rustyb380

Hi, I just recently bought my 2005 ram 2500 4x4. My question to any who can help is how can i get better mileage? My truck is all stock execpt for a staright pipe. Right now i drive about 500-600 miles a week all highway/empty with an average of 18-20 mpg by the odo not overhead. I keep the tach under 2000 and set the cruise no higher than 65mph. Please any help will be greatly appreciated.

stumpjumper

i got 1 mpg better with my quad mileage module...

HIGHGEAR

I have an 05 and drove 688.5 miles on one tank of fuel. Granted, I was driving conservative and never went over 65mph. The majority was about 90% highway running, set cruise at 65 mph, the other 10% was city running. I had the SMARTY set at SW#3, TM#2, TIMING#4, RP#2 and WASTEGATE#1. For my truck this is great. Hand calculated it, I was getting 19.6 mpg. (trip meter said 23.6)

rustyb380

What kind of hp gains are you getting with the Quad, and the Smarty?

buzzard1

I would be thrilled to get your mileage.

rustyb380

Its not to bad but with rising diesel prices i want more.

mr. frugal-mpg

1) aftermarket air intake kit
2) straight, wide exhaust that matches intake capacity
3) road tires (rolling tread v. off-road tread makes a HUGE diff. in mpg)
4) smarty (others here swear by it...)

i get 22-23 highway (24-25 according to the onboard display) from my '05 which is mostly stock.

low/zero tread tires (slightly over-inflated) made the biggest mpg impact for me. also, driving smooth-and-easy is a must if mpg is a priority. only idiots rip from stoplights or push a truck over 70mph when fuel is $4.50/gal, imo.

snoyes

If I was doing that kind of mileage (500-600) a week empty it would be hard for me to justify the truck. I would say with Diesel looking conservatively at hitting over $5.00 a gallon (some saying $6-7 a gallon), I would seriously consider a commuter to save on fuel. You can squeeze a little more out of the truck, but you will never reach above the mid-20s.

rustyb380

Maybe hard to justify the truck now, but 8 months ago i was cheaper than going with a 1/2 4x4 rig. Im on construction job sites to have anything less than 4x4.

With the smarty do i need guages?

snoyes

I'd run gauges with any tuner that adds power. You can gain some pretty important information on how your truck is performing (ie boost leak, excessive EGTs, high trans temp from slipping, etc). If you need the truck for your work it does make more sense, just going to be a very painful summer for fuel prices. I've started to ride my motorcycle to help decrease my fuel costs!

carl48

get the smarty jr and get the beta software on it for the 04.5 up, change camshaft to a pdr change the exhaust turbine to 14mm, do a 5" turbo back with donoldson m90535, add air tabs ,tonneau cover and a 1500 tail gate spoiler a cfm+, and grid heater delete and then look at the dynatrac free spin hubs

rustyb380

and i should end up with an roi in what about 10 years? I do have the tonneu cover.

Spooler

What kind of tranny do you have? If an auto get a aftermarket TC,VB,and flexplate and that will gain you about 2 MPG. It will put you at about 20mpg but cost you 1200 for the TC, 200 for the FP, and 450 for the TC, plus installation. So for the ROI point of view, you really will be better off just buying diesel. I know that is not what you want to hear but it is still better than a 1/2 ton 4x4 gasser.

sct5024

I got a quad mileage module a couple of weeks ago. I installed it at about half a tank. First impression, I thought I'd be sending it back. I thought since I had 90 days I'll give it more time. Next full tank involved a camping trip of about 230 miles round. I wasn't towing but I had quite a bit of stuff stacked high. On the way home, with slightly less stuff, I noticed that the mileage/fuel guage position was quite favorable. A week of back and forth to work and I just filled up. 20.49119, I haven't been over 20 since June of 07. Lately it's been 18.5-19.5. (I have hand calculated every tank I have ever got). Without the camping trip I expect a little better next time, I will let y'all know. I'm not selling these things so you may take this all for what it is worth to you, I believe I'll be keeping mine though.

Ram Daddy

I don`t think there`s anything that will be worthwhile for you to buy...18-20 is about the MAX you`re going to get out of a 4X4 2500.....

I`d kill for those numbers....