06Cummins

Hey guys, I know this stuff is usually beat to death, I did some searching and didnt find a lot of straight answers. Im looking at getting an 02 to save a bit of money from my current truck to put towards the rest of my flight training. I'm looking for an 2002 QC 2500 4x4 SWB. I know city driving varies a lot, but what are yall averaging on the highway running 70 with auto and 6 speeds with the 3.55 rear end? I was thinking that a 6 speed might get a bit better but i found a pretty nice auto and i am trying to figure out if a 6 speed gets much better mileage then it would. Im going to be doing a lot of highway driving with it unloaded. Just trying to see which would be the best route. I plan on adding a box/intake/gauges/exhaust of course, so if yall have that stuff your input would be awsome too. Id kinda like a 6 speed but this auto with 47K miles might be hard to pass up. Thanks a lot, Jason

sheriffav8r

Dude, keep your truck and become an electrician or plumber. It pays better than flying..... I get 17mpg with my 01.5 4 speed auto 4x4. Can't afford an '06....

737FO

06Cummins

yea i know, its sad isnt it? I know im going to be making pennies compared to what i could with my degree but its all ive ever wanted to do. i guess happiness is better than the $. First few years arent going to be fun tho...who do you fly for?

bcfast

With the tires at 80lbs, I get about 21mpg at 70, no a/c. Truck is stock, other than a mystery switch. I live in mountains and a stick is generally preferred here.

Thundercraft

Then stick with your dreams because you sure gotta like what you are doing otherwise the money doesn't really mean much.
Flying (especially long distance) ages you faster than regular folk. One of Dad's best friends flew for around 30 years (started with bush flying and retired right seat on 747). He was about 10 years younger than Dad, but when Dad retired in his early 60's his friend looked about 10 years older than Dad.
However, he lived his dream. He gained a bit of notoriety in his early days when he did a roll in a 185 on floats - did it in sight of the company base. Got his knuckles rapped a little for that one
That didn't stop him from trying to do it in a Beaver - couldn't quite do it as the floats were too heavy... acted like a pendulum.

Anyway, to try to keep things on topic..... are you still making payments on your current truck or are you hoping to pocket some money in the transaction? Try and calculate what your next 3 years of costs are going to be either way including the mods you want to do the 02.

RickCJ

The auto is geared higher in OD and will get better mpg running 70mph.

06Cummins

hmm interesting..didnt know the auto was geared higher..thats good to know. i guess that one with 47k miles is looking really good. i would do gauges, intake, exhaust, programer, and possibly rv275s...tranny upgrades later as needed..but this stuff wouldnt be all right away. i owe nothing on the truck so ill pocket the rest and it will go to flying. yea my dad just retired from american airlines in the left seat of the md-80...20 yrs flying with them and 20 flying in the military. The truck i am going to go look at is a 2002 2500 SWB Auto 4x4 SLT with 47k mi. They are asking $18,250..what do yall think? try and get it for around 17,500 or so? sound good?

HOHN

Well, at a sustained speed of 70mph, this is true-- but barely.

The 6 speed is a .73 overdrive and the auto is .69. Those are not that far apart in RPM. At 70mph, the difference is a whopping 100 rpm (1900 instead of 2000).

The problem is that you just can't start at 70mph. Accelerating up to hwy speeds, the auto will slip enough to where it will offset the modestly taller OD ratio.

So under lab conditions that auto may get .003 mpg more on a hwy run, but in the real world with comparable acceleration, the 6 speed will equal it or even surpass.

My truck is late enough to where it doesn't have the axle disconnect up front. That means my front axles, differential, and driveshaft are all turning, all the time. I STILL can count on 20mpg on the hwy from my truck. The only time it has failed to deliver at least upper 19s on the hwy are when I was going WAY faster than 70mph (78mph) and/or experience drastic Wyoming headwinds.


For real world fuel economy, the NV5600 is about as good as it gets for a CTD truck--especially for towing mpg.

Now an auto trans truck can be made to get very good mileage. But you're talking about a lot of $$ in aftermarket transmission work. That $$ buys a lot of fuel (less these days, but still).

That's my argument, but I'm willing to concede I may have it wrong if there's evidence I don't know of.

JMO

HOHN

I'd offer them $17K even-- the market for used diesel trucks isn't so hot with fuel prices being high.

bnold

Before the mods on my truck I averaged low 20s consistantly on the highway. No less than 18 unless towing heavy...

Different story now though!

Matt127

with my foot out of it the best ive got is 18.9mpg, and the lowest at 16.2mpg

06Cummins

HOHN, the way you are thinking was my orig idea for why i was wanting the 6 Speed. After having an auto you can just control a 6 speed so much better during accel. Thanks for your input guys, if you have any more please feel free to add it..

klx650a2

Summer fuel I can get 22, winter is about 18 empty... at -27 c...

Wild4kst8

best 21

worst 14 (very cold temps & i was using remote start)

EBunger

Best tank with my 02 auto with 295s and a Superchip was 19.Best with 01 6spd was 20.5 bone stock. Ihavent made a trip for any great distance with it in its current config but I bet it aint pretty.