fuel mileage and truck weight

[jimnance]

Did a Freeway run to PDX and back. Five hundred miles. The first leg was 20. 1 MPG at 70 MPH. The second leg was 17. 8 MPG but was caused in large part by very high winds and hellacious rainstorm.



Scaled the truck and weighed in at 7700 lbs. 80% fuel, and 300 lbs of passenger and baggage. Fifth Wheel hitch was not installed, only the rails were in. Adjusted weight for less fuel, px, bagage, and hitch is 7,120 Lbs. This is one heavy truck!



I see that Edge has an EZ available for the ETH engine. I'm tempted... ... .....

 

[Mathew Clausen]

I drove mine from PDX to bend and back last weekend. Computer indicated 20. 2, I calculated 19. 7. Went over mt. hood on the way there, back over santiam, 50-65 mph mostly. I assume you were driving the gorge with the high winds - I drive to The Dalles often and heading east against the wind will really hurts the mileage!



I also weighed mine when brand new, nothing in it, full tank. 7300 lbs. My 01 6spd HO LB 4x4 was ~7000 lbs. Guess that new cab weighs a bunch. Funny, they keep adding power, but adding weight at the same time. My dads old '91 has 160 hp, but weighs only 5600lbs.



Mathew

 

[Mopar_Mudder]

Originally posted by jimnance

Did a Freeway run to PDX and back. Five hundred miles. The first leg was 20. 1 MPG at 70 MPH. The second leg was 17. 8 MPG but was caused in large part by very high winds and hellacious rainstorm.



Scaled the truck and weighed in at 7700 lbs. 80% fuel, and 300 lbs of passenger and baggage. Fifth Wheel hitch was not installed, only the rails were in. Adjusted weight for less fuel, px, bagage, and hitch is 7,120 Lbs. This is one heavy truck!



I see that Edge has an EZ available for the ETH engine. I'm tempted... ... .....

Edge has something out for the 2003's, do you know something we don't.....

 

[jimnance]

No, just pointing out that the product was available. According to Edge, the production version for the '03 HO is just shipping this coming week. Some Beta chips are floating around and have been used for testing.



The local reseller for Edge suggested I wait for a while as there may still be a few bugs in the production version. Although he said Edge is quite good about replacing boxes that may in some way be defective he suggested waiting until others have put some more miles on the box before buying.



He also said our local dealership has been looking at the installation of boxes and warning that it may void warranty if there is a significant problem. The box is easy to remove, but the clamp used to secure the wastegate line to the elbow is not going to be the same as used by Dodge.



I realize that they cannot deny warranty just because of the existance of the mod, but my experience with Dodge is that they can make warranty service very difficult to obtain if they choose to do so.

 

[jimnance]

The surprising thing about my mileage is that it was so good. Each year it seems the trucks get heavier and the mileage poorer. This is the first year (I had a '91,95, and '99) in which mileage improved. My first CTD got 23 MPG on the road with an automatic transmission with no lock up. My '99 when it was stock would only get about 18 MPG. It increased to 18. 5 when I added the Edge and exhaust system.

 

[radar doctor]

mileage

this sounds good hope the automatics will get 18 i want to order a new 03 soon but want more stuff like what you put on here thanks

 

[mgonske]

I just weighed mine today: 7660 lbs with the A. R. E. topper, full fuel, & no driver. With ~5300 miles on it so far, including ~4,000 miles from Florida to Wisconsin & back, my worst tank has been 15. 7 mpg, and best was 17. 7. Those are calculated numbers at each fill; the mini trip computer average reading for each tank has been anywhere from . 5 to 2 mpg above my actual calculated value.