Bully Dog 2.4d vs. Smarty TNT first impressions

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Scooter's Roofing

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I've run Smarty on all of my CR's. I really like it. I like the adjustability, etc. But I've always hated all the off-boost/low RPM smoke.

So today I went against forum folklore and removed the Smarty and loaded the Triple Dog.

I was running TNT9, stock torque, defaults on everything else. Great power, but tons of smoke, pretty constant haze through 1st and 2nd gear. I could easily make my turbo surge due to so much bottom end fuel.

I tried TNT7 and it just felt lazy compared to TNT9... still too much smoke, so I just left it on 9 because it was much nicer driving.

Crazy Larry 2.4d has some smoke, but doesn't haze under light throttle acceleration, it's harder to make the turbo surge, and the truck feels a tick slower at fully boogie

To be fair, it's 102 and a million percent humidity outside today, and I haven't gotten on it since this hot snap BUT, I've been driving the TNT9 tune for almost 2yrs, so I'm pretty familiar with it under all conditions...

The pyro shows as much too... from a dead stop it sits at 1300* untill it hits OD and then it jumps up to ~1400*. I got out of it, but I'm betting when it hit OD lockup, it would have climbed a bit from there.

TNT9 would be 1400-1500 well before OD!

Don't get me wrong, the truck still feels great on the CL setting, but the SOP meter tells me it's off 20-40hp from where it was

BUT, the truck is much more drivable as far as the amount of smoke and having to drive around turbo surge.

Now, when I put it on the performance setting? Wow... it feels like a stock truck! Don't misunderstand me, I don't mean it's a dog, I just mean it runs/drives very smooth. I would have no problems putting my wife or my mom in the driver's seat and letting her drive it across country. Pretty much impossible to get the turbo to surge, still has decent passing power. Only makes 1000* After driving on the 230hp tune, this feels, to me, like a stock truck might. The tow and stock settings are obviously pitiful.

I've got a feeling, I'm going to just leave this thing on the truck. It takes two seconds to go between the tunes, and I don't drag race this thing, so I'll take the drivability over peak WOT performance. And I can sell it with the truck and keep my Smarty :D

I must disclaim that I have a heavy truck with 34" tires and a tight converter. Not saying the Triple Dog is the cat's meow against all others. Quite the contrary... Smarty is still my overall favorite programmer. It works awesome on all year CR's. I ran it against the Triple Dog on my 03, and it was the CLEAR winner! LOL With a manual transmission or a different combo of curb weight, converter, and tires? It might be a different story. But I gotta admit, I'm enjoying this for the 20 minutes I've driven it so far.
 
****Just here to add my two cents......


I daily drive with 2.4d and with my stock turbo, stock sticks, it gets hot fairly quickly. One of these days I'll bite the bullett and buy a smarty to find out for myself what it's all about.
 
Hopefully in the next few days Ill be able to add to this.....Thank Forrest!!!!!


Lets see how it likes a good size set of twins! But Ill have to compare it to the TST R49 (which is a better paper weight than a programmer!!!!)
 
with the default settings on the smarty, i dont think you are getting the best of what you have, turn your timing up and turn your torque management down... you should pickup fuel mileage and economy at light throttle... IMO
 
Bosshawg600 said:
Hopefully in the next few days Ill be able to add to this.....Thank Forrest!!!!!


Lets see how it likes a good size set of twins! But Ill have to compare it to the TST R49 (which is a better paper weight than a programmer!!!!)
Click to expand...

nothing better than a smarty/tst stack...!
 
On one of the 07s I had the 2.4D is stronger than the tnt was. These trucks take to different programmers differently. That one will peg a 60 lb boost gauge with BD tunes and will max out about 55 with smarty.
 
glad it might work out for you forrest. I've wanted a smarty for a while, but i've been pretty happy with my BD 2.4d. And ever since i installed the boost fooler the truck runs alot cooler and doesn't smoke to awefully bad. Forrest, have you tried performance with low end power on? That's my favorite DD tune. Crazy Larry with low end power on thottle is a little too touchy for me, so i DD crazy larry without low end power. I haven't even changed the tune in a month or two.
 
Since I have this little Stage 2 pump and a tad bigger then 200hp sticks, I decided yesterday for giggles to change from software #1 to #9. :) same options as #1/3 (timing 3, stock TM, stock RP, highrpm). Software #3 would run a little lite on WOT rail pressure, hence #1. Well, #9 is smokier if you're under the charger, but smoother! less idle smoke then #1 less high-idle smoke then #1 (running the A/C...). less light acceleration smoke. Leaves a nice smoke trail on medium acceleration. Never got around to WOT yet for fear of a black out ;-). Seems to light the charger quicker. Despite the lack of fuel, it's amazing the difference.

Even when it's 85* and 4853290482390% humidity at 9am. I'm going to bump down to #7 tonight. Maybe I'll have a surprise and a new pump waiting for me when I get home.......

I don't think I could ever put a BullyDog on due to the horror stories of trying to get the ECU reverted to stock properly and mixing the smarty in. Don't care if they are fixed or not.
 
ISBeINSIDE said:
with the default settings on the smarty, i dont think you are getting the best of what you have, turn your timing up and turn your torque management down... you should pickup fuel mileage and economy at light throttle... IMO
Click to expand...

read where I used stock torque management

also, default timing on the TNT is the highest timing setting, so there wouldn't really be any way to turn it up any higher. I've run it lower to try to reduce bottom end smoke. Didn't help, so I just left it on the highest setting for peak power and fuel econ.
 
JasonCzerak said:
I don't think I could ever put a BullyDog on due to the horror stories of trying to get the ECU reverted to stock properly and mixing the smarty in. Don't care if they are fixed or not.
Click to expand...

not gonna lie... I was scared in the past... and had a little trepidation when I was loading the Triple Dog to the truck. But I knew I could use either the Smarty or the TD to load a recovery file to the ECM.

I honestly think a lot of the ECM issues we hear about are user error. The Bully Dog is NOT nearly as user friendly as the Smarty.

But I've got a buddy who's gone back and forth between the two on his 06 Mega a number of times, and I've loaded Triple Dogs on a number of trucks and never had any problems.

I just finally reached a breaking point with the Smarty smoke on my combo :eek:
 
BFD99 said:
glad it might work out for you forrest. I've wanted a smarty for a while, but i've been pretty happy with my BD 2.4d. And ever since i installed the boost fooler the truck runs alot cooler and doesn't smoke to awefully bad. Forrest, have you tried performance with low end power on? That's my favorite DD tune. Crazy Larry with low end power on thottle is a little too touchy for me, so i DD crazy larry without low end power. I haven't even changed the tune in a month or two.
Click to expand...

I don't have a stock turbo, so the boost fooler just causes more bottom end fuel... I ditched the fooler a while ago.

I haven't played with the low end power setting. I know on the Smarty, anything higher than stock torque management setting on the bigger tunes was just a retarded amount of off-boost fuel/smoke, so I was gunshy to try it on the bully dog.

I think with the power I'm used to, I'm just going to leave it on Crazy Larry.

You really should try a Smarty... with your 2wd and looser converter (EVERY converter is looser than mine! LOL) the smoke issues probably wouldn't be so bad. There was a noticeable drop in power on my truck between the two. With yours being an 06 also, it might pick up a little w/ the Smarty TNT :)
 
Forrest Nearing said:
not gonna lie... I was scared in the past... and had a little trepidation when I was loading the Triple Dog to the truck. But I knew I could use either the Smarty or the TD to load a recovery file to the ECM.

I honestly think a lot of the ECM issues we hear about are user error. The Bully Dog is NOT nearly as user friendly as the Smarty.

But I've got a buddy who's gone back and forth between the two on his 06 Mega a number of times, and I've loaded Triple Dogs on a number of trucks and never had any problems.

I just finally reached a breaking point with the Smarty smoke on my combo :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm with ya on the off boost smoke. It's just crazy looking at the haze at idle too. It think 1/2 my current problem is lack of fuel on demand. with a small pump the drop in rail on throttle has a large hand in creating un-wanted smoke while on the move. For the short time frame I had a stage 3.5 and 4 pump it was very clean, even at WOT.

How is the rail with each programmer? is there any drop when you move your foot?
 
rail was fine w/ the Smarty, my POS gauge isn't hooked up, so I can't comment on the Bully Dog, but it's got less smoke throughout the powerband
 
eh, I know what the truck makes... and I'm not trying to make a zillion hp or drag race the thing, so I'm fine without one for a minute
 
Forrest Nearing said:
I don't have a stock turbo, so the boost fooler just causes more bottom end fuel... I ditched the fooler a while ago.

I haven't played with the low end power setting. I know on the Smarty, anything higher than stock torque management setting on the bigger tunes was just a retarded amount of off-boost fuel/smoke, so I was gunshy to try it on the bully dog.

I think with the power I'm used to, I'm just going to leave it on Crazy Larry.

You really should try a Smarty... with your 2wd and looser converter (EVERY converter is looser than mine! LOL) the smoke issues probably wouldn't be so bad. There was a noticeable drop in power on my truck between the two. With yours being an 06 also, it might pick up a little w/ the Smarty TNT :)
Click to expand...
i've run the smarty revo level 9 before with tq and timing bumped up a bit about a year and half ago. Thats when i ran my fastest time at the track, a 13.85, best with my bd is like a 14.1, but i did pick up 1-2 mph in the 1/4th surprisingly. You really should try the low end power on with performance tune, feels just as strong as crazy larry w/o low end power, but cleaner. I want a smarty i just havent gotten one yet. Crazy enough my truck w/o the boost fooler would easily hit 1600-1700 degrees on the pyro. No other changes than a boost fooler it now hits 1400-1500 where it used to get alot hotter. I don't have a mech boost gauge, b/c i'm running the TS mpd w/ hud but the turbo definately sounds like its making more boost, and but also seems like it takes longer to spool. I keep thinking i'm gonna eventually do a silver 64, 90s and a small cp3. I think it would be a mid 12 second truck with slicks and a fun DD. BTW my truck weighs 6280 lbs. i've also gone back and forth with a buddies smarty and my BD in both trucks trading out and haven't had any issues yet. I always take my time and very careful when downloading though.
 
yeah, the boost fooler causes more bottom end fuel, which hurts spool-up... but with your stock turbo, it will also cause the ECM to raise the boost (which lowers EGT)

with my aftermarket turbo, it's a non-issue

Buddy said that 2.4d is a 180hp tune, which makes sense why it feels like I lost 20-40hp from my 230hp TNTtune :eek:

my only concern at this point is that I used the bully dog to raise the speed limiter, but I'm thinking I'll reprogram it set to the stock 105 limiter, THEN load it back to stock when/if I remove it

you should try the TNT tune before you drop money on injectors and a pump... might drop you into the low 13's with no other changes :D
 
have you thought about the pedophile larry tune? Supposed to be a little more oomph. Never tried it though. Yeah i'll get around the trying Smarty TNT one of these days though i really need some more traction. I've been happy lately just having a good strong running truck and enjoy telling all the kids who ask what all i got done to it that its stock. One girl who was riding with her BF in a hyundai genesis asked if it was stock and i said yes, then she asked if it was a "HEMI" and i said heck yeah, and this was at a stoplight... LOL
 
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