00 5.9L ram exhaust

I have a 2000 Ram 1500 extended cab with the 5.9L V-8. I am trying to get a little better gas milage out of it. So far I have put new plugs, wires and a throttle body spacer in. My next moves are an open element air filter (similar to cold air) and exhaust. I was going to go duals just for looks but found I would have to loose the spare, something I am not willing to do. I am wondering if anyone out there has given Summit Racing a try. I know Flowmaster would get the job done but found a cat back system from Summit for about $130 as apposed to over $300 for flowmaster. Any thoughts on the subject. I think it might be worth a shot but would like a little input. Thanks in advance.

Why would you have to lose the spare?

I took this picture of my '99 just now, just for you. See my spare?

http://dodge440sixpack.port5.com/pipes.JPG

Yeah if someone told you that you need to lose your spare they're stupid. Ditch the throttle body spacer. Its worthless and will do nothing for you. I have never bought a "name brand" exhaust kit. Just buy the muffler(if thats what your into) and have the exhaust shop do the piping. Name brands just charge 3x more for standard pipe.

don't keep throwing money at it to try to get better mileage. you'll only gain power and prob get worse mileage. it's a full size truck!!! if you want mileage, buy a neon!!!

Thanks for the pic. Summit's website said that you would have to lose the spare, probably because that's the way they made their kit. I will look into it a little more. As for the coment about the neon... I used to drive a full size Chevy Tahoe (stock) with a 5.7L engine, so not much smaller. Consider the fact that it is an SUV you have to assume that it is heavier which would pull down the milage. I was getting about 16-18mph in the city as opposed to the 11-12 I am getting now with my dodge. So if i want better mpg and can't get it out of my ram I will just go back to Chevy, or Ford for that matter but I don't care much for Fords. I'm not expecting to see the milage of a small car but I would expect at least the 16 mpg that you can get out of a Ford or Chevy. Sorry to sound rude but don't insult me and tell me to go buy a car when I obviously want a truck. I do apreciate all the other comment's though. Maybe I will buy the dual cat-back system from Summit Racing and give it a try. If it will not route around the spare as it comes i will just take it to a shop. Oh and added horsepower is a bonus.

Thanks,
Lv2snwbrd

to get 16+ mpg out of your truck you would have to baby the hell out of it. Even doing that i doubt you would see it that high.

You can get 16MPG out of a Ram but you'll have to do all highway driving with the cruise set at 60 mph. The Ram is a heavy truck and not very aerodynamic. Best advice keep your foot out of it. I don't think exhaust would improve your mpg. It will free up some hp and make your truck sound nice. A lot of guys on another forum I belong to like the Flowmaster 40. I just went the cheap route and put a glasspack on my truck. With the 360 it sounds mean. Real deep rumble and it's only $30. It's all in personal taste and what your looking for. I wanted a nice sound on a budget and I got it. A high flow cat might not be a bad investment either. That's what I'm going to put in when my current cat goes.

to get 16+ mpg out of your truck you would have to baby the hell out of it. Even doing that i doubt you would see it that high.
Why not? I get exceptional mileage.

exceptional being 16+ city?

Dunno, I don't live in a city.

I agree... throttle body spacer is a waste of money. Had one on my 99 dakota. They don't work. Cold Air intake will show the most gain I've found on my 2002 5.9L. Exhaust will help breath better... and has potential fuel gains. But it's been my experience that adding dual exhaust always increases the wieght of one's right foot. Hense losing that gain in fuel milage. :grinyes:

With a homemade cold air induction... SRT10 scooped hood, hypertech power programmer and daytona style Mopar Dual exhaust off a hemi. I had my truck up to 19/20 mpg. Unfortunately I installed a colder thermostat trying to run lower test fuels. That's caused a loss in fuel milage. Am going to put it back to 195 thermostat and just run medium grade fuels or higher.

best bang for the buck would be gears. A CAI wouldnt touch it.

True enough about gears... however my truck does a lot of pulling. A 23' boat weighing in close to 7000 lbs. I'm not willing to sacrifice my pulling power for better fuel milage gearing. I rather like my 3:55's and factory 265/65R17's.

The CAI and exhaust have definately helped my 02. However I found the biggest power increase came from the Hypertech Power Programmer. I don't pull my boat all the time though pulling has improved, but my fuel milage has improved noticably through everyday driving.

I had the same mods on my 99 dakota when I had it... cold air intake made the biggest improvement I found (Apart from major mods) Next I added dual exhaust... minor decrease in milage until I got the whole heavy foot cause I loved the sound worked out. *L* After that I found the dual exhaust let it breath easier, didn't hurt my milage any. Throttle body spacer didn't help at all... I wouldn't waste my money on another.

Unfortunately needed a bigger truck to pull my boat so now I'm running a 02 quad 5.9L 4x4. Can't complain at 19/20 mpg highway. Haven't checked it while pulling yet. Boat is still in storage.

If I had a boat, I wouldn't be pulling it around, haha. I'd be one of those pirates.

I plan on owning a yacht once I retire.