.
Nice trailer! I especially like the "Dukes" wheels.

 

Gearing is the short answer. I first swapped the 4.10 gears out for 3.08s (no longer available from aftermarket - at least for now). That bumped me from about 9-12 MPG into the 12-18 average. There were rare occasions when I could break through 20 back then, but never consistently. That was also still on high sulfur diesel.

A couple years later, I swapped the C6 auto for the E4OD (lots of grief, but it was worth it). Now I can consistently cruise above 20 MPG empty and very close to that if I keep my speed down.

I'm still not sure if the turbocahrger is helping in any measurable way (only way to be sure would be to remove it and thats not happening!). I do notice about 1 PSI of boost is availabe even at the 1200-1300 RPM that the engine is turning at 55 MPH in overdrive. So it might be doing something.

I'm also running what I feel is one of the highest quality rebuilt injector pumps you can find (they call it the "moose" pump). Aside from higher fuel delivery potential, it seems to have made a difference in the consistency of my MPGs. The peak MPGs don't appear to have changed much, but the consistency of them seems to have changed. Before 20 MPG under good contitions was rare, now its routine if the truck is empty anywhere under 75 MPH.

I'm runnig stock tires that are highway ribbed and have no plans to EVER lift or otherwise increase the frontal area of the truck.

The engine was rebuilt 3 years ago and has slightly dropped compression. I doubt its helping MPGs but the drop was so slight, again, its hard to say if it makes any difference at all. Never did a compression check to find out what the numbers are.

I run stanadyne lubricity supplement on every tank (not sure if it helps, but doubt it hurts).

3" exhuast with straight through muffler......can't think of much else right now.

 

Thanks. We never did technically finish it, but I still get comments almost every time I show up on a jobsite or when there's a crowd at the cardlock.

Wonder what it would look like if I bothered to polish it or even wash it for that matter....

I don't remember why I bought those rims originally, but since they they did fit well with the aluminum sheet metal.

 

i knew i shouldn't have put this mod off.serves me right for not doing it sooner.
first tank with it on (just running empty/no a/c) 16.47 MPG.
i haven't seen them kind of numbers (minus fill up errors,that got corrected the next tank of course) since i was SRW!!
this was no fillup error either.i made sure of it.went to the station where iv never had one,AND made sure i waited for the fuel to defoam a bit in the tank,and clicked and clicked,and clicked until i started spilling fuel on the ground! haha,so if anything,i got a tad under than over on record.

that's 2 MPG above my current 14.46 lifetime average.

other benefits i noticed on this tank with the front air dam:
the truck just flows easier down the road.less power is required.
i tested the cruise for a couple miles on a larger road around here.it doesn't keep struggling and overcompensating like it did.
though i'll always feel i can drive more efficiently than cruise,i can see myself actually using it once in a while now after a long day at work and not worry about using more fuel so much.
road noise is greatly reduced! so much less wind going under the truck.i noticed this one instantly at first test run.

this was a nice mod.
it may not yield such great results for someone with a 2wd and stock bed.
but i tell ya,blocking off that front 4wd mess(making the dam just below the front pumpkin) and with a higher sitting C-channel bed,this appears well worth the time to do.
im very pleased,and hope to see more tanks like this.
360 miles on this tank.very nice.
now i need a few more aero mods and see if i can't reach 400 miles per tank now baby.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/g...vehicleid=1301

this post is related to fuel economy record date: 2011-07-29 tank #65 in the link above.

 

Wow, you've got my attention now! Thats roughly a 14% bump! Have to see the next tank just to be 100% sure but if you were spilling fuel, I'd say its over 90% sure as is.

According to my geaky calculations (I'm lisping right now - *wipes off monitor*), that could push my 24 MPG over 27.........

About the cruise control. I use it for most of my highway driving, but its set to where it can only give a fraction of the truck's total power. For many hills is just barely enough to hold speed (especially with a trailer). Sometimes I'll let it bleed off toward the top of the hill if its short and shallow enough, tap my toe a bit on the pedal to keep it going for longer ones, or hit the OD cancel switch and let the boost climb under my foot for longer hills beyond roughly 4%. All relative of course. Empty at 60 MPH, the truck will chug over a 5% hill no problem.

 

yeah!
well i got to thinking though David,perhaps why it was so effective was because not only of the front axle and t-case (oh you have a t-case too though causing some extra wind drag.)
but i got to thinking (as i saw my fuel gauge hanging on better,and odo rolling up the miles) that perhaps removing a stock bed with a flat smoother under side for this:

may have been the higher cause of so much extra drag under there,and why the results were so good with pushing the air to the side via air dam.but i don't know.
they help pretty much all trucks in general anyway though no matter,based on research.i just dunno if everyone should expect as much is all.


now with the increase of air going to the sides,my next step will be something like this.i marked two red spots under the toolbox.either the front or rear,a little air deflector with diamond plate aluminum match and blend in,to help divert some air away from the rear duals.i'll probably opt for the rear section of them.still plenty of air should hit to keep 'em cool when hauling heavy,but just lower down.
plus the air would be diverted to help actually roll the tires in a forward direction like that by forcing a stream downward on them.

then at least skirt in the sides above the wheels.i know it would be best to skirt the whole wheels right in,right down even with the tool boxes.but im just not crazy about the look it would have.so im compensating lol.
but think how much air flow this would cut from going around the toolboxes and smacking into that big mud flap.this would cure most of that right there.
if the price of fuel goes up though,the hell with it.appearance will go right out the window,and i'll do whats required for max aero.

but im thinking another running board like i used for the air dam,could be used for the side skirts above the wheels.kinda blend everything in to match.that or just black smooth,to disappear rather than stand out.i guess either way wouldn't offend the eye in my quest here.for this side,id need to hinge it,or i'll have to lift my bed from now on to fuel up.which really isn't a big deal.
anyone good with pics to show what it would look like both ways?
i lack these pic altering skills.

i should probably have a little shirt behind them nerf bars too really,to keep the air from wanting to go back under,and flow right into my toolbox deflector for max down force on them tires,to assist forward motion and max cooling.
since im pushing the air down there to the side with the air dam now,i should take full advantage of the flow and regain some of the energy required to push it, to work in my favor.though i dunno if it will.i sure will try.
see pic two for this brain storm.though not mostly mine,but a member of the ecomodder forums who suggested diverting some air off them.

 

ok so i threw one side skirt on.the side without the fuel tank fillers for now,since this was my last running board.
you can see how i angled it in behind the toolbox,but left a gap of course since it's a dump bed,the toolboxes are hooked to the frame and don't lift,but the skirts do,as i simply bolted them to the bed,so much easier install.
i'll probably give them the garden edging treatment on the bottom as well for the cleaner,finished look.though not sure if i'll hang 'em lower or just on top of the bottom section strictly for appearance.
i'll have to keep my eye out for super cab running boards now in the local buy/sell mags so i can do the other side low cost.

side note;
i keep forgetting to prime and paint them straps on my overhead toolholder/tube up top,so them things just blend in.

 

Wow i never would have thought adding side skirts to a flatbed or dump bed would increase mileage...less wind drag and whatnot so it makes sense, does anybody have highway tires? I am thinking about getting a set to run in the summer just to see what it will do to the MPG's, something like those Toyo HT tires, they are meant to drive on teh freeway...maybe it will help?

 

I'm running Toyo Open country highway ribbed tires. Smooth, quiet and the tread can smash through standing water very easily (rains a lot in my neck of the woods). The set I have is just about done, but they seem to last and wear nicely. Funny thing is they were fairly cheap from where I bought them. I guess nobody wants highway ribbed tires that look stock. Instead everyone wants all terrain tires or some pizza cutter setup LOL!

I have no numbers to prove what effect it had on fuel economy because by the time I forked out the cash for this (my first brand new set of tires), lots of other conditions changed at the same time.

http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/Revie...en+Country+H/T

 

hahaha.ok i don't think this was the effect i was after.
doesn't this look too feminine? its accentuates the "skirt" look right?
it looks fine on the front.but im thinking this doesn't quite fit a work truck look for the sides lol or is it just me?
the thing is,these running boards get wavy when you flatten them out and this covers it all up.but i could fix the wave in them by simply screwing on a bar down bottom behind them.opinions?

before:


after:
(attached pic.)

 

ok maybe its just me then.no ones laughing at my truck lol.

 

This might be a stretch, but it almost reminds me of those low riding peterbuilt rigs with the wide, polished front bumper a few inches off the ground in front.

But even if everyone was laughing at it, what's that fuel economy worth to you?

 

yeah,we'll see who's laughing when i hit 17 mpg (when empty) with a n/a diesel dually dump hey Dave lol.

nah.i don't mind the front at all.it's the garden trim on the side skirt that im thinking "girls" it up? is it just me?
either they need to be black (but aluminum doesn't hold paint too good?) or i should take that edging off and just fix the wave on the board with a flat piece of metal on the back side.im thinking there might be too much aluminum going on now,and they'd look best blended in painted black.

 

If I just saw it rolling down the road I'd be laughing but you can't argue with sucess and saving money.

 

Seems I need to get some gauges for my fuel pumps, so I can track mine more accurately. Rough guess on my dually though is around 14-16 most of the time.

The crewcab I figure is running 16-18 range, but it has 3.55's instead of 4.11's, and the E4OD versus a C6.