Personally i wouldent waste a lot of money on bolt on junk like exhaust bla,bla,bla. Ive had 2 93`s the better of the 2 was bone stock,3.55`s auto 2wd. when the pump went which it seems first gens do sooner than later I had a good injection shop rebuild it, this did wonders powerwise and got me 21 mpg empty an 15 hauling a 1700 lb camper and towing a 5K stock trailer. The 4x4 truck was about 1.5 mpg lower acoss the board.

 

So, leave it stock? Your thoughts go against everyone else!

 

Mine is basicaly stock, I installed teh old smokey air filter mount( its in the tech facts) and thats all so far.
I am averaging about 20-21 empty daily driving, going light on the throttle most of the time. Pulling my 38ft 3-horse gooseneck fully loaded I get between 16-18....I just always plan on taking my time whereever I am going and try to stay out of the throttle.....try to keep it at around 1900 RPM, which on the flat is just under 60mph
I beleive it was Dave who once said the biggest factor effecting fuel mileage on these trucks is the skinny pedal on the right.....

 

i started playing with my 90 several years ago. best the previous owner could get empty was 19 mpg. now i can get better than 21 empty. let him drive it last summer. his eyes got as big as saucers when he mashed the loud peddle. only thing that ever hurt mpg on it was loosening the afc spring. didnt change injecters because they are pretty large on the 90 anyway. if one starts down this road ALWAYS start with gauges. mine will get a little warm wide open.

 

In Apache's case, the fresh VE had as much to do with mileage as anything. When the plunger/barrel assembly gets worn, the injector spray pattern has to suffer. I picked up two mpg just bolting on the new pump. Having said that, I think that in stock form, these engines can get soggy. The exception is when they're producing their rated power constantly, like in a big Case tractor, or even in a Dodge running trailers cross country. By turning them up, there's more fuel on tap for daily driving, which can help get heat built up in the cylinders. Some may argue my point, and while I have no emperical data to support my theory, I know my truck runs better the harder I flog it

Also, take some time, if you haven't already, to go through things like diff fluids, t-case fluid, check wheel bearings...anything that can add rolling resistance. Also, if you can worm a pressure washer in there, it might surprise you how much road grime you can blow back through the grill. Your rad/ac/ic cores get all kinds of stuff blown into them, reducing flow. Since it gets wedged in there, it seems to be more effective to blow back through from the engine compartment, rather that from the front of the truck.

 

Will do. The truck has been gone through very throughly by me in reguards to service and preventive maintance.


It has 140k on the clock which I guess is considered pretty low for the year. Maybe alot of sitting has done the pump some injustice? Thanks for the tips..I'll blow out the rad/intercooler next trip to the car wash.

 

One thing that can have a large effect, and I don't believe was really discussed here, is timing. Advancing your timing will improve your milage, but it will also raise your water temperature.

I would suggest a free flowing exhaust: at least check to make sure that your pipe isn't crushed anywhere, and mufler isn't clogged, an open air-box -- the stock pot or old smokey mount's with BHAF are the best, IMHO -- a 16 cm housing, at least the AFC fueling adjustment to the injector pump, and setting the timing up to around 14-15 mm of lift, or maybe 16+ degrees of advance (you can just advance the timing about 1/8 inch on the pump match marks if you don't have the tools to measure it).

This set of mods is cheap if you do the work yourself -- then you can get a new base-line for the truck, and decide on the transmission. You'll probably want to go there, too, but this other stuff is much less expensive.

Last of all, Mountains really kill milage -- you are correct in that when you can really hear that turbo spool, it means you are burning a lot of fuel.

Once you get the truck tuned, you will love it. By the way -- who gets 12 mpg in a F350 with 460 towing?? I thought that was more like a 9 mpg rig!

 

All of the above comments are excellent. Exept the one's about leaving it stock Once you have the extra power the truck can do more work with less pedal.

I have a F-250 it had a 351W in it a 5SPD and it's a 4x4 with 4.10's. When I would load up my lance camper the best milage I ever got was 10mpg. The average was 8.5mpg. Then when you add my trailer to the mix the best I ever got was 7.6mpg Now withe the cummins with the mods's in the sig. I get 16.5 around town even though I tow heavy 2-3 days out of the week (It doesn't help that my right foot is so heavy I walk with a limp) and it is almost all in town. When I first got the cummin's in I was getting 14.5mpg but as I did more mods and tuning it has increased! Plus you get all that extra Smilage and that my friend is priceless.


Thanks
Brenden

 

1. I went with the DTT stuff (see sig) and get 12mpg towing a heavier and less aerodynamic 5th-wheel trailer. You won't believe the difference when you experience it. As you can see, I got the VB. I haven't touched it in 5 years other than fluid changes, but I'm going in soon for a checkup on it.

2. I've used your hated 5th wheel hitch for several years. I'm not in love with it, but it does ok most of the time. It's terrible for hooking up on a site that slopes so much you've had to put blocks under the trailer to level it.

BW, DBF

 

Very good ideas guys. I'll follow suit this coming week. I've got a friend with a 93 that has tweaked his pump and done a few things and is getting a solid 14.5 towing close to my setup...but with his overhead camper on. So I emailed him and I'm going to take the truck over and start the mods.


Your right, the other guy I know with the 460 only pulls 9-10 mpg. But I am not far off...



So, I'm picking up the BHAF today. I read the stock pot air box and I'll end up doing that (great write up BTW), doing the exhaust and pump tweaks and I'll advance the timing while we are in there. Your right, I'll start with the free/cheap stuff but I'm still more than likely going to do the TC and shift kit.




Thanks again for all the help and I'll report back afterwards to give results.

 

Good to hear you like the DTT stuff. Thanks for the input. Looks like your pulling a 27-28 footer? If you ever wanted a free 5'er hitch, come get mine.

 

Yup, 28'.

No, thanks. One is a great plenty.

DBF

 

Man, I think that all of you guys should be happy with your mileage. My pickup only gets about 15.5 mpg EMPTY, and it doesn't really matter how I drive it. I pulled a load of cattle that weighed about 14-15,000 lbs, and I only got around 10 mpg or less. It would help if I didn't have this worthless automatic, but I still think that i should get a little better mileage, particularly when empty.

 

see my towing set up pics in my gallery. i get 14 towing flat ground or through the sierras. mine will hold 50mph most of the time in OD.

now of course i upgraded(still have the old girl) but as everyone mentioned before im sure, start with the intake/exhaust/and a 16cm housing. that is cheap and will get you going for fuel economy. then get gauges before you start on teh fueling mods...

sometimes the slipping auto will soak up your mpg in the hills....

 

FWIW, I've been getting 16-17 MPG unloaded, mostly around town driving. With the Jeep on the trailer, running 65 MPH on mostly flat terrain with some mild to moderate climbs I get 12-13 MPG. Like was mentioned, the aerodynamics of towing a high profile vehicle on an open trailer is pretty poor - the flat windshield of my Jeep sticking way above the top of the truck is a real mileage killer.

I took a trip about a year back with my pop-up style cabover on the truck, and towing the Jeep on the trailer (~14k pounds total). Even with some pretty long, steep climbs, I averaged 12.6 on the trip, but I kept the speed down a little more. I also had to keep my foot out of the throttle due to EGTs - made for some pretty slow driving on the steeper sections. The 4" exhaust has really helped in that area, and I can actually use the power I have now.