It's a manual 4x4. I'm deleting the muffler in the morning. Hooked BDTD up to it and it said that it needed to have a reflash from the dealer. So I'm doing that after I get the exhaust. Then installing the Triple Dog. I don't have gauges yet. Should I just take it easy til I get them? I won't be towing or anything. I have the Outlook Monitor, but it was for a 6.0 Powerstroke and the pod is for that too. Will that monitor work on this truck? If so I might just put that in so I don't have to spend anymore money. The truck is a SRW but it has 4:10 gears. So need a little mileage help right now. Tight on money since I just bought the truck....what else can I do for under a few hundred dollars? What about air intake? Do I just get an aftermarket filter and stick it on the tube or what?

 

nano filter from amsoil

4" elbow off of and 4.5 and up
4" exhaust

remove silencer ring for sound


looks like your off to a good start

 

is there any way to change the gears? this truck was just too good of a deal to pass up even with the gears. I'm going to be going to college so all highway miles. 4:10s to 3:73s shouldn't make that much difference should it?

 

The best thing you can do is keep your foot out of the throttle. With 4.10 gears the RPMs are really going to be up there and that is not going to help. Most aftermarket accersories really don't increase your mileage in fact many degrade mileage. You can look at my signature and I ultimately have decreased my mileage slightly hand calculated. My truck is setup to tow heavy and still be a daily driver.

A future thought is a Gear Vendors overdrive unit but it is costly. Taller tires will help a little but then you will have to get the speedometer corrected. The dealer can do that or some of the aftermarket manufacturers have a box that will do the same thing. The only thng that going for you is the NV5600 has a little higher final gear ratio than the G56.

Good luck,........dogger

 

By the time you went to the expense of changing the gears, it wouldn't be much more money to put in the GV overdrive. But you can buy a lot of fuel for the cost of changing gears or putting in the OD. And yes, big difference between 3.73 and 4.10. But the 4.10s tow heavy loads better.

 

Yes and no one the 4.10s hauling loads better. i preffered 3.54s over my old 4.10s for hauling 30k+ lbs for the simple reason that i could use direct upto 65mph and od for lugging down the straight stretches vs my 4.10s that i was stuck in OD most of the time and direct ment i had to slow down on hills to 50-55, time is money. but that debate has been made numerous times.

GV $2800
Gear swap $300-400 for F&R gears believe these AAM axles you can reuse the carrier labor $200 an end by an independant mechanic and $300 in bearings and seals for both.

total $1100-1200 for a gear swap.

If you look at a gear swap talk to Randy's i believe last i talked to them they were working on some 3.42 gear sets. that would be an awesome ratio with 33" or 32" tires.

I have 3.73's right now with 6spd and 35's and im a little tall when towing since CA the speed limit is 55 with a trailer, at 60 in OD im pulling 1650.

Thats ok but 1800 in od towing would be ideal.


empty i seem to get my best mileage right at 1800 rpm in OD so cruise your truck not by the speed but by the RPM and regardless of what gear ratio you have you'll get good mileage.

FYI im between 21-23 on the highway at 1750-1800 rpm then at 1900+ i drop to a solid 20-21mpg above 1900 i drop to 19-20mpg

Towing is the same above 2k i get 11 mpg with a 15k-20k trailer at 1800 i get 12-14.... (14 is pushing it with that load but you get the gist)

I get 14-16mpg hauling a small ball hitch trailer at 8k or less


Now what should you do AFE, 4" exhaust netted me no mileage gains but did get rid of the flat spot at 1600-1900 rpm

the smarty helped i picked up 2.5-3 mpg manually calculated after adding it and dialing in what program worked best for me.

 

If you have the BDTD and it works so be it. But I think you will find that the bullydog isn't the best with 03-04 as it is with 05. Later on you may find a Smarty (you won't regret it). If you're looking for low cost, check the *****'s whistler thread. It is a low cost do it yourself intake that many people have adopted. There are also more DIY threads that can save you some SERIOUS money. Before you go and make all your decisions, look on the forums and you will find what's best and what has its issues. Deleting the muffler will be fine, but the 03-04s have a 3 1/2 inch downpipe, so you may find it easier to get a 4in exhaust down the road or at least a 4in downpipe.

 

i should add one of the best mods i made was an exhaust brake i picked up used for $300.

the BHAF is cheap and works well. the muffler delete is fine but i would seriously consider the smarty before others that or stick a edge ez on for the time being to gain some mileage... there are a hand ful of edge ez's for $225-250 used int eh classifieds right now.

I had the van aken 3.2 on this truck before the smarty, it worked ok really came alive with the edge ez stacked with it nice clean burning combo good mileage. in the end though i want a programmer so i dont have a bunch of wires hanging all over.

DD

 

DD-- you make some good points...

 

i think the easiest way to stretch your gears our is put bigger tires on it. you have gear for it with 4.10's and to a certain extent you can gain a little mpg if you drive sensibly.

Do the exhaust, your gonna need gauges eventually, no matter what you one night you'll be out and flog the truck for some friends or racing and if you don't guages you'll burn something up.

good luck!

 

I put the Bully Dog on it. Extreme was decent, ran it for a couple miles. Didn't want to run it without gauges. Ran tow/economy for about 150 miles today. With the exhaust straight piped and the BDTD I gained .4 mpg. The bully dog was bought for my dad's 6.0L with the outlook. Will the outlook work on my truck? I need gauges and this seems like the easiest way since I already have it.