Gas Mileage Question - Long Distance Driving

[FairyDust]

First off I know nothing about trucks. I'm posting this asking this for both me and my husband. We're driving from Washington State to New Jersey this August. We're stopping in Oregon, Texas, New Orleans and then finally in New Jersey where we'll be for the next 3yrs. His truck gets pretty crappy gas mileage in my opinion. he has a 2001 1500 4x4 off road v8 with a shortbed (dunno if the bed makes a difference). We both want to maximize the amount of gas we'll get.

So I was wondering if there is anything we can do to the truck to get better gas mileage. He may also tow a small travel trailer. Don't know yet, I don't want to but he wants to. I know on cars there are some things like cold air intakes and stuff that you can change that will give you better gas mileage. Is it the same on a truck or different?

[bassho]

Dont let anyone tell you you can get better becuase it wont happen if tried everything everyone has said and still no better if you want to get beter fuel milage go buy a chevy before you go on trip

[fredjacksonsan]

Easy on the gas and keep it under 65(hard to do on long trips). Towing something will reduce your mpg.

Driving it is cheaper than shipping it, unless you're military.

[FairyDust]

keeping it under 65 will help? not quite something I wanted to hear, but since he's a slowpoke he'll love to hear that.

I agree on the chevy, he loves dodge and the truck is his so I don't care what brand he has, but if i was to buy a truck I'd go with chevy myself.

The military is moving us, but he doesn't want it shipped cause he wants to tow a trailer. I was looking forward to this road trip cause I get to stay in Texas and see family and go to New Orleans. But the appeal of being stuck in a truck with him towing a trailer is just getting less and less appealing. and I'm still trying to talk him out of towing. Because the military will only pay us so much for mileage and all that stuff. So I have a feeling given what the truck already gets and then towing something he's gonna wind up screwing us over money wise.

[fredjacksonsan]

Yeah; the faster you go the more gas you use, due to wind resistance. It's why the gov't set the 55mph speed limit in the 70's, to reduce gas used. Most vehicles get best mileage between50 and 60.

Sounds like you've got a long trip planned, through Oregon to TX then up to NJ. How many days are you planning?

[BleedDodge]

Tell him you'll leave him if he doesn't ship the truck.

[FairyDust]

don't give me any ideas bleeddodge lol.

I can deal with driving it, its the towing part thats aggravating me. I just can't understand why he wants to buy a trailer to tow. We're staying in hotels!! He's just been itching to buy a trailer for like a year now. And again I dunno why cause the only time we go camping is when we go hunting and the tent works just fine. And we don't even have a tow hitch or whatever on the truck anyway, so he'd have to get one and install it and stuff too.

We're planning 14 days. Don't have it all set in stone yet, and I was basing it on going 75 most of the way since thats the speed limit in a lot areas we'd be travelling. So now I'm thinking we may have to spend more time on driving than I'd thought. yet another reason to not let him get a damn trailer.

but we were basically planning to go from here to The Dalles Oregon (his parents) which is 3hrs away, stay 2 nights. Then to San Antonio Texas which my guesstimate is 3 days to get there. then stay a night or two there with my family. Then drive 5hrs to Beaumont stay the night with a friend, then 5hrs to New Orleans and I don't know yet how long we'd stay and then 2 days to McGuire New jersey.

But that was all based on being able to go the speed limit the whole time.

[BleedDodge]

Maybe he thinks pulling a trailer is the cool thing to do these days...

[FairyDust]

I dunno, but I talked him out of it!!!

He couldn't give a good argument as to why we need one. So I finally talked him out of the damn trailer and now he's getting a canopy. Now that will be useful actually. I really don't know his obession with trailers. His dad has like 3 boats, I have no idea how many trailers for wood and cars and stuff. Plus a camping trailer, etc. So I just wonder if it comes from his dad.

Now the drive should be better and the gas mileage shouldn't suck as bad. He was talking about if he lowered the gears it'd help gas mileage because right now the gears are set for climbing or 4x4ing and not highway driving. Is this true? Told him not to bother, but I'm just curious if thats actually true.

[fredjacksonsan]

Buying a trailer just because he wanted to tow it across the US? Glad you talked him out of it. You buy a trailer because you need it (or at least that's what I thought!)

There are different gearsets you could put in; generally, gears that give you more power(climb/4x4) allow the engine to run faster to generate more power, and hence use more gas. Highway gears let the engine run slower, in theory saving gas (but with big tires and highway gears you actually use more, so there's a break point somewhere depending on the vehicle)

In any case, it would probably be more money to change the gears than it would be to just drive the truck as is.

Now you can ship the truck and drive your car. That'll really save gas.

[BleedDodge]

The canopy will help, with wind and everything. Then at least you won't have that vacuum coming down off the cab into the box. I don't think it would make enough difference as to pay for itself over the length of the trip, but that's a start anyway.

[mhocking]

cruise control... seems to help me...the longer the better..i drove from NY to indiana 75mph cruis control as much as possible got 17-20 mpg ..not towing anything..5.9l 4x4 extended cab ram

Originally Posted by FairyDust

First off I know nothing about trucks. I'm posting this asking this for both me and my husband. We're driving from Washington State to New Jersey this August. We're stopping in Oregon, Texas, New Orleans and then finally in New Jersey where we'll be for the next 3yrs. His truck gets pretty crappy gas mileage in my opinion. he has a 2001 1500 4x4 off road v8 with a shortbed (dunno if the bed makes a difference). We both want to maximize the amount of gas we'll get.

So I was wondering if there is anything we can do to the truck to get better gas mileage. He may also tow a small travel trailer. Don't know yet, I don't want to but he wants to. I know on cars there are some things like cold air intakes and stuff that you can change that will give you better gas mileage. Is it the same on a truck or different?

[KahneFan]

My Brother-in-Law swears by K&N Air Filters. He buys them for every truck he ownes and tries to convice me to purchase them. I may be buying a Dodge soon, does anyone know if these actually help gas mileage like he tells me they do?

Also, does a true duel exhaust help MPG?

Finally, would just dropping the tailgate and/or purchasing an alternative tailgate which allows wind to pass through help as much as a canaopy? (It may be cheaper).

[TurboDuck]

My '97, 5.9, Club Cab, 4x4 got 17+ on the highway at 70+ MPH. Pretty consistently. The only mod was a K&N air filter, and good spark plugs.

It will also depend on Engine size, gear ratios, as well as tire size and tread pattern. All these thing will play a role in what mileage you get. Bigger, aggressive tires have a higher rolling resistance, causing the truck to work harder. Lower gears (higher numerically) will cause the engine to run at a higher RPM, which will use more fuel. Big tires and the 5.2 liter will probably get less fuel mileage than the same setup with a 5.9. The smaller engine has to work harder to move the truck.

Ex. Some people I know (tried) to pull a 32' camper from Ohio to Wyoming last year. They were using a Dodge 4x2, quad cab, with the 5.2 engine. Once they got past Chicago, the wind load was so bad that they were only able to maintain about 45 MPH, and were getting about 5 MPG. (Basically they were running with the gas pedal on the floor.) They dropped the camper somewhere along the way, and decided it would be cheaper to stop at Motels.

Anyway, it really depends on how the truck is setup. Dodges aren't known for their fuel mileage, but any truck that's badly configured can have the same problem.

[KahneFan]

I found a Ram forum which was very helpful as far as MPG goes...

DodgeForum

I have been contimplating purchasing a Ram lately (always been a Chevy guy) and this Forum definitely answered some Q's.