fuel mileage tips?
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From: West Texas
fuel mileage tips?
Anyone got any good ones? We drive our truck about 1400 miles per week. It's a 94.5 F350 crew cab 4x4. I've been doing pretty good running 65, I don't care if the speed limit is 80 when diesel is over 4 bucks a gallon! At 65 I almost always get at least 18 mpg. Usually more like 20. My tires are michelin 265's inflated to 80 rear and 60 front like the door sticker says and I have a 5 speed with 4.10 gears. I thought about going back to stock sized tires since these are going on 140,000 miles now. Yes they still have tread left too! Im pretty good with alignments. I have a feeling stock size will hurt mileage though. Slightly less drag but also higher rpm. Our driving is all highway from lubbock to Corpus Christi. I'm about to start driving 55 I swear. This diesel is getting about ridiculous and there is not one single bio diesel retailer left in Texas that I can find except on the air force bases. Go figure. I tried the websites that list them all and made a lot of calls to places along our route. All of them are out of business. So any more good tips how to maximize our fuel mileage?
Post Fiend
Joined: Dec 2010
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From: Orrville, Ohio
Sounds to me like you have covered the basics. Alignment, tire inflation, speed, the only ones you didn't mention are the brakes and bearings, but if you're getting 18 MPG I don't think you're going to do a ton better than that no matter what you do! I'd be happy as a lark to get 18MPG out of my truck. The best I can manage is about 15.
I don't remember, are you running a chip of any kind? That might allow you to see a marginal gain if you don't already run one. I would tend to agree that your tires aren't hurting you a lot, and with the ZF5 and 4.10's I don't think you would want to drop back to stock tire size.
Ever thought about brewing your own Bio? I don't know whether you have the time or interest in doing it, but there are kits available that are complete and set up to start brewing it yourself. For what it's worth my experience running Bio blends isn't all that great. The truck runs nice on the stuff, but it seems to me that I see a marginal loss of MPG on the stuff. Either that or put a WVO kit on the truck...
And now for the off topic banter for which we are so well known, how's the drought situation down there? I know you had said that you have been really hurting for a while there, but it looks like you've been getting some rain as of late. The east side of the state more so, but how is it where you are?
I don't remember, are you running a chip of any kind? That might allow you to see a marginal gain if you don't already run one. I would tend to agree that your tires aren't hurting you a lot, and with the ZF5 and 4.10's I don't think you would want to drop back to stock tire size.
Ever thought about brewing your own Bio? I don't know whether you have the time or interest in doing it, but there are kits available that are complete and set up to start brewing it yourself. For what it's worth my experience running Bio blends isn't all that great. The truck runs nice on the stuff, but it seems to me that I see a marginal loss of MPG on the stuff. Either that or put a WVO kit on the truck...
And now for the off topic banter for which we are so well known, how's the drought situation down there? I know you had said that you have been really hurting for a while there, but it looks like you've been getting some rain as of late. The east side of the state more so, but how is it where you are?
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From: West Texas
I want badly to plant a few acres of soybeans for biodiesel here but prices are crazy on that seed now, making it not worth it. And This idiotic water district is trying to make us farmers pay for our own water. We just won round one in the state supreme court on that one. Screw them. We've had almost an inch of rain this year and about 6 inches of snow so things are looking up. Hay prices put my horse boarding business OUT of business. Now we're grazing our horses on our alfalfa field which isn't growing yet and feeding pellets. Yeah it sucks!!! I see lots of starving animals on the way to corpus every week. Thank god ours are doing good but it's costing us a fortune.
I do have a chip. It's a TW 4 position. stock, econo, tow and extreme. Actually tow gets the best mileage. Econo is ok on windless days for some reason. I usually put it in stock in town and either tow or econo on the highway.
I do have a chip. It's a TW 4 position. stock, econo, tow and extreme. Actually tow gets the best mileage. Econo is ok on windless days for some reason. I usually put it in stock in town and either tow or econo on the highway.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 20,419
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From: AZ
During the two world war's the gov paid farmers to grow hemp. Now they put you in jail.
For all these years on this forum I always thought the mileage posted was BS! With this new Beans tunes I have, I pulled my 5er to Phoenix and have been running around Phoenex several hundred miles. I just left it in tow position without the 5er on because I like the shift points. I went to fill up and I GOT 17 MPG!!! I was so shocked I asked my wife to catch me. I've never have gotten over 13 mpg.
I don't have any advise for you RR except to leave it in TOW!
For all these years on this forum I always thought the mileage posted was BS! With this new Beans tunes I have, I pulled my 5er to Phoenix and have been running around Phoenex several hundred miles. I just left it in tow position without the 5er on because I like the shift points. I went to fill up and I GOT 17 MPG!!! I was so shocked I asked my wife to catch me. I've never have gotten over 13 mpg.
I don't have any advise for you RR except to leave it in TOW!
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2005
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From: New Jersey
I've read elsewhere that the IDIs do well on WVO (as long as it's set up right) but the PSDs don't do well at all regardless of the setup. I think it has something to do with the glycerin in the oil and what it causes to build up on the nozzles, but I can't remember for sure, it was a few years ago. Biodiesel, on the other hand, does very well in PSDs. Just make sure none of your hoses are natural rubber or they'll balloon on you. Biodiesel attacks natural rubber.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2011
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From: Southern AZ
swap out to a 3.55 axle... That will lower your rpms.
and depending on which 265 tire you have... They are the same dia as the original (or close enough not to matter)
Richard
and depending on which 265 tire you have... They are the same dia as the original (or close enough not to matter)
Richard
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Lead Driver
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From: Gambrills
I have found that driving the speed limits helps a lot. It really does make a difference. It was very dififulct but I got 21+MPG on the open freeway @ 60-65MPH. it WAS VERY hard...I had to use the cruise control. Unfortunatly I have not seen those numbers since b/c I am not that self diciplined to repeat it.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2007
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From: West Texas
When I took my truck to Tony Wildmans house and got the chip put in we had been running straight 100% soybean biodiesel. I never tried WVO and never will. It ran great before he got it. After my mileage jumped a lot and the engine ran much smother. It has never run this good on ULSD and there is absolutely nothing wrong with my engine. I'm pretty **** about keeping it perfect with all the driving we do.
I thought about going to 3.55 gears. Problem is I need two sets! I used to swap a 3.08 into the rear of my F150 all the time. If I thought I needed the 4 wheel drive I put the 4.10 back in. I got pretty fast at the swap. Im getting too old to mess with that anymore but I can't afford two gear sets either. I wish. I have more than enough power for our horse trailer and camper.
I thought about going to 3.55 gears. Problem is I need two sets! I used to swap a 3.08 into the rear of my F150 all the time. If I thought I needed the 4 wheel drive I put the 4.10 back in. I got pretty fast at the swap. Im getting too old to mess with that anymore but I can't afford two gear sets either. I wish. I have more than enough power for our horse trailer and camper.
Posting Guru
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From: Southern AZ
When I took my truck to Tony Wildmans house and got the chip put in we had been running straight 100% soybean biodiesel. I never tried WVO and never will. It ran great before he got it. After my mileage jumped a lot and the engine ran much smother. It has never run this good on ULSD and there is absolutely nothing wrong with my engine. I'm pretty **** about keeping it perfect with all the driving we do.
I thought about going to 3.55 gears. Problem is I need two sets! I used to swap a 3.08 into the rear of my F150 all the time. If I thought I needed the 4 wheel drive I put the 4.10 back in. I got pretty fast at the swap. Im getting too old to mess with that anymore but I can't afford two gear sets either. I wish. I have more than enough power for our horse trailer and camper.
I thought about going to 3.55 gears. Problem is I need two sets! I used to swap a 3.08 into the rear of my F150 all the time. If I thought I needed the 4 wheel drive I put the 4.10 back in. I got pretty fast at the swap. Im getting too old to mess with that anymore but I can't afford two gear sets either. I wish. I have more than enough power for our horse trailer and camper.
the other thing you can do is just do the rear for now and remove the front driveshaft. If you do it that way you can wait till you find a good deal on a front axle.
Richard
Fleet Owner
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From: Mi'kma'ki
here's something to consider.i'll keep it stripped to the basics.those who want to learn more can visit a hypermiller forum.
1.the underside of the truck is extremely dirty for air flow.
2.the less air you can intake into the grill/bumper or under body,the more aerodynamic you make your truck.
so actually two basic (just for starters) tips for you guys.one is spesific to your trucks.
block those holes in your front bumper.allowing air to enter there,increases drag.if you block them off,the air will be pushed to the side of the truck.
if your thinking "well its the same thing,your just pushing the air like a plow either way." it's not.the air will flow much,much easier around the truck than through the grill/bumper/underbelly.
it doesn't have to look bad either.i recently upgraded to this bumper for styling.there are attractive ways to accomplish this.here's mine for example:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1329532135
(i just need to come up with something now,to block the center hole.likely i'll just make a black plastic insert that blends in.)
you can take it one step further,and build a custom low front air dam for greater gains.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1311464470
(yeah,so this one isn't exactly attractive.im sure someone could do much better for styling.for the gains it provided though,i sure as heck don't mind it at all.
)
if at all possible (make sure you have a coolant temp gauge) for even more gains,try blocking off some sections of your grills.ok so that's 3 tips then lol (use common sense and make then removable.)
good luck.
1.the underside of the truck is extremely dirty for air flow.
2.the less air you can intake into the grill/bumper or under body,the more aerodynamic you make your truck.
so actually two basic (just for starters) tips for you guys.one is spesific to your trucks.
block those holes in your front bumper.allowing air to enter there,increases drag.if you block them off,the air will be pushed to the side of the truck.
if your thinking "well its the same thing,your just pushing the air like a plow either way." it's not.the air will flow much,much easier around the truck than through the grill/bumper/underbelly.
it doesn't have to look bad either.i recently upgraded to this bumper for styling.there are attractive ways to accomplish this.here's mine for example:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1329532135
(i just need to come up with something now,to block the center hole.likely i'll just make a black plastic insert that blends in.)
you can take it one step further,and build a custom low front air dam for greater gains.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...1&d=1311464470
(yeah,so this one isn't exactly attractive.im sure someone could do much better for styling.for the gains it provided though,i sure as heck don't mind it at all.
)if at all possible (make sure you have a coolant temp gauge) for even more gains,try blocking off some sections of your grills.ok so that's 3 tips then lol (use common sense and make then removable.)
good luck.
Posting Guru
Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Ft Scott
Your 265 michelins are not that much taller than the stock 235's. 31.75" vs 31.65" or less than 1/4 of 1% but the extra 30mm of tread width will make a difference in rolling resistance. You might consider a set of 255-85's, they're just a bit over 33" tall and will lower your rpm's by 4%.
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 566
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From: New Jersey
I watched an episode of Mythbusters one day and they were testing the idea that putting your tailgate down would save a couple of mpg. This was the prevailing wisdom for many years. They tested it using two 1998-era F150s. Turns out that when they did that, they actually lost mileage. Their tests showed that the turbulence behind the cab was drastically reduced, which caused air drag along the entire length of the bed and reduced mileage. With the turbulence in place, the air flow behind the bed basically went up and over the back half of the truck. It surprised me, I thought the result would be just the opposite. The '98-era F150s are more aerodynamic than the OBS trucks, but I imagine the effect is similar.
So I'm thinking that along with the underbody changes mentioned in the previous post (all great ideas, IMO), that something like a tonnaeu cover or some other type of bed cover might make the truck a little more streamlined and maybe add a little more mileage.
So I'm thinking that along with the underbody changes mentioned in the previous post (all great ideas, IMO), that something like a tonnaeu cover or some other type of bed cover might make the truck a little more streamlined and maybe add a little more mileage.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 20,359
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From: Mi'kma'ki
"Aerodynamic truck cap saves 4 mpg!!!!!!!!!!!
my truck went from a baseline of 18 mpg average on the freeway to 22 mpg. Combined went from 16 mpg to 17.7 mpg.
There are millions of trucks in the US all of which could have improved fuel efficiency by installing an aero cap over the bed of the pickup. This would save millions of gallons of gas a day!"
Brett Herndon
Little Rock, Arkansas
Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com
Post Fiend
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 10,121
Likes: 3
From: Orrville, Ohio
"Aerodynamic truck cap saves 4 mpg!!!!!!!!!!!
my truck went from a baseline of 18 mpg average on the freeway to 22 mpg. Combined went from 16 mpg to 17.7 mpg.
There are millions of trucks in the US all of which could have improved fuel efficiency by installing an aero cap over the bed of the pickup. This would save millions of gallons of gas a day!"
Brett Herndon
Little Rock, Arkansas
Commercially produced aerodynamic pickup bed cap - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com
Besides the fact that it makes the back of your F series truck look like a Prius....