So the winter is coming to Spokane soon and I am trying to get ready........

1. Oil change- Rotella synthetic.

2. New block heater and cord. Timer on for 3 hours in morning.

3. White Knights reverse lights (every year I have backed up in the complete dark out a 150' driveway through the trees......blind! (Not this year)

4. New 315/75 R16s SIPED.

5. Coolant flush.

Here is my dilemma.....I have an open diff. (always breaks traction and throws the rear end to the left.... guess it's the rear pass. tire that breaks traction if there is too much ice/acceleration/torque). I have the Smarty stacked with the EZ now on level SW# 4 : “Soft” CaTCHER no added timing. I usually put about 300 lbs of weight directly on the rear axle in the bed. I live in the hills off Newman Lake and am concerned now about torque when climbing up to the house.

Should I unplug the EZ and use a lower Smarty setting with timing or leave it on #4 and lower the torque setting via torque management? What do most of you do in the winter with gobs of torque from the programmers? A posi is about 1k+.....I should save that $$ for x-mas for the kids.

Do most of you guy's "de-tune" in the winter?

Tom

 

Well to be honest, I don't think you'll have to adjust the Torque Management. If you are accelerating that hard during winter, and somehow still getting traction then sure. But generally when I drive in the winter my acceleration is putting around, LOL. Last winter I had about 450lbs in the rear, this winter I'm going to add more. Currently I have my Smarty on 5, or 7...I can't remember. I will probably leave it the same, unless the engine doesn't like all the timing. I also do not run with my TST Comp on during the winter...I don't need the truck getting to 5-10 pounds boost and trying to take off.

I too have an open diff, so I know how it feels! But really I would leave the Smarty where it is and see how it goes. As long as you are accelerating at a good normal winter rate, I would think you should be fine. JMO

 

I don't touch mine, it's been set on 3 since it was put in. You learn to drive with the extra power. It's never been a problem so far.

Jeff

 

Have you already bought those tires? Skinnies work better in on the ice than the wide tires do, so unless you are breaking trails in powder all the time, the wide tires won't be an advantage. Even with weight in the back (in the neighbourhood of 1k lbs.) my 12v would still float on the snow.

As for detuning, I've never touched mine, be it back when I had Smarty, or after I'd gone mechanical. Last three years its been about 450hp as a daily. This winter, I'm hoping for about another 150hp.

 

tanderson2002us

I have a set of those white knights and do think they are cats A$$. I can see backing up and love them. They have been used to let people know they should dim there lights behind me .

 

I was thinking about getting one of these. You can find them on Fleabay or Amazon.
http://www.shurtrax.com/

 

I use 45lb iron olympic plates secured with 2x4s on each side, if the roads get real slick (we live on a dead end road that does not get plowed sometimes) I will put 8 of em' back there!

 

I take the smarty out of the truck for the winter and just leave the edge on level one. Don't know why, but last winter I tried leaving the smarty in the truck, when i had the truck in 4x4, and the TC locked up the whole truck shook and bucked really bad. Took the smarty out and it stopped. I'm sure my tranny needs to be refreshed but I really don't need the extra power in the winter. jmo

Andy

 

I leave mine as is year round, still need that passing power on the highways, and just dont hammer on it if it's slick. I know a guy who made a shallow box out of plywood and 2x4's and filled it with crete. Set it in the bed with a forklift during the winter, real heavy, and flat enough you didnt lose much bed area. I always took old semi trailer brake drums and put em in mine, they weigh a ton, but do take up quite a bit of room.

 

To snoproAndy; I have a feeling the Smarty was on it's highest timing setting when you tried it in the colder months (I could be wrong). However I know these engines don't like a lot of timing in the cold months....leads to like a almost constant bucking/slight surging from what I've found...

 

Nope, I had the SW # 2 in the truck (before the revo SW was released). So just fuel, no timing. When i first bought the truck I ran it with SW#1 all winter which is suppose to have a lot of timing and the truck ran fine. Not sure what caused the bucking and surging. For the 2 minutes it takes to put the truck back to stock I don't mind, and i always can turn my edge up for passing power if needed.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Andy