gas mileage
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Freshman User
Joined: Mar 2006
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gas mileage
i was wondering how to make my 92 ford f150 4.9 4*4 more fule effetant? i put 33 12.50 bf goodrich allteranes on it and kept the stock 3.08 gears in it. i was thinking that if i switched out the gears to compansate for the tires that i would get better economy. i did the math and im getting around 12 mpg now. any help would be much apretiated. thanks
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 542
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From: Milpitas, CA; Tyler, TX
My '92 Bronco is heavy on options being an Eddie Bauer, and still gets just barely under 14mpg in mostly city driving, with 302 and E4OD AOD.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
Thread Starter
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Freshman User
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 48
Likes: 0
k thanks ill defenatly do all of that and my understanding is that since i put bigger tires on my engin has to work harder to turn thoes tires so changing the gear's and bringing the truck back to stock prefromance would help with the gas. is this worth the time and money?? will it make a significant diferance?? thanks
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 292
Likes: 0
From: Akron, OH
Have you adjusted your speedometer for the larger size tires? If not your milage figures will be off. You'll actually be getting better milage than you are measuring if the speedometer has not been corrected.
Also, gearing to lower gears may up your milage somewhat, but the fact is you now have alot more rotating mass than you did with stock size tires. Which most likely means you'll never get as good milage with these larger tires as you would've gotten with the stock tires.
Lastly, most people seem to agree that regearing (front and back) costs in the neighborhood of $2000, which would buy alot of gas. However if the MPG gains were large enough you could probably break even in a reasonable amount of time.
Also, gearing to lower gears may up your milage somewhat, but the fact is you now have alot more rotating mass than you did with stock size tires. Which most likely means you'll never get as good milage with these larger tires as you would've gotten with the stock tires.
Lastly, most people seem to agree that regearing (front and back) costs in the neighborhood of $2000, which would buy alot of gas. However if the MPG gains were large enough you could probably break even in a reasonable amount of time.
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Freshman User
Joined: Mar 2006
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no i didnt recalibrate my speedo but i dont use that to mesure the gas mileage. i filled my tank which is 18 galons and reset the trip odomiter at the pump. then i ran the tank to exactally half which would mean that i used 9 galons of gas. i then took the amount of miles and devided them by 9 which gave me my mpg. ill do this again and post how manny miles i drove and how much gas i used when the time comes. thanks again
Senior User
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 152
Likes: 0
I wouldnt use your gas gauge because you could be off by a large amount. I get 50 more miles from the full-to-half point as compared to the half-to-empty range. I can do that because I have another tank to switch to.
The best way to do it is to fill the tank using the lowest flow on the pump and dont top off after it clicks off. Reset your odometer.
Drive as much as you want but then go back to the same pump and fill up the same way. This is important because some gas stations have pumps that fill at different rates (higher flow into the filler neck will cause the fuel to bubble back sooner when nearing full) and also the cement slabs can be at different slopes which will affect how much gas will fit in the tank.
Divide the miles traveled by the gallons of gas used.
You can easily check your speedo at highway speeds with a GPS unit if you have one, or just borrow one.
The best way to do it is to fill the tank using the lowest flow on the pump and dont top off after it clicks off. Reset your odometer.
Drive as much as you want but then go back to the same pump and fill up the same way. This is important because some gas stations have pumps that fill at different rates (higher flow into the filler neck will cause the fuel to bubble back sooner when nearing full) and also the cement slabs can be at different slopes which will affect how much gas will fit in the tank.
Divide the miles traveled by the gallons of gas used.
You can easily check your speedo at highway speeds with a GPS unit if you have one, or just borrow one.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 302
Likes: 0
From: North Ga Mtns
Originally Posted by jcp123
My '92 Bronco is heavy on options being an Eddie Bauer, and still gets just barely under 14mpg in mostly city driving, with 302 and E4OD AOD.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
I barely get 10 mpg with the HO and 5 speed. I havent checked to see what gear I have in the rear but it has to be low(bad)....at 55 mph in 5th the motor is turning 2300 rpm's. You can tell when my step-brother ordered this truck gas prices werent $2.50 a gallon...LOL
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Senior User
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 302
Likes: 0
From: North Ga Mtns
Originally Posted by jcp123
My '92 Bronco is heavy on options being an Eddie Bauer, and still gets just barely under 14mpg in mostly city driving, with 302 and E4OD AOD.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
How? Like so:
Keep the revs under 2000
Accelerate smoothly
Keep tires properly inflated
Drive further ahead, coasting to signals and keeping your mass moving instead of stopping, if possible
Minimize a/c use in town
Keep your truck tuned up
Get regular oil changes
Use cruise control whenever you can, if you have it
Try combining trips to avoid short trips
I haven't yet switched to synthetic tranny fluid or running thinner gear oil in the diff, that should help out some more, as should tuning my throttle position sensor and jury-rigging a cold air intake. Any and all of this is worth trying.
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Lead Driver
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5,491
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From: Kuna ID
I was getting about 7mpg with my F-250 when I first got it with 3:55 gears. I soon went with tires that were about 1.5" taller, and I had the axles regeared with 4:10's. I was then getting 10-12mpg. While the larger tires do equate to more rolling mass, regearing the axles gives the motor more leverage to turn them, requiring less pedal pushing to get the truck moving. Another thing to consider, is 90% of my driving is done in the city, so I usually do 50mph or less. If you do a lot of freeway driving, stating with your stock gears may suit you better. A 3:55 to 4:10 gear would be good for your truck though. If you have a 5spd tranny, I would be more inclined to go with the 4:10.
Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 6,473
Likes: 4
From: Lafayette, IN
Originally Posted by trlckynlck
no i didnt recalibrate my speedo but i dont use that to mesure the gas mileage. i filled my tank which is 18 galons and reset the trip odomiter at the pump. then i ran the tank to exactally half which would mean that i used 9 galons of gas. i then took the amount of miles and devided them by 9 which gave me my mpg. ill do this again and post how manny miles i drove and how much gas i used when the time comes. thanks again
2. You changed tire sizes and didn't recalibrate your speedo. The odometer is also affected. Both read info from the VSS/tone ring setup in the rear differential. There is a way to reprogram your setup (up to 6 times) using the digital odometer display. I don't recall the process, but you can search for it in this forum. Speedos with the analog/rolling odometer read off a plastic gear in the back end of the tranny, which you would have to replace to recalibrate. Or something like that.
Jason
