Does the factory cruise control work correctly on any or all of the various software #'s?

thanks,
Jack

 

It does on my truck, though it does respond more aggressively than stock. For example, when you hit the "resume/accel" function, the truck wants to "accel" quite eagerly!

Justin

 

Thanks Justin. For some unknown reason, I was under the impression that it didn't. Brain doesn't work as well as it used to.

Is there any down side that you have found in daily driving? I plan on adding 275's a little down the road as well as changing boxes. Not sure which way to go. No plans to go high powered, mostly a little more oomph for towing and playing. A fuel only box MAY be added next year, but if a new non pump tapping box makes me happy, then I won't stack. QUAD has a new one and it interests me (XZT+), but I have always been intrigued by SMARTY. It will cost twice as much for it, so naturally I want to know as much as possible before buying. Does the smarty hook up in cab or under the hood?

 

It is a programmer and connects to the OBD in your cab (under the ashtray). It has to be programmed while stopped and truck off.

I had one, sold it and went back to a Drag Comp. Most folks are very happy with them. I didn't like the touchy throttle and lack of on the fly adjustibility.

It will definately wake up the low end throttle, is great for emission testing and of course, Marco is now adding things to it! You can download the new programs from the Smarty site.

Good luck.

 

My Smarty cruise works fine on 1 and 3 buton 5 it surges when unloaded. When I pull the car tailer (7000) it works ok but you can feel it. Didn't try it yet on 7 and 9.

 

The only downside I've found to the Smarty is that the bottom end is so huge that it "lights the fuse" perhaps a little too early, and that by the time it's really starting to cook, it runs out of steam (actually, you are running out of rpm). On the higher settings, it can make it feel like the accelerator pedal has had all it's travel compressed into about an inch of range. So you gently lean onthe pedal, get tons of fuel, only to find that the last half of the pedal's travel doesn't make a difference at all.

I've become convinced that you should only run the most aggressive softwares if you have stock or mild upgrade injectors-- or if you prefer to have that aggressive, almost out-of-control, response that really puts you in charge. For bigger injectors like mine (150hp) I find that SW #5 is plenty aggressive-- going higher gives you more smoke on the bottom, but not really any more power.

I haven't tried many of the newer products on the market, but I think Smarty is the most aggressive performance enhancer you can get that doesn't tap into the injection pump wire. It has its quirks, and some have mentioned them. It will can make your truck sometimes feel like a skittish horse that wants to just bolt when you least expect it to.

That said, a good portion of the Smarty is just getting used to how it changes the feel of your truck. Once you adjust a little to it, then the quirks fade away. You learn to drive the truck with less loud pedal than normal.

With a little practice, I was able to drive my truck with the Smarty on the most agggressive setting and largish (150hp) injectors with little to no takeoff smoke in a hot day in higher elevation (6000 ft).

My truck is currently in the custody of my Dad, who's commuting with it. He had never driven a CTD until he drove mine. I programmed SW #5, which is right in the midrange of aggressiveness, and he had no problems driving the truck smokelessly, even though he had ZERO experience with it. He also gets the same mileage I did.

Finally, he had no problems managing the truck on slick roads in a ND winter. Truck started fine at -24F.

When/if I add a fueling box of some kind that taps the wire, I'll probably dro pthe Smarty SW to #3 to compensate a bit.


Finally, this is all with some of the oldest software made for the Smarty. I'm hoping to get my Dad to update the software and report back, but that will be awhile.

Results with the new software appear to be quite different than the old-- and the old software no slouch.

I like my Smarty a lot-- but I would also give serious consideration to the Quadzilla XZT+, which doesn't have all the functions of the Smarty, but costs a good bit less.

JMO

Justin

 

Jack,

Where do you live at?? I'd recommend finding someone local, or someone within a reasonable driving distance, and asking if you can demo their Smarty on your truck... that's the beauty of a downloader.

If you're looking for something that going to fuel like a wire-tap box or has in-cab adjustability, Smarty is not for you.

That being said, mine has been loaded since February of 2006 and the only time it has gone back to stock was a trip to the dealership to get the rear seal on my transfer case replaced.... goes great with DD3's, then it really rips when I turn on the TST Comp.

 

Do you have to put the Smarty to stock before uploading the new software? On the MADS download page, which one out of the 4 is the new to load???

 

If you/I purchase a new smarty will it come with the new updates? Also with the edge on stock (0) can you run any smarty setting? And with the edge and smarty on would you even notice any gains with the smarty?

 

My truck will not start with the smarty on a timing setting and the edge still still plugged into the CAN-BUS plug. I have to unhook it to get it to take a timing program. I personally do not like the timing of the smarty. I like the even numbers and the edge's timing. Preferably #4 as I can get more RPM out of it and seems to have more power there as well. Like I said, this is for MY truck. I run a multitude of boxes though so I switch pretty frequently. I will say, though, that the newer program does seem to have a little more umph even if it's at a higher RPM. I believe it fuels harder longer and doesn't just rev to a higher RPM but actually pulls higher.

Just my .02

 

how much smoke is there going to be produced ????

 

Near Atlanta, actually. Thanks for the idea, and thank you to all who responded with their experiences.


Thanks for the thorough explanation, Justin. I now have a clearer picture. I suspected that the pedal response was exactly what you described. It didn't seem to me that it could be any other way. Fueling agressively and advancing timing quickly would make sense. There is only so much that can be done within the confines of the truck's computers. Anything beyond that would have to be a pump tap. The XZT+ is very appealing to me because it does offer some customizing in it's programming choices, just not as many as Smarty. Either way, with a new Box and some 275's, my truck should be fun and economical, with responsible foot control.

 

When I slow down in traffic and rpms drop down to 1400 or less, I really have to be careful not to leave a huge cloud when I get back into it. A downshift of course solves the issue

I downloaded the new software from mads page and I like it so far. Feels stronger in the midrange.

dodgediesel- all four are updated.