Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) Have you ever done the math?

[SRath]

Red Rattler's post "435k miles" got me thinkin' and cipherin' my Jethro Bodine gozintas: "Twenty gozinta 500,000 25,000 times... "

Over the next 500k miles (my barely broken in '96 has 140k), at a wishful $2. 50 per gallon, and a current, say 20mpg, what would a mere 1 mpg improvement gained from lockout hubs save me? That is a conservative 5% improvement estimate and savings based on what others have claimed from converting to lockouts and using a very conservative price of fuel.

(500,000/20) x (2. 5) x (. 05) = $xxxx. xx

so: (25,000 gallons) x $2. 50 per gallon = $62,500. 00 x 5% (21mpg instead of 20mpg) = $3,125. 00 saved

That means just a 1 mpg improvement definitely pays for the upgrade and then some, but it might take me about 20 years to do so. A 2mpg improvement is enough to buy another used Cummins Dodge!

In one million more miles, I will have spent enough on fuel through that Cummins to have paid for a decent 3BR house around here!!

At the current real-world price of fuel, about $2. 70 today, and the likely increases, those numbers get much larger very fast.

It will also be the year 2060 and make me almost 99 years old at the current 10k per year mile accumulation on that truck!!

THAT means if I can get a MILLION more miles out of that Cummins Dodge, I will live to be 149!!!! :--)

Since GAmes has over 725k miles already, just how old is that geezer?!!

 

[AClayton]

Yeah,but if you keep the truck you'll need to rebuild the front-end at least every 2 yrs. Cheaper to put a real 60 with lock-outs in and modify said axle to fit... . just sayin'

 

[gathomas]

New - Old Math

Red Rattler's post "435k miles" got me thinkin' and cipherin' my Jethro Bodine gozintas: "Twenty gozinta 500,000 25,000 times... "





You've got your Math all wrong!!!!!!!!

Let's go back and reconfigure Jethro's math... ... ... ... ...



http://www.youtube.com/v/Bfq5kju627c

 

[SRath]

Ha, ha, ha! I would show that to my boys but I'm afraid it just might be too convincing!

 

[fest3er]

Ha, ha, ha! I would show that to my boys but I'm afraid it just might be too convincing!

Your numbers are close, but not exact.

25000. 0000 gal. = 500000 miles / 20 mpg

23809. 5238 gal. = 500000 miles / 21 mpg



1190. 4762 gal. saved = 25000 gal. - 23809. 5238 gal. 



$2976. 1905 saved = 1190. 4762 gal. * $2. 50/gal.

Hmmm. I switch to Amsoil in the trans and diff at about 90K and saw about 1. 5 MPG improvement. Being at 265K now, and assuming I averaged $1. 80 per gal. since 2000:

10294. 11764 gal. = 175000 miles / 17 mpg

9459. 45945 gal. = 175000 miles / 18. 5 mpg



834. 65819 gal. saved = 10294. 11764 gal. - 9459. 45945 gal. 



$1502. 38474 saved = 834. 65819 gal. * $1. 80/gal.

Now consider an OTR semi, going from 4 MPG to 5 MPG for a million miles. That saves 50,000 gallons of fuel and $125K (at $2. 50/gal. ) over about a 3 year period. Fleet of 100 trucks? That's almost $4M saved each year. Now y'all see why smart owner and managers spent a lot of money on new rigs before the new emissions rules that dropped fuel economy came into effect.



So over the long term, it can be worth spending some money on things that increase fuel economy a little.

 

[Grizzly]

Red Rattler's post "435k miles" got me thinkin' and cipherin' my Jethro Bodine gozintas: "Twenty gozinta 500,000 25,000 times... "



Over the next 500k miles (my barely broken in '96 has 140k), at a wishful $2. 50 per gallon, and a current, say 20mpg, what would a mere 1 mpg improvement gained from lockout hubs save me? That is a conservative 5% improvement estimate and savings based on what others have claimed from converting to lockouts and using a very conservative price of fuel.



(500,000/20) x (2. 5) x (. 05) = $xxxx. xx



so: (25,000 gallons) x $2. 50 per gallon = $62,500. 00 x 5% (21mpg instead of 20mpg) = $3,125. 00 saved



That means just a 1 mpg improvement definitely pays for the upgrade and then some, but it might take me about 20 years to do so. A 2mpg improvement is enough to buy another used Cummins Dodge!



In one million more miles, I will have spent enough on fuel through that Cummins to have paid for a decent 3BR house around here!!



At the current real-world price of fuel, about $2. 70 today, and the likely increases, those numbers get much larger very fast.



It will also be the year 2060 and make me almost 99 years old at the current 10k per year mile accumulation on that truck!!



THAT means if I can get a MILLION more miles out of that Cummins Dodge, I will live to be 149!!!! :--)



Since GAmes has over 725k miles already, just how old is that geezer?!!

You've got too much time on your hands.

 

[Rattler]

This is where the saying " ignorence is bliss" comes from. Sometimes we are just better off not knowing. :-laf

 

[hsmith]

GAmes isn't quite an old "geezer" just yet, but he is working on it!!

 

[SRath]

"Now y'all see why smart owner and managers spent a lot of money on new rigs before the new emissions rules that dropped fuel economy came into effect. "



I BEGGED them to let me keep my old tractor and warned them these new barbeque grill models would suck huge amounts of money in fuel costs and maintainence, but nobody ever accused our management folks of being smart. They are the types that think the more computerized gadgets and gizmos and crap, the better it must be...



The truck is honestly at its best when half the warning lights are lit up on the dash proclaiming the override-the-driver sensors are malfunctioning and those systems aren't working, which is most of the time after only 88k miles and less than 1 year of driving.



Repair and down-time costs, not to mention lousy fuel economy, even on warrantied trucks, has gotten so out of hand that they have fired and hired 3 different shop managers in the past year. Smog system problems? "Drive it till it drops and we'll just call a tow truck. "



As for "driver input", well, their new company slogan, found on banners, calendars, etc. everywhere on the premises is now "Good Drivers JUST Drive".



Yeah, that should solve everything... :-laf

 

[bheiting]

I always loved those Ma and Pa Kettle matinees at the theater when I was

a kid.

SRath, don't give up. The cure for aging is just around the corner.



Just having a Cummins under the hood; priceless.

 

[GAmes]

It will also be the year 2060 and make me almost 99 years old at the current 10k per year mile accumulation on that truck!!





Since GAmes has over 725k miles already, just how old is that geezer?!!

There's your problem. You only drive it 10k a year, I sometimes drive 10k in 2 1/2 weeks. I drove 16k in Jan of this year and didn't break a sweat:-laf



I do need to find another hobby though, at age 62 I sometimes get a little tuckered after a 600 mile day.



I did the math and it only took 58k topay for my PDR cam, it gave me an honest 2 mpg.

 

[GAmes]

GAmes isn't quite an old "geezer" just yet, but he is working on it!!

Not too old to try to wrestle a G56 into a NV4500 space though. It'll be in there tomorrow if I have to sawsall the floorboard out:-laf

 

[SRath]

At 62, you're too young to have enough time on your hands to drive 16k in a month, GAmes! Even a professional truck driver could not legally log that many miles. 12k in 4 weeks is enough to leave a guy saddle-sore, so you must have a cast-iron butt!

I dream of the day I can buy a Northern Lite or Bigfoot and just point my diesel Dodge wherever I please. I'll be a heckuvalot older than 62 if it ever happens.

But I definitely do put in my time behind the wheel of a big diesel; it just isn't my truck and it isn't fun anymore. Somewhere between 2. 5 and 3 million miles over the past 25 years (not counting personal vehicle driving).

 

[GAmes]

At 62, you're too young to have enough time on your hands to drive 16k in a month, GAmes! Even a professional truck driver could not legally log that many miles.

I have lots of time on my hands, retired from the Army when I was 46. I'm no pro, but I do get paid to drive. You are right, keeping a logbook to match the miles is a challenge, but to average 60 mph for 11 hours is possible, especially if empty. I don't work that hard very often either, usually I drive between 8 and 10k a month, sometimes less, sometimes none. (There is fishing to be done, after all:-laf) I had about 138k on the clock when I started transporting 6 1/2 years ago, so I'm averaging a little under 100k a year which includes personnal trips. Last year I took off for three months and towed the 5er to Alaska and back.



As for a "cast iron butt", logging 8 hours of flight time in a helicopter in one day makes 11 hours in a Dodge seat seem like childs play. The nice thing was not to have to dodge 4 wheelers, but the constant vibration and noise level is pretty tiring. Plus FAA regs on top of Army flight regs are just as daunting, if not more so, as DOT.