I've been reading around a lot and have come up with a few questions about mileage that I'm sure some (maybe most) of you can answer. I'm looking for a little more power and mostly better mileage out of my truck and I do know that regular maintenance and a gentle right foot help most of all. Beyond the nut behind the wheel, what else can I do for mileage?

taller/narrow tires 265/70/19.5"? I'm guessing they'd help a little but the extra weight might hurt around town.

programmer: smarty Jr. seems to be a big one and is on my list already.

cat delete? helps performance but will it help mileage?

cold air pipe to the intake? seems to help power while towing but will it help mileage on a day to day basis?

manual front hubs: seems better in all respects and is also on my list when funds are available.

front air dam? I'm looking to build something to block air on the front end but this is a long time in the future.

injectors? I had a set of 40hp injectors on my '98 and they helped a bit in mileage, will it do the same on this truck?

older ecu? Is it even possible to run a '03 ecu to get rid of the third injection pulse? Is there a tuner that will tune out the third one?

I do plan on getting better fuel filtration in the near future, I know it probably won't help with mileage but it sounds like a good idea. Did I miss anything? Should I not bother with any of the above because it's just pointless?

 

The best thing is to run diesel, not gas. Forget the "gas mileage".

 

There ya go, I fixed it. I actually get really good gas mileage, I've had the same five gallons sitting in the bed of the truck since the day after I bought it. 700 miles and it hasn't used any at all.

 

You are right about the driving style is a free way to get the mileage up. keep it under 65 on the highway and you will be in good shape. any programmer on a low setting that adds timing will help too assuming you can keep yourself from using the added power. manual hubs are good too but you have to spend alot to get them, you can buy many tanks of fuel with that alone. save that until you need wheel bearings in the front. cold air intake does nothing but make the turbo louder. I pull the filter minder down just as much with the afe as i do with the stock airbox and filter. I believe someone tried to get rid of the 3rd injection event a few years ago and ended up blowing the motor. I think we are stuck with it. hope this helps

 

The truck has 92,000 miles on it now so I'm guessing I'll need hubs in the next few months if I keep it as a daily driver, maybe the next six months if I get my car up and running again. Good to know about the cold air intake and the third injection event.

Did you notice any improvement with the 4" exhaust, either in power or mileage?

I plan on keeping this truck for at least another hundred thousand miles so even small gains will add up over time. Thanks for the info, everything helps.

 

On your 04.5 you already have full 4" exhaust. You can put another muffler in its place that is freer flowing. 40-50hp injectors help from what I have read. I just did my first wheel bearing at 121,000 miles. I put in the Dynatrac free spin kit. It looks good and works well. EMS offroad makes a kit for less $$$ but is sold out til febuary. (good idea to do the swap just to prevent expensive parts from wearing out.) The intake horn I put on my truck helped milage and I put on a Cool hose too. I am missing the front air dam too and should get one but Dodge wants too many $$$. The JR is a must. An aftermarket exhaust manifold dropped my cruising boost by 2psi and should have helped milage but I can't give you hard #'s. Usually things that increase power help milage as long as they are not too extreme.

 

Any chance you have numbers for this? Or did you put them both on at the same time? Recently put a dpp cool hose and tag on my wish list...

What made you go with cooler tubz over the other guys?

 

I went with the cooler tubz because of price first and speaking with Tim. I have the first two third gen intakes he made for sale. Tim is a dodge diesel enthusiast. He makes a simple well built product at a reasonable price. The polished stainless looks good too. The cool hose would probably make more of a difference on the newer ie '04.5 and up trucks as they have a bigger silencer. I have read mixed reviews on the TAG and did my own cost/benefit analysis and decided not to get one.

As for #'s definite HP increase. I did accelleration tests and was quicker after the install and milage maybe went up 1/4 mpg to 1/2mpg. I don't drive my truck all that much. So not a lot to go on. The smarty Jr made the biggest improvement in milage and smiles/mile.