richf

i just got back from a long road trip and got the best fuel milage i have ever seen.i drove my truck from san diego to lake tahao to pick up a freind then drove to south east alaska and back.6+ fuel ups i never saw less than 19.5 mpg and saw as much as 21mpg with 500 or so lbs in the back.the best i have ever seen before this trip is the high 17's.it was not easy driving either.lots of elevation changes and 100 mile stretches of mountain road switchbacks.all calculations were done by hand and i noticed the overhead read 1-2 mpg's better than what i came up with.i dont think i have ever gotten better than 17 in the past.my avg speed was prob 63mph or so.this was by far my longest trip.i usually drive a few times a year over 500 miles thats about it.anyone out there experince this?now that i am back to city driving i can expect 14-16 mpg.

cappykd

I have put 1000 miles on my 01 3500 Dually 4x4 and am averaging 18.5 and that's driving the 5, 405 and Ortega HWY everyday. I want better and am convinced she will do it.

VADSLRAM

My around town regular mpg is 18.4 hand calced, 18.1 on overhead.
I don't do enough long trips to get an average but the last time I did more then 300 miles in a row using cruise control set to 58 (drove me nuts getting passed) I got a hand calced 26 mpg. I keep hoping to see the high again.

mattn124

My around town mileage is usually about 17. I drove from St. Louis to Grand Rapids Michigan(500+ miles) Lowest Tank average was 19.2 MPG, and thats was running 75+ MPH with the air conditioning on. I was running unloaded though

I know a larger tire has more rolling resistance and causes worse mileage for stop/go driving,, but I am convinced that going up to the 285's helped me on my highway mileage. For example,, I can be driving at what my speedometer says it 65 mph when I am actually doing a tad over 70 mph at engine rpms just under 2K.

The 3.55 gears help in this too over the 4.11's

Here's a handy website to help with different tires size calculations:

http://www.dakota-truck.net/TIRECALC/tirecalc.html

Also,, dont forget to include this extra factor into your math when figuring fuel mileage, if your speedometer is off then so is your odometer.

leftyrizzo

my 99 ram 2500 with the cummins has been acting a little strange,, according to the overhead mileage calculator, my mileage has been going up for the past month,, was about 15 mpg,, now its reading 16.3,, i live in louisiana,, hotter than a month ago and more humidity,, cant figure the increase in mpg,, anyone else noticed this

isu elvi

Just broke my record last night. Added the quadzilla adreneline, and on setting 3, at about 58 mph, I got 25.6 mpg. Overhead was at 26.1 when i filled up. Drove a total of about 260 miles. Previous best with no chip was 24.

Lefty,

In my experience, the overhead is never accurate and is never inaccurate by the same amount. The only thing that i use it for is an idea, good or bad, of where my mileage is.

JHew84

My overhead is typically within less than 1mpg of my hand calculated values, I've found it to be very accurate.

Lately I've been dialing my highway speeds back to 65mph, but haven't taken any long enough trips to get an accurate highway only reading. My combined (mostly city) has been at 18.3 for the last couple months, but while on the highway the on the fly economy typically hovers anywhere from 23-30. I may be taking my truck up north for a camping trip this weekend so it would be a good time to get some better highway numbers.

WVU Dodge

ISU ELVI,

I see you have the CAD delete kit and hub conversion. How much of an increase in mileage did you get when you installed that and how difficult was it?

The best i've ever got is around 18 mpg with 4.10 gears. I live in West Virginia though, which is different terrain than Iowa I imagine. And i dont know what your gearing is.

I just made my first decent trip since i got my smarty the other day. I had both the smarty and the edge juice on the #1 mileage settings. I'm curious what the two of them together did but have not filled the truck back up yet. I know i've heard the two together are too much timing but i didn't have any bad effects at cruise speed.

If anyone knows any more information about why the smarty and edge are not to be used together to add timing i'd like to know. I dont see the harm if you are not running hard or towing. And i'm curious just how much timing they add all together.

Adam

high bid

1k mile trip logged over Memorial Day weekend w/about 500-1k lbs in the bed. 65mph, cruise set and hand cal 21.5mpg. In town driving, 18.5mpg. Pretty consistent as long as I keep my foot out of it.

zzcop

Just took a trip to Virginian from Florida. New truck Diesel 500 miles on the odometer. Towing aluminum car trailer and 47 chevy cabover. 13 miles/gallon to Virginia, returning empty an amazing 18.6 miles/gal. Kept speed at 65 mph about 1800 rpm. Very happy.

Doug Crall

With the mileage computer display you quickly see that speed has it's price. My 2001 4x4 with 3.55's shows 20 @62.5, 18@65 and 16.5 @70

Is there anything out there to make for better mileage? I don't want to go higher than 3.55's I do some heavy towing