Odie I do hand calculate my milage and I to too can't stand to look at the overhead it realy breaks my heart to see milage drop to 2 mpg when you take off easy from a fuel station after a fill up so I just don't look until at least a 100 miles later but every body listen my overhead has never been more than .3 mpg off now with that said you can take my truck get on an interstate set the cruise and reset the overhead and watch the overhead settle in after about 50 miles it will read about 15.7 mpg now this includes no stopping and no taking off so if you do either the milage will be less if you guys would be happy with this then I'am happy for you but I expect more and will not settle for this even if it means trading to another brand. The big problem to me is that DC or Cummins even admits that there is a differance in the 555 vers the 600

 

I'd say there is definitely a problem with some of these trucks. I have proof. Last Friday, I traded my guzzling early build date '04.5 for a new one with May build dates. The difference is amazing already. Not that I completely trust the overhead, but It's all I have to go by until I get some more miles on this thing. So far, I have seen numbers in the low to mid 20's at 55-65mph. At 75mph, it is showing 18-19mpg. Around town (stop & go), it's around 14-15. These are all sustained numbers, not peaks and I expect them to get slightly better as I get some more miles on the truck. With the old truck, I got 12-13 everywhere, and I never, ever got more than 400 miles out of a tank, heck I don't even think I ever broke 390 before filling up. With the new one, I have 350 miles on it and still have just under a half tank!! That's a BIG difference. While I was shopping for this trade, I also drove another truck from the same lot that was almost identical (same build dates & equipment) to the one I ended up buying and it was producing the same great numbers, maybe even better. Obviously, it's not the driver. Sure, it can be said that a guy hot rodding around isn't going to be getting the numbers that grandpa will, but I drive sensibly and couldn't see getting 12-13 mpg as being "right" for my driving style and terrain. I proved that with the switch to the new truck. Now driving the same routes, driving the same style as I did with my old truck, I am getting waaaay better mileage... definitely a problem with the old truck.

So, I'm not sure if DC has done something different with the later built trucks, but it seems as though there are a greater number of the later trucks getting better mileage. Yet there are still some guys reporting poor mileage with later builds and some reporting good mileage with early builds... personally, I think it's a crap shoot and it just depends on what straw you draw. Best advice for anyone thinking of buying is to take a looooong test drive and reset the overhead for different driving, i.e. city, hwy, etc to see what it is getting. May not be 100% accurate, but at least this will give you a ball park figure of what you might expect down the road.

 

BiggRigg600
Are you sure of the build date of your engine or is it a misstype ? I would think that it would have at least been built in 04!

 

WildBill,

I'm absolutely positive on the build dates for that truck, and it was indeed a 600. I had read that valve cover sticker several times to verify. Not sure when they started producing the 600, but I think mine was one of the very early ones.

 

I AM SORRY I WAS GOING BY YOUR SIG I GUESS YOU HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO UPDATE SINCE YOU TRADED

 

Yeah, My sig is still my old truck... I'll update that tonight when I have some more time to make sure I have the right build dates, etc...

The new truck has May build dates... just not sure of what day... week... etc.

 

I'd be more PO'ed at Dodge if the earlier trucks didn't have a similar spread of mileage numbers. There are folks getting 22 and folks getting 15 with the old trucks too.

Lifetime average at 4800mi is 15.8MPG. Including mostly commuting to work and 1000 mi or so of towing my 3k boat. MPG beats the V8 Explorer on all counts.

 

Could someone clarify if my truck build date is 01/04 that it definately is a "600" or did the 600 come out part way through January 2004?

Cheers

 

If your truck was build in January, it has a 600.

 

Batts look a the drivers side of the valve cover. If the sticker says 325 horse its the 600 if it says 305 its the 555. Build date for the engine is also on that sticker.

 

What about the California emission certification for the 04.5s Something had to give !!

cheers f