Pedal commander pros/cons/problems

[Bearded Lineman]

Looking at getting a pedal commander for my 2023 Ram 1500 with the hemi etorque motor. Im wanting to know the pros, the cons, and any known issues.

I have an S&B cold air intake, throttle body spacer, and a flowmaster resonator delete exhaust kit.

DISCLAIMER: I know i can probably find all these things online but I'm working 7-12s so I dont have tons of time to comb through the interwebs and sort through the good information and the ********.

 

[skyhawk42]

Pedal commander is not the best choice. I and many others have had failures that put the truck in limp mode and put a check engine and service electronic throttle control message on the dash. Check out the Banks pedal monster. It’s a far better product that has safety features that prevent these issues. It also doesnt pull power from the pedal which is a huge advantage. I have one and wished I knew about it before dealing with pedal commander.

 

[Bearded Lineman]

I will check that out. Thank you.

 

[Bearded Lineman]

What do you mean by "doesnt pull power from the pedal"?

 

[skyhawk42]

Pedal commander uses a t harness at the pedal only for signal and power. Banks uses the t harness at the pedal only for signal. The power is pulled from the OBD connector. The pedal isn’t designed to power any other device so it has been argued that it’s best to have power come from another source.

 

[Bearded Lineman]

Ah, i understand. That makes sense. Thank you for the info. Im still learning about upgrading these electronic trucks. The last truck i built was an 800hp 2006 cummins 5.9L

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

I've been running the PC for years ( since 2016 ) and different vehicles and not 1 issue. Many people who have had issues, are from operator error making changes while driving, which you're not supposed to do.

 

[1791]

the BANKS petal monster is the way to go.

 

[LaxDfns15]

Not saying the Banks isn't a better product, but I've been running the PC like Cheyenne for years. Only time I've had issues or heard of others having issues is when they try to change drive mode while the truck is in Drive. Is it less safe? Probably. Is it mitigated by being smart about when you change drive modes? Definitely. Even with the near-6 year old OEM battery dying on me constantly a few months back I never had voltage problems at the pedal. Picked up my PC for 1/3 the cost of a Banks, so I count it as a win.

 

[1791]

i had a Camaro i put some kind of petal device on and it put my car in limp mode randomly so banks got me on that claim alone and i have not had a issue with the ram/banks. i got my monster here off a member for 200 shipped came with the box decals and all.

 

[Oldphart]

I had one on another vehicle......IMHO, it's the most useless way to spend y our $$. All it does is change the ratio between pedal and throttle.
I'd spend the money on a good aftermarket tune that optimizes whatever you want to.

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

I had one on another vehicle......IMHO, it's the most useless way to spend y our $$. All it does is change the ratio between pedal and throttle.
I'd spend the money on a good aftermarket tune that optimizes whatever you want to.

Not everyone wants to run a custom tune, run premium fuel, spend the money it costs or possibly lose their warranty.

Many want to just remove the lag from throttle by wire, so this does the job and makes the vehicle much better to drive. Other don't care about the lag.

 

[Oldphart]

Not everyone wants to run a custom tune, run premium fuel, spend the money it costs or possibly lose their warranty.

Many want to just remove the lag from throttle by wire, so this does the job and makes the vehicle much better to drive. Other don't care about the lag.

True, but the OP seems ready to take a jump to headers and possibly a cam. He already has a throttle body spacer, exhaust mods and a CAI so he's on his way.

 

[Bearded Lineman]

True, but the OP seems ready to take a jump to headers and possibly a cam. He already has a throttle body spacer, exhaust mods and a CAI so he's on his way.

Im sensing sarcasm, which is not appreciated nor asked for. Im not a 20something kid building a **** box daily driver with dreams of 1000hp. This is my daily and Ive done a few things to give the truck a little more power/fuel economy and make it sound the way I want it to. The guy that originally replied to your comment is correct. I want to lessen the lag of the pedal while not voiding the warranty. If I wanted to build a high hp truck, Id build another streetable 800+ hp vin C commonrail.

 

[Oldphart]

Im sensing sarcasm, which is not appreciated nor asked for. Im not a 20something kid building a **** box daily driver with dreams of 1000hp. This is my daily and Ive done a few things to give the truck a little more power/fuel economy and make it sound the way I want it to. The guy that originally replied to your comment is correct. I want to lessen the lag of the pedal while not voiding the warranty. If I wanted to build a high hp truck, Id build another streetable 800+ hp vin C commonrail.

No sarcasm intended BL. In my experience, modifications are a continually evolving process: I was just trying to caution you to stay away from something that in my experience, is a do-nothing part; it does nothing to add power or fuel economy. You will defiantly lose fuel economy if you use the sport settings.

 

[Bearded Lineman]

Then I apologize. Its hard to tell people's tones on these things. I appreciate the input and understand your position, nothing I've owned has ever stayed stock. In this case though, I just bought the truck in June with 13,000 miles and dont plan on doing much performance wise as I dont want to avoid my warranty and dont want to constantly be working on it (I always upgrade broken parts, which is what lead me to having 30k in upgrades from drive train, bearings, ecm, tuning, suspension, and everything inbetween in my cummins lol). The intake and exhaust on this truck were for a little bit of performance, fuel economy, towing, and help push the 33's a little easier (and I wanted a little bit of a deep rumble without having an exhaust that wakes up the kids and neighbors when I fire it up at 5am. The throttle body spacer was a cheap gift from drunk me to sober me while cruising the internet lol. I know the throttle boosters dont add any performance per say in the way of horsepower, but I am not a fan of the "fly by wire" accelerator and it feels like it takes an hour for the truck to respond when I put the pedal down, so I was looking for something to help shorten that gap and make it feel more like a cable driven accelerator.

 

[1791]

after running level 4 sport with 0 tip in i turned it off and the lag was ridiculous but if left off i would get accustomed to it and just give it more throttle like alot more. i would also add if you run it higher than 4-5 sport i feel like it makes it downshift more than i want.

 

[skyhawk42]

So my pedal commander worked great until it didn’t. When it failed I wasn’t touching it in any way or trying to make changes while driving as suggested, I was driving through a construction zone during rush hour with no shoulders and it suddenly threw the truck in limp mode. Very scary situation, almost getting rear ended because I had no throttle and no where to pull over. That experience in itself was enough to pull that thing out and never risk putting it back in. The company basically said oh well it’s out of warranty, so I won’t risk it again.