Also, Jared(my buddy with the 91 7.3) put HIGHWAY tires on his truck....his mileage went up by 2 mpg, because they highway tread is not as aggressive it catches less wind when its traveling down teh highway or road.

 

so i finally got around to building my custom front air dam.
i had running boards on my old '96 f150 super cab (perfect length) that i kept.i used one of these.
i flattened it out by running over it with my heavy dually.
anyway.doesn't look half bad either i don't think.
perhaps a few running lights on it sometime to dress it up a bit too.you can see where i used to have some still.not polished up yet,and the holes are still there.(look along the bottom.)
it does need a little more polishing to really brighten it up to match my under body toolboxes on each side.but i can do anytime.
it does make my rusty bumper look worse though haha.
when i eventually replace that bumper (its worse than it looks.there are actually large rust holes on each bottom side now.) i'll do something about adding a clean make shift trim between it and the bumper to really finish it off.

the air dam with my TTB front suspension (f250) and shorter tires: LT225/75/R16 (29.3X8.9) is 9.5" above the ground even still.

pic of behind too.
the running board is pretty near dang perfect,because it has two reinforced bars already.
simply got out the torch and made a couple notches up at the top where i wanted my bends,and bent it around to follow the bumper mostly,and then just drilled a hole on each outside and one in the center and bolted her on.come winter,when its time to hookup the plow,removal is easy as pie.

what do ya think now david85,a row of that soft garden trim edging stuff and it will be just around right? that's what im thinking.something soft (and widely used on the FE forums) that has lots of give to it so i don't stave anything up,and it should drop me nicely below the front axle (my lowest point.)

come on fuel gauge! hang on to full,just that little bit longer now please.

for those interested in why i did this..........fuel economy improvement threads for air dams; these are just a few.search google and check out ecomodder etc. it pays to learn this stuff:
http://ecomodder.com/wiki/index.php/Front_air_dam
http://ecomodder.com/forum/fuel-econ...cations.php#45
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ckup-3171.html

fyi,
ford has also wised up,and is providing the new 2011 super duty trucks with lower front air dams.
they are also easily removed for off roading/plowing etc.
one cool report as to the effects on the new super duty:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nt-bumper.html

here's my latest so far,not including this mod:
keep in mind,im 8k lb empty.

 

Wouldn't that push more air and not let it flow under the truck?

I can sometimes watch my fuel gauge go down. It sucks. A 15 mile trip and I used 1/8 a tank! that's like $10!

 

yes thats right.though it may appear counterproductive to push more frontal wind,it's much better to push the air to the side of the vehicle than it is to let it go under.the reason is because the underside of the vehicle is very dirty and the air simply can't flow smooth.
this is one of the major reasons why lifting trucks with lift kits/larger tires etc. hurts FE even more,because your introducing even more wind drag under the vehicle.

more hardcore FE enthusiasts will build a whole underside "belly pan" rather than a front low air dam.this way they don't add frontal area,but rather let the wind smoothly flow under the vehicle.
however this is VERY time consuming,more expensive,and to service the vehicle,the whole belly pan,or sections of it,need to be removed and put back on.to top it all off,some don't see any gains at all by swapping their low air dams for a belly pan,or very little difference if they do,and iv even read where one person lost FE and went back to the air dam (this is very vehicle specific.) most don't go through this and opt for the air dam.
like a lot of things,i knew i should have done this sooner.it only took me a couple hrs for crying out loud lol.
now if i see a big jump (half an mpg is pretty dang big today with these fuel prices.if i see just a 10th of an mpg it'll be worth it over time) i'll kick myself for not doing it sooner.

 

got her down below my front axle nicely.
(yeah,i know.she needs a good bath again lol.)

i swear it feels like it goes down the road easier.but it could just be in my head lol.FE records will show if it does or not.stay tuned.

 

Now to see if it will make any difference. Shouldn't be too hard with how consistently you monitor your MPGs.

 

yeah,i really hope so David.
big dave's results was my main inspiration:
Effects Of Air Dam (Ford F350 pickup) - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com

 

Ah yes, the only other guy that was crazy enough and lucky enough to get his hands on the aftermarket 3.08 gears before they were discontinued.....

27 MPG in an F350 is impressive no matter who you are!

I wonder what electric fans, bed cover, and forward belly pan would do for me..... I'd like to think it could get me another 3 mpg but maybe thats asking a bit much (but I can't be out done by a superduty, can I!? LOL!!)

 

yeah.don't give up David!
your truck could do well with the e-fans for what you do,and at your location for sure.
you've been wanting a belly pan for a long time.........just think how much satisfaction you would have if you just set an hour a day aside for it and got it done before cold weather hits.

 

You know, I'm almost half tempted to get rid of my drag shoot mirrors too while I'm at it. I might even get some reduced wind noise for my trouble. My F150 was always quieter at highway speeds in that department. Would it look goofy to have a set of holes for both types in the door just in case?

In all my years of owning the truck, I think I swung them out once or twice. Once was a double wide stack of railings for city hall, and the other time was a load of hay on the same trailer. Could rid of the running boards while I'm at it. Hmm....have I told you lately what a bad influence you are on me?

 

My wifes '96 Powerstroke has had the smaller mirrors swapped on. You can definitely see the holes in the lower part of the door but it's not completely obnoxious.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that maybe it wouldn't look as bad if the holes were plugged with the attaching bolts for the mirror bracket. Sort of like saying: its supposed to be that way. Either that, or I could make some color matched plugs to stuff in there when I don't need the towing mirrors (I can't quite convince my self of that however).

The fold away style are convex anyway so even though they're smaller, I seem to remember them offering the same amount of visibility when driving my F150.

 

what kinda mileage are you guys gettin? im gettin bout 16.

 

Trey! Hows it going!

I'm averaging a little over 19 MPG while towing a trailer. The photos shown here are with a canopy and rather large load, but when I'm getting 19MPG, its without a canopy, and the load in the trailer is below the walls (so aerodynamic drag is minimal). The bed is 20' long, walls are 16" high and it wights about 1500lbs empty to give some idea.

Trailer tires are rated at 35 - run them at 40
Truck tires are rated at 80 - run them at 80

Most important of all, I'm cruising at 55 MPH. With the empty truck running solo, it nets me about 24 MPG

Highest empty was 24.8
Highest with the trailer was 19.7

Empty at 70 I can usually hover above the 20 mark, but I rarely unhitch the trailer so I haven't tested that recently.

 

well, i dont have the patience to run only 55. lol. the worst ive gotten so far was about 12 after lettin it idle for 5 hours (long nap, needed a/c). what all have you done to your truck, mechanically, to get it there?