Banks Pedal Monster, 2.7 4x4

I know there are other threads about pedal controllers but I thought I would give a quick review of how the Banks Pedal Monster worked out on my 2.7 4x4.

I received the Pedal Monster and the iDASH with gauge pod August 3, 2023 (today) and installed it. Reaching up under the dash for this old guy is not as easy as it used to be as I don't twist the way I used to when I was younger. One thing Banks says is to open the door and let the vehicle sit for 10 minutes to make sure it goes into sleep mode before you unplug the accelerator cable, that way it will not throw a code due to lost connection to the drive by wire system for the accelerator pedal.

Connecting the Pedal Monster was easy enough, you unplug the drive by wire cable at the accelerator pedal and you plug in the Pedal Monster then plug the drive by wire cable you unplugged into the second lead on the Pedal Monster completing the circuit. Now you plug in the OBDII connector into the OBDII port.

If you have the iDASH gauge you will have another harness that will plug into the Pedal Monster that runs to the iDASH gauge and the OBDII harness and OBDII connector will plug into the iDASH gauge instead of the Pedal Monster.

Set up is pretty easy first you will have to sync your phone and Banks app with the Pedal Monster by pushing a small counter sunk button on the back of the Pedal Monster, that will allow your phones Bluetooth to connect with the Pedal Monster. You calibrate the unit following the instructions that pop up. You will also down load the Banks app for the pedal Monster, you can use that app to set it up instead of reading the iDASH gauge. The app makes set up a little faster and easier.

You have four modes, Stock, City, Sport and Track. The city, sport and track modes each have ten levels of adjustment from 1 to 10 the higher the number the faster the throttle body responds when you press the accelerator pedal. I only used the city mode.

You can also in the app on your phone adjust throttle trim and it has several choices, I have mine set to off. The throttle trim will soften the throttle input if needed.

You can also set up different displays on the iDASH gauge and change the colors of the read outs as well as the buttons on the gauge. You will need to go to the Banks web site to learn a little about the iDASH.

I set the Pedal Monster to city and level 6 and went for a ride, boy does this Pedal Monster wake up the little 2.7 engine, in stock mode the engine has a pretty good lazy lag to it and you have to press the accelerator pedal down a good ways to slowly get up to speed.

With the Pedal Monster the acceleration is right now and the 2.7 accelerates quickly with traffic. It really transforms the drivability in a very positive way. This is how it should come from the factory.

Another nice feature of the Pedal Monster is when you put the automatic transmission into reverse the OBDII hook up knows what gear you are in and in reverse it reverts back to the stock programing so you don't have an overly touchy throttle when backing up.

There are more fail safes built into the Pedal Monster like if the Pedal Monster detects a problem it will automatically revert back to the stock program so you will not get the dreaded dead pedal with no throttle control.

Adjusting the Pedal Monster using your phone or an iDASH is quick and simple and only takes a second, to make adjustments all you have to do is let off the accelerator pedal and adjust the number up or down and step back on the accelerator pedal and you now are using your new setting.

No the Pedal Monster will not give you more horse power or torque that is not what is is designed to do. What the Pedal Monster will do is give you a competent system that will improve the drivability of your vehicle with built in safety features that are seamless.

My drive in traffic today was so much improved, before the Pedal Monster the little 2.7 would accelerate slowly and you would fall behind other traffic until you got up to speed. With the Pedal Monster when you take off you stay right with the traffic because the throttle response is so much faster than stock.

Overall with the performance and built in safety features of the Banks Pedal Monster I think it is the best and safest product on the market for pedal controllers.

I give the Pedal Monster a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

 

seems like all these pedal throttle controllers work well but theres something that urks me putt an aftermarket part between the pedel and oem computer. I'm one for a tune because its baked into the ecu.

 

This is a brand new truck, that means for me there will be no tunes. Concerning Banks products, he follows this method with all his tunes and he is a major company who stands behind his products. Banks has a solid reputation and has been in business since 1958 that is 65 years so he has more than proven himself and his company.