood. For numerous thousands of miles when I first had my truck I used to think that my 92' felt faster and it's all stock. To fix the responsiveness of the pedal, having a larger soled shoe really helps there. The more leverage you get on the pedal, the easier it's going to be to press down and it will make it feel as if you just added HP to it.

Up until recently I hadn't really had a problem with the responsiveness of the pedal, though the discomfort still bothered me. For about a week I kept getting cramps in my right leg and foot, it was so bad that when I got out of the truck I would end up limping for a while. I couldn't stand driving the truck and something had to be done to fix this. I ended up making a triangular wedge out of wood that fit over the bottom end of the pedal to make it completely flat again. After that I went ahead and attached it with multiple layers of duct tape and that gave it a very, very solid feel. So far I really, really like the difference it's made in the truck as well as the complete change in comfort it has made while driving.

Now even though I have said this, that doesn't mean there couldn't be something mechanical wrong with your truck. I felt the same way as you mentioned after I drove an 01 around for a few days compared to this truck and now that I changed the angle of the pedal to accept a more comfortable driving position, my outlook of my 06 is completely different and I wouldn't trade it for another truck. Don't under estimate the placement of your foot on the accelerator, it can make a big difference in the perception of your vehicle.

 

Thanks for the explaination. Funny you mention about cramping right leg, i get the same problem when i drive the truck for any amount of distance/time. I thought it was just a poor seat design, but like you i have the tendency to drive with my toes and not my enitre foot. Are there aftermarket pedals that can be put on these trucks to get ride of the pooer design?

 

There aren't any aftermarket pedals that I know of. I looked at chrome pedal accent's to put on there but everything I found seemed to only fit the older flat pedal design. I thought about swapping in a pedal from an older truck but you can't do that either as the throttle on the 06 engine is electronically controlled rather than the former drive by wire.

 

you got any pictures of the pedal assembly that you riged up? Thanks

 

I would hazard a guess you are just seeing the difference between the cable units and a drive by wire setup. The CR's also implement a lot of fuel management at lower rpm's so it seems you have to drive them harder to make them perform.

This is really noticeable when you use a programmer that modifies what is called TQ management. It takes very little movement to get things going then.

 

Here's how I did it. I forget to mention I also put another flat piece of wood on top of the wedge and pedal to create a completely new top surface to the pedal.

Here's what it looks like under the duct tape.


Here's a before and after.

 

Thanks for the pics, looks simple enough to do. Is there a way to remove the torque management on a manual transmission truck? Every programer seems to only modify TM on automatic trannys, thanks

 

AFAIK, the programmers that modify TM are transmission agnostic. They just modify fueling tables in the ECU irregardless of trans type.

 

Well, to change the pace a bit it could also be your APPS or the FCA. I still haven't seen anyone verify that the process of resetting the APPS is the same on 06+ as it was for earlier models. FCA is about 100 bones, and is located on your injection pump. AFAIK, there isn't a way to test one either.

 

I know the programers dont change anything with the way the tranny functions, it just seems the the programers only allow you the change the TM in the ecm on automatic trans only trucks and not manual truck, atleast this is what i get with my bullydog, idk, a smarty may function differently. Thanks.
I wouldnt think the FCA would be bad, truck only has 35K on it, but stranger things have happend. I was to currious about a APPS reset procedure, but couldnt find one for the newer trucks. Thanks