Does anyone have a 57-60 1/2 ton with a 223 or 292 wth 3 speed OD? What kind of mileage are you getting? I was readng in Vintage truck there was a 55 Customline Courier with a 272 with 3 speed OD that the owner says he gets close to 30 mpg and the car weighs about 3600 pounds! I was thinking down the road of building a 1/2 ton short box with 3 speed OD. Thanks.

 

Sure hope he doesnt burn a valve. My 223 gets an all around average of 15 mpg. Great little motor; check my gallery if your so inclined. Good luck.

 

...And I take it that yours is a 223 with a 3-spd? man, I thought they'd get a lot better than 15mpg, at least 17, if not even 20 with just stock 223 and a 3-on-the-tree. Dang.

How fast can they easily go? I try asking my dad, but he doesn't always remember and plus he may drive differently. Can they easily go around 55-60mph, or is that pushing it?

 

I dont get on the freeway much, geared 3.73, with Fordomatic. At 65mph i will be taching around 2800rpm. I understand from friends they have no problems with higher speeds. Overdrive would help greatly. I dont want to over wind mine for now; considering a higher gear ratio.

 

yeah, the original dana 44 in mine has 3.92's, and an overdrive is way out of the question for my budget, since they are either rare or expensive, or both.

 

An Overdrive or possibly a change out of the rear end would help as well.

I didn't have an IL6 but rather a 289 with the 3spd overdrive and I got 23mpg on normal mixed town/freeway driving.

An interesting note, this was on the 55F-100 I no longer have. I had installed a 56 "behind the seat" gas tank in it in addition to the running board tank (for a total of 37 gallons) because I was doing a lot of commuting between San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area at the time.

On one trip I drove carefully and actually drove from Berkley Ca. (just north of Oakland) to San Diego - and back- about 1020 miles - without stopping for gas. Both tanks were dry at the end, but that netted me a little better than 28 MPG for mostly flat freeway driving. Rear end was geared so I was driving at about 2300 rpm at 70 mph.

 

Whoohoo!

With my 5.83:1 axle, 0.71 OD and lockup torque converter (2100rpm @ 60mph), I will be happy if I get 15 mpg on empty "on the flat"!!!

 

I had a 59 with a 223/OD it got 17 at best. When the OD went south I put a non OD 3spd in it and 3.00 gears in it and got 15mpg. The OD and 4.11s(I think) topped out around 60mph the 3spd and 3.00s topped out around 75mph