Ghearic

I bought my truck last year and am interested in more mods in order to increase my mpg's overall. I intend to own my truck for many many years and would like to get the best bang for my buck in the long run.

I'm currently getting 16-17 mpg's in the city and 19 on the highway. I don't try to drive it over 65 for better mileage, but I would love to see a lot more mpg's if possible and am heavily considering some modifications to achieve this.

2005 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 Quad Cab Short box
Cummins Turbo Diesel 5.9L
6-Speed Manual Transmission

Current Mods:
Edge Mileage Max Chip (haven't seen much difference)
Cold Air Intake
Also I cut out the muffler and put a straight pipe through it.


So the info I have heard that will greatly increase mileage are as follows and which might I consider:

DiabloSport Predator Chip?
Double Rear End
New Lift Pump system


Any help/advice is appreciated.

-G

justin mcfall

If you have the cash," SMARTY"..It will boost your mileage a little bit..It is a downloader.

BroncoAZ

I get 17-18 city and 18-19 highway (75 mph) in my 2006 with the auto, I thought the manual trans trucks did much better. We need some more info: 4x2 or 4x4? What gearing is in the axle(s)? Are your tires stock or larger?

navman28

Just wondering, what is your mpg goal? I think with some major mods like a dynatrac hub conversion, which costs around 2.7k with install and may gain you 2 mpgs and take 10 years to break even with the savings, you can see 19 mpg city. You can take off your front driveshaft to gain .5 mpg and would negate the reason to have a 4wd when you could have just bought a 2wd for cheaper. Or buy a prius. 2wd with no lift and bigger tires average around 19-20. Some people claim to get 25-30 and thats BS. I average 16.5 no matter if thats city or highway. Remember you are trying to move something that weighs around 6000 pounds.

msiminoff

There is one adjustment that is proven to be THE most effective, 100% reliable, mileage maximizer. If you do this one thing you will get a bigger MPG gain than any other mod... and probably even more than all other modifications combined;

ADJUST THE GAIN SETTING OF YOUR RIGHT FOOT !!

Accelerate slowly. Do not use the cruise control, instead use your foot to maintain a constant throttle position (not speed). Take advantage of coasting (downhill & when coming to a stop) whenever possible.

800rmk

I gained a couple mpg's by setting my edge juice on level 5 and using restraint, ha ha. been pulling moderately heavy loads on level 5 also. The nice thing about the juice on #5 is the timing is advanced, conserving fuel versus a pressure box.

carl48

you have to get rid of the in cylinder egr that is used on your truck. do the following three things and your oil will stay cleaner, egt will drop 350* and mpg will increase 40%. change the cam to a pdr, and change the nozzles to 50hp at the same time to save on labor. next is the smarty jr. the cam restores exhaust valve timing. the 50hp nozzles does three important things with duration and effective timing. and the smarty to restore timing. leave the smarty on economy or tow. the efficiency gain adds so much torque on the low end that your clutch can not take the third setting

DaveB.inVa

Another one, don't tailgate! Ever notice that people who follow too close brake all the time. They also have to apply throttle again to get back to speed. Not doing that will save your brakes, give you a bit of mileage and lessen your chances of rearending someone and being rearended yourself. Staying back a little ways will sortof smooth out your acceleration and braking.

If you see a light change, immediately let off the fuel and roll up to the light or stop sign. If you time it right you won't have to actually stop for the light and can get a rolling start.

I drive that way and my average hand calculated mpg for mixed driving in town is just over 19 mpg. My overhead is out of whack, right now its reading at about 21 mpg.

If you can deal with the harsher ride you can air up the tires a bit to reduce rolling resistance.

Oh and I'm sure the Smarty helps too!

Undertaker

I just got rid of my 2005 4x4 quad cab with one of the first g56 transmissions. I got an average 20.3 MPG was able to squeeze out between 23-24 at 55 mph. The mods I had done was Bullydog Triple Dog that I ran at 90 HP at all times, KN air intake system, Silverline Turbo Back dual exhaust, and a quadzilla boost fooler, and I removed the turbo silencer ring.

JustLuckey

I just drove from PA to GA this week. Although my OBC read 26.0 avg MPG for the trip, I hand calc'd my avg at 22.5MPG (751 miles & 33.4 gals). That's PA to SC on 1 tank.
Current setup: K&N filter (but not the whole intake), 5" turbo-back are the after market. 4.10 rear, 265/70-17 tires, Rotella Synthetic motor oil, ULSD + PS grey bottle.

This morning, I installed the Quadzilla Mileage Max (on sale on this site) with hopes of increased mileage on the way back (Monday). I'll follow-up an update.

My goal is 800+ miles per tank (~24mpg), then PA to the GA state line (~820 miles), I'd love to make it all the way to my destination in GA (~870 miles) without stopping (for fuel, at least). I make this PA to GA trip 3-4 times a year.

My next purchase will probably be a hard tonneau cover. I'm also eyeing the Banks High Ram Intake (and competitor's similar products) for a little more efficiency.

I don't want to mod anything that will adversely affect other areas of the truck or be TOO expensive (like hub conversion, driveshaft, or lowering the truck).

Just my 2 cents.

CRToney

Intake horn helps as does an ATS exhaust manifold. Cool hose can't hurt if your "CAI" doesn't already have one. Smarty Jr is better all round than a milage chip. When a wheel bearing goes put in the free spin hubs. Use fuel conditioner with lubricity added. FASS might help some but very little. I added one to my '03 because the stocker was prone to fail and the big filters and 3 mic is better. Power is fuel use less power use less fuel. Don't pass everyone ( including the slow chevys and ford towing up hills, I can't but my therapist is helping me work on it).

DNRCustoms

So, how would one get rid of the EGR, I hate changing my oil only to have it dirty the same day.

DaveB.inVa

You have to change cams.

navman28

Total cost of cam swap approx. $1200 with install after core charge returned. Savings = 2 mpg lowering the cost/mile 3 cents. $1200/.03=40000 miles until break even. Roughly 2.6 years.

ddestruel

what worked on my buddies 05
he started out getting 16-17 mpg for the most part and 11 towing his 10k trailer loaded

nv 5600
3.73 gears with 285/75R17 E rated nitto AT tires
4 door long bed 4x4 with leveling kit in front

Cam swap (about 1.5 mpg)
Smarty (2.5-3 mpg)
hub conversion kit (1 -1.5 mpg)
ATS exhaust manifold (cooler EGT's)
AFE intake
Don M small mach 1 injectors (or what ever they are the 30 hp injectors that he does) (1.5 mpg)
Bored out the WG on the turbo.

averages 22-23 mpg at 1800 rpm empty running the highway now, 19-20 mpg when he doesnt feather it down the highway at 1800. 13-14 towing the 10k trailer



Or buy an ole tripple nickle with 3.73's and the nv5600 and get the same mileage without the work. his sure runs good though now