Captain

I know for me the ultra low sulfer diesel knocked me down a couple mpg. Sounds like you guys with the good mileage have your RPM's at crusing speed somewhere around where peak tourq is made. Perhaps those gear vendor things are worth checking out.

merr6267

I worry about the low revs on the stock NV4500. Below about 2k I feel a lot more rattle out of the trans than I do above that. I've had 5th fall off once already. Now maybe if I got a torque king main shaft I'd dare lug it in 5th.

. . . and if I dialed the timing back a little . . .

crabbelle

my peak tq was at 2250 on the dyno if i can get the dyno graph loaded. ive never lugged it in 5th maybe 4th over (6) but never 5th over(8). weve dynod it in 5th though

~Angry Tractor~

Didtn't see the part about the gear vendor. I'm doing about 59 mph @ 2000 rpms. 4:11 gears and 15 mpg.

RichN

Don't laugh. I had a 97 Nissan truck that on a good day would get 19mpg. I got a tonneau cover for free - a solid fiberglass one, not the cheap stretch vinyl. My gas mileage went up to 23mpg. I couldn't believe it. They say modern trucks are designed aerodynamically in a way that the open bed isn't a parasitic drag, but I don't think thats true.

I was able to drive from Modesto, Ca to Burbank ( a litltle over 300 miles)without having to fill up, before I used to have to stop in Valencia to get gas to continue on.

JHew84

My overhead was seeing a consistent 30-33 when I made a trip back from detroit "drafting" a semi not to long ago. If I pulled out from behind the semi it would drop back down into the 20's where it normally hangs out. The entire trip only used 1/4 tank of fuel so the overall economy was not drastically effected, but it did increase from what it normally sits at from my typical in town driving. And my overhead has always been extremely accurate.

CORed

please provide more pics of the airdam from other angles... that is cool! And thanks for sharing.

calsazz

is your lower facia just roof flashing bent and molded at the bumper ?
i haven't hooked up the simple water injection yet, i haven't had a chance to pull the 32', 12' high gooseneck enclosed trailer or tried the veggie oil or WVO either,but this next week i will and want to compare my front end to your wind deflector set up, after i find the right material

i put that solid bumper cover and a stock lower wind deflector on my '97, 5 spd, 3.54 diff, dually and in town mostly driving, it got 23+ mpg
i try to time the red lights, which around here is every signal, and only use 2,3, and 5th gear, w/AC

fordkiller43

I do like that airdam as well!

MikeR

I (as well as alot of people around my area I've talked to) noticed mpg drop when the ULSD fuel hit...and I also could hear a difference in the diesel rattle. I immediately started using Stanadyne, and got all my mileage back and the diesel noise back to 'normal'.

Gear Vendors are not a good product. I see these get destroyed behind 'modern' diesels all the time. I've closely known three guys, that each went through three GV units before finally yarding them out and going back to original (and these guys were all under 325hp). Once these guys figured out the cost of the initial unit, and the cost of having the replacement units installed, they never saved anything, they were in the hole $$. It's a completely different story back in the C6 and Turbo400 days when those motors didn't make gobs of torque at low rpm.
And lower rpm isn't better...depending on your mods you need to run in the sweet spot. And of all the trucks I owned, it is differen't than where they were stock.

isu elvi

See now I find the exact opposite to be true, I hate running my truck over 2k. But it might be that over 2k, I cant hear the rattle from the silencer mia and the straight pipe droan. Either way, my handshaker vibrates/wiggles no matter where i am at in the rpm range.

Regarding tonneau covers, I had one on my truck when I bought it and I pitched it. ( well its in the rafters of the garage) and I did not notice one bit of difference with it on or off, nothing drastic enough to be out of the realm of error.

The 92 reg cab in my sig has always been the dream truck for me to make a mileage miser out of. 3.07 rear with 5 speed and 230ish miles, should be well broke in. However it is still in weekly duty hauling meat with a topper that sticks up like a brick wall about 4 feet over the cab.

calsazz

what did you use to reinforce or support the air dam ?

powermad

with whats in my sig i get 24 to 28 mpg. i go about 550 miles on about 20 gallons i always fill up with 1/4 tank left. but when i am messing around or racing it drops to about 19 mpg. the over head says 26 avg mpg. when i bought the truck with it being stock i was getting 19.7. is it possible to have a automatic gear vendor?

crabbelle

the air dam is made out of a 4'x 8' sheet stainless steel that i stole from work that went on bulkhead of our messdeck. its about 12" wide and i think its almost 8' long, its held by 20+ 2" self tappers. so far its survived a few bump stops and being rolled off a flatbed.

SHARPMACHINE

Pretty cool thread. I wanna put one in a dakota or something to see what one can get??