It's Heeeeerrrre :) NEW '05, MPG info too...

[thejeepdude]

Well, I ordered June 20, 2004. They built my truck 3 weeks later. For the past several months I have been calling the dealer, Dodge customer service, and everyone I could think of to try and locate my truck. It had been "in storage" during this whole time, whatever the heck that means. Talk about frustrating, having a new truck that you can't get your hands on! Well, much to my surprise, the dealership called me yesterday and said "we located your truck and had someone go pick it up and it's now sitting on our lot"!! YEEHAW!!



I took a trip over to the dealership having not yet 100% decided if I wanted this truck. The heated seats weren't availble with the J package when I ordered and I REALLY wanted them. Then there's the MPG issues. My mind has been put to ease a little bit due to the reflash helping a lot of people, but I still didn't want to end up with a 12MPG truck pre-reflash so I insisted on driving it before I took delivery.



Man this thing is smoooth. No vibrations at any speed. I took her up to 80 or so to make sure. Oh man, I didn't realize how much I missed that turbo whistle! The CTD is music to my ears... being without one since May has made me that much more appreciative of what a marvelous work of engineering this motor is. Now for the MPG: I was a little nervous heading for the freeway because it was reading 6. 8MPG on the overhead, but this was stop n stop traffic. I hit the freeway and got her up to 70mph and hit the reset button on the overhead. At first it jumped to 21mpg but I think we were going slightly downhill. Over the next couple miles it settled at about 16. 8-17. 2MPG @ 70MPH. Not bad for a truck with 18 miles on the ticker, I would say! If she gets 1-2 MPG improvement on break-in, that puts me in the 18-19MPG range. I can live with that! But wait, it gets better! As it turns out, my engine build date was 8/11/04. This makes me eligable for the 18-037-04 TSB. I decided to leave the truck at the dealership and they are doing this first thing this morning. I am supposed to pick up the truck in a few hours, and I will let everyone know the results after I take her home! I know I can't be too excited before I do a hand-calc, but if I get anywhere near 20MPG on the display at 70MPH I will be a very happy boy!!



So, screw the heated seats, I don't want to wait another 3 months for them!! Oh yeah, and this is the first sunroof equipped truck I've seen, and let me tell you it's awesome! The fit and finish of the sunroof is very nice. Overall I'm extremely happy with the truck so far, and hope it proves to be a solid, reliable performer for at least the next 10 years / 300K miles that I plan to keep her!



I'll take some pics (of sunroof especially since I haven't seen pics out there yet) later today and update this thread as I find out more about my new baby! Now you can all be happy that you can quit listening to me whine!

 

[Tomeygun]

Well, I ordered June 20, 2004. They built my truck 3 weeks later. For the past several months I have been calling the dealer, Dodge customer service, and everyone I could think of to try and locate my ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...



I'll take some pics (of sunroof especially since I haven't seen pics out there yet) later today and update this thread as I find out more about my new baby! Now you can all be happy that you can quit listening to me whine!

thats killer!!, congrats



All that wait for a sunroof that they would eventually release, I would love to you know why the sunroofed ones were held back ??!?!?



I bet a supply issue, or a quality issue and they had to wait until the new ones were in to put the better one in your truck



again, congrats, and bombs away!

 

[mberry]

It's about dang time!!! Congrats on the new ride! I can't wait for the pictures!!! If I knew how to post them I would have put mine up already!

 

[thejeepdude]

Hey one thing I forgot to mention about the truck... on the window sticker it says it's a 325/610. However, it hadn't had the 18-037-04 TSB yet. It had been theorized that the TSB gets a 600 up to 610, but being this was a 610 before the flash, this seems to indicate that the 610 torque figure MUST be a marketing thing. Fine with me, I don't care... I have the 610 sticker to prove to my buddies that my truck is superior to their 600!

 

[TCrawley]

I have seen your name many times before and i am very happy you got your truck. It sounds sweet. Did you get a 6spd or auto, just curious. Well enjoy the sweet sound of ctd and remove the silencer ring for some extra noise. It sounds like heaven to me... .

 

[thejeepdude]

Well, I picked her up! Did I say this already?



I LOVE THIS TRUCK!!



OK, so on the way home I reset the overhead when I hit the freeway. The drive from fulton to highway 65 (for those familiar with the area) is eastbound toward the foothills and therefore averages slightly uphill. I set the cruise at 70mph and didn't touch it the whole way after that. The overhead displayed 17. 9-18. 1 most of the way. I'm happy with that for a truck with 40 miles on it! Now the good part. When I merged onto hwy 65 I reset the overhead again. Between I80 and Blue Oaks (about 5 miles) I set the cruise at 65MPH. It never dropped under 20MPG, with the average reading at the offramp being 21. 7. Granted, I know this may be optimistic and only hand calcs will tell, but I am just so relieved that I didn't end up with a 12-14mpg truck. I have confidence that it will be at least 17MPG on the highway consistently which is all I was expecting. Anything else is just a bonus! I can't wait to hook up the 10K trailer and break her in good. Will keep everyone posted!



Oh, and yes, the baffle will be coming out.

 

[Alvarez Knives]

Great Mileage

Jeepdude,



I picked up my 05 2500 SLT LWB 6spd on Oct 9. I also experienced the 20+ mpg initially and then settled at 18 on the hwy. I currently have 2200 miles on it and could not be happier. I think the build date on my truck is 8/10. I am also eligible for the TSB, but am currently getting 17 around town and 19 hwy. I may get the TSB, but it seems to just keep improving. The overhead matches the hand calc every time. Keep us posted on the TSB results, as I am interested as to how you do.



Pete

 

[DPelletier]

Congratulations Jeepdude!



Is the laramie J package the one with the Leather and upscale trim but with the floor shifter for the transfercase?



I also suspect the 610 is marketing (after all the hp is the same), but either way you still have the most torque of any pickup ever built! Cool. Hey waitaminute, I guess it has the most torque of any passenger vehicle ever built. Cooler yet.



From your posts I get the sense that you are relatively happy with your new truck. All I can say is that after 12mo driving mine, It still "turns my crank" as much as it did the first day!



Enjoy,



Dave

 

[GFritsch]

Congrats after all this time and deliberation. I know you held off in large part for mpg worries. Glad to here that you getting good mileage.



So get some pics in your readers rigs area so we can track your trucks evolution.

Greg

 

[macdaddy]

I just got mine 10/30 3500 4X4 Larmie DRW H package 6SPD 4:10's with a build date of some time in Oct. For the record the H package comes standard with the elec shift on the fly 4WD and the J Package come standard with the manual shift on the fly with the option to upgrade to the elec shift in the fly. I hope I dont get anybody mad when I say that alot of you gentleman are obsessed with gas mileage when it comes to the 3500 DRW 4X4's. I had the same truck in a 99 with the same gearing, and I got tell you anything above 16 MPG and I'm happy and thats with the price for CARB diesel here in CA you guys running the EPA blend should be happy for that alone. However that being said the CTD loves the CARB blend as this has a Cetane rating in the mid 50's the EPA blend is waydown in the mid 40's so your getting something for the extra for the price. I work for a major refining Co here in so ca.

 

[tschwab]

Congrats Jeepdude! It has been a long time waiting for the new ride. Intresting your window sticker says 610 and your still eligible for the flash? Mine said 600 and serial #'s and build date put me near the very end of the trucks eligible for the flash. Mine is getting flashed today, will post results later on.

 

[jsimpson]

Shoot, the overhead on my 03 reads 23. 5 around town and country road home. But it ain't gettin' NEAR that!

 

[b.ferrara]

mpg

I don't know if it matters on 3rd gen, but on my 1st and 2nd gen trucks

if you drop the tailgate you can get anywhere from 2 to 4 mpg more.

good luck with your trucks, I'm waiting to see if the rumors are true for 2006,

a FULL rear door FULL crew cab. If true I will be ordering one the day after they announce it.

 

[tschwab]

I don't know if it matters on 3rd gen, but on my 1st and 2nd gen trucks

if you drop the tailgate you can get anywhere from 2 to 4 mpg more.

good luck with your trucks.

I have yet to see any increase in MPG with the tailgate down or with a tonneau cover or a 5th wheel tailgate. TDR did an article a while back even saying you are bound to get worse MPG without a tailgate or leaving it down.

 

[tschwab]

I'm waiting to see if the rumors are true for 2006,

a FULL rear door FULL crew cab. If true I will be ordering one the day after they announce it.

My 3G has real doors in the back and even though it is not as big as a chev or ford in the rear, it suits my need just fine. I'm glad you will be 1st in line ordering a 2006, we need people like you to test out a new model and get the bugs out of a new design.

 

[kwb]

congrats on the new truck - I know what you mean about being excited about this truck! I have owned many fine cars and trucks, but none that make me smile more than this one when driving it.



I have the heated seats and love them (and I live in SoCal). You should check out Genos Garage - I understand he sells them for your seats.



Good luck.

 

[thejeepdude]

Well, just an update. . spent a good part of the weekend driving the new truck and I am still ! I finally got a few pics, which I'll attach to this message. Now for the MPG update. . I finally managed to burn a full tank of fuel. This tank consisted of about 150 miles of around town driving, some stop and go traffic and normal commuting, and the other 450 miles or so were spent driving up and down the Sierra Nevada mountains from almost zero to about 7200' elevation, with the cruise set between 55-70 most of the time, and a couple bursts to 80+. I had filled the tank to the brim, and I got 608. 7 miles before reaching a DTE of 6 miles. The low fuel idiot light came on at about 540 miles. I put 34. 8 gallons in to fill it back up to the top of the neck. This gives me a hand calc of 17. 48 MPG on my first tank. NOT BAD!! I'm please with this, and it can only get better after I load up my trailer and tug it up some hills.



A couple of observations so far... this truck has enough torqe to lock up in OD at 43MPH and 1300RPM and hold speed up a 6%+ grade without down shifting!! My '99 couldn't do that. For that matter my '99 would have been scary driving that speed around some of those 30mph turns. This truck handles like a dream! I'm sure being able to stay locked up saved me quite a bit of fuel navigating the kingsbury grade and surrounding hills. The other thing I figured out is that I will run the truck in tow/haul mode 99% of the time. This mode will lock up the TC way more agressively than without it being engaged. I noticed after about 50 in-town miles my MPG had settled right around 15. 3. Once I started playing with the tow/haul mode, I noticed the display gradually increasing to about 16. 5 on the same streets and conditions. There must be a lot of wasted energy in that TC's fluid coupling.



Overall, I LOVE THIS TRUCK!!! Oh wait, did I say that already?



Here's a couple pics:

 

[thejeepdude]

BTW, I'm thinkin about calling her "snowball"... is that too girlie?

 

[mberry]

BTW, I'm thinkin about calling her "snowball"... is that too girlie?

Yes it is. :-laf :-laf

 

[Udaloy]

So where's the pictures of the sun roof?