2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission New Mileage High Achieved

[Mike Ellis]

My truck will consistently get 20 mpg at 70 mph on my frequent road trips, and has historically been extremely consistent. Earlier this summer I took a trip up to Baltimore and on the way up I was very careful to drive 65 mph as an experiment to check my mileage. I put in 8 oz of Marvel Mystery Oil at fill up here in Texas before I left, and in each subsequent fillup. The first tank was 22 mpg, the second was 23. 3.



On the way back I stopped in Virginia and picked up 2500 pounds of coal, and drove along the Skyway in Shenandoah National Park and then the Blue Ridge parkway. The loaded truck handled great, of course speeds on that road are pretty low. Best part though, coming back to Texas I still averaged 20 mpg at 70 mph with the coal aboard (mostly interstate driving).



I still love my Cummins, even bone stock it gets the job done, but I am :{ about my truck dissolving around me. Paint is almost all gone, dash is split into 3 big pieces :{, and every day it seems like something breaks or sticks or gives up the ghost. Except for the running gear of course, which has been bulletproof. Some wear and tear is inevitable at 180K miles, but the truck body and interior are in FAR worse shape than my old Chevy truck at the same stage of its life. :{



I love my truck, but it's not gonna be any fun riding around on a 5-gallon bucket clamped to a bare frame :{

 

[DonTX]

I got about a twin to yours, same great mileage - with an automatic. Interesting though, even though I have about identical mileage, my cab is still like new, dash in one piece, paint still shiny, etc. Nothing seems to break, just returned from a 4000 mile trip, never a whimper from anything, and mine was made in Mexico too.

 

[foolkiller]

with the cost of a new truck in consideration, you may want to just get it painted and restore the interior. might be worth it.



you could probably completely rebuild that truck for a fourth to half of the cost of a new one.



i think the older trucks will be sort of collector items some day and we'll begin to see folks buy and restore some of the older diesel trucks (12 valves) like people do with 69 camaros and such.



i've already seen it with the 97 f350 4x4s..... great trucks.



especially with what the EPA and california is doing to the advantages of owning a diesel.



i hate to see you guys give up the old faithfuls

 

[CumminsPower98]

20ish seems to be what mine gives most of the time too running 70. I think my high is 22. 5 or something.



At 390k miles my '98 Saint Louis built truck is in great shape with no rust, tight doors, very few rattles, and one piece dash. If I had been the original owner it would be even in even better shape. My main gripe is the steering. I can't seem to get a tight steering gear.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

At 408,000 my '96 still has pretty decent paint, driver seat looks great, no dash cracks, carpet's still pretty good, doors & windows still work almost like new, and when it's all cleaned up some people confuse it for a newer low-mile truck
https://www.turbodieselregister.com/user_gallery/displayalbum.php?&userid=405&albumid=17056

 

[ShortB]

My truck will consistently get 20 mpg at 70 mph on my frequent road trips, and has historically been extremely consistent. Earlier this summer I took a trip up to Baltimore and on the way up I was very careful to drive 65 mph as an experiment to check my mileage. I put in 8 oz of Marvel Mystery Oil at fill up here in Texas before I left, and in each subsequent fillup. The first tank was 22 mpg, the second was 23. 3.



On the way back I stopped in Virginia and picked up 2500 pounds of coal, and drove along the Skyway in Shenandoah National Park and then the Blue Ridge parkway. The loaded truck handled great, of course speeds on that road are pretty low. Best part though, coming back to Texas I still averaged 20 mpg at 70 mph with the coal aboard (mostly interstate driving).



I still love my Cummins, even bone stock it gets the job done, but I am :{ about my truck dissolving around me. Paint is almost all gone, dash is split into 3 big pieces :{, and every day it seems like something breaks or sticks or gives up the ghost. Except for the running gear of course, which has been bulletproof. Some wear and tear is inevitable at 180K miles, but the truck body and interior are in FAR worse shape than my old Chevy truck at the same stage of its life. :{



I love my truck, but it's not gonna be any fun riding around on a 5-gallon bucket clamped to a bare frame :{

I'm also in the DFW area (Arlington/Ft. Worth), and I know of a good (and cheap!) upholstery shop in Ft. Worth that sells and installs the plastic overlay dash covers. If you have them dye it for you, it's hard to tell it's on there. I'll be having mine done pretty soon myself since it's in about the same shape as yours (but at 377k miles, I can't compain:-laf).



A good friend of mine also owns a body shop in Ft. Worth and can give you a good deal on a good quality paint job/body work if you decide to fix that too.



Just PM me if you want any of their info. I like to see as many 12V's kept on the road and enjoyed as possible!

 

[Mike Ellis]

Thanks guys, I am glad to hear some of you have had the paint jobs stay in good shape. There were a bunch of us though with the 2nd Gens that had the same problem with the paint - the primer layer was faulty, and according to the experts some chemical reaction would release a tiny bubble of gas under the paint. This shows up first as thousands of little tiny bubbles in the paint about as big around as a mechanical pencil lead. The first time you see it, you think that some of those bugs left the sticky spots. Unfortunately, these bubbles grow, then cracks form and join the bubbles, and the paint starts peeling off in chunks



I wrangled with DC quite a bit over this and couldn't squeeze any money out of them to fix the truck, they gave me every excuse in the book but the most popular ones were "You weren't original owner" and "Well look how long it lasted". Idiots.



After I took it into a few body shops and heard how much it would cost to take it down to bare metal, reprime, and repaint, I decided it ran PRETTY GOOD for an ugly old truck :-laf :-laf



According to the paint and body guys, if you paint over the existing primer the same thing will happen again, but faster.

 

[JRS]

I own a truck very similar to yours, same thing paint and dash. However, my interior is miles ahead in quality compared to my '84 Dodge.

 

[Grizzly]

I got about a twin to yours, same great mileage - with an automatic. Interesting though, even though I have about identical mileage, my cab is still like new, dash in one piece, paint still shiny, etc. Nothing seems to break, just returned from a 4000 mile trip, never a whimper from anything, and mine was made in Mexico too.

Don, Dodge trucks made in Mexico have been respectively better in every way then Dodge trucks made in St Louis. My 95 was made in Mexico and I never once had a problem with it. When I ordered my 05 Dodge, I told the dealer that if this truck doesn't come out of Mexico, I don't want it. It too was made in Mexico. I don't get the great mileage that Mike Ellis gets however.

 

[JRS]

I look at it this way, and trust me I'm not a union supporter, if these folks on the assembly line are given junk to assemble then junk can only be the end result. My '84 had a double wammy, low quality materials and low quality workmanship (screws driven in incompletely or at angles) My '97 is light years ahead of it. (sure there is still room for improvement, my '84's dash never cracked and it was HARD plastic) For some fun, check out the interior of a '97 Ford diesel or a '97 Chevy diesel (If you can find a '97 Chevy still running!) I think you'll see that ours hold up fairly well.

 

[DonTX]

I guess I did not know there was a choice, assumed all of em were built in Mexico.

Mine for sure was assembled with great care and still seems like a brand new one, but it is over 10 years old and has over 185k miles on it.

Don, Dodge trucks made in Mexico have been respectively better in every way then Dodge trucks made in St Louis. My 95 was made in Mexico and I never once had a problem with it. When I ordered my 05 Dodge, I told the dealer that if this truck doesn't come out of Mexico, I don't want it. It too was made in Mexico. I don't get the great mileage that Mike Ellis gets however.

 

[DMoon]

Nice ride!! My 1995 had the same paint scheme but due to the lovely Buffalo winters several years ago I had to do some body work and decidd to paint my all black; actually happy with the color but it does show the dirt

 

[The patriot]

I'm sure my 98 12 valve will do 20 mpg's @ 70 if I timed it up. I'm stock except for the 370 injectors.

Oh yea, 70 has to be according to the GPS.

70 on the speedo is about 76-78 actual. I got the 265 tires, and that screwed up the speedo plenty. :-laf

Eric



BTW My paint (black) is doing OK, the dash is good/no cracks, however I do have about 60K less miles than you do.

 

[SRath]

CounterAct Electronic Rust Protection System - Corrosion Control



Check this link guys. I have sent an inquiry to them to get pricing. I like what they claim and I like the independent lab testing, testimonials, articles, etc. that back it up. I don't think this one is a gimmick.



One point they make that I never considered is that their product not only deters rust everywhere on the vehicle, it also helps keep your paint looking shiny and new. That's because the enemy of paint is also oxidation, which is what their product prevents.



I like the fact that it is effective on older vehicles with some rust already started. It can't reverse it, but it does seem to stop it from progressing. I like that it protects where no rusrproofing spray or liquid can get.



Seriously, after all the money I've spent on Zeibart and the self-rustproofing, if this isn't eye-popping expensive, I'm going to buy it and try it. It would be interesting to see if they were confident enough to shoot us a group-buy price and possibly even advertising on TDR. We could definitely put it to the test!



I know of few vehicle owners who need it more or would be more willing to buy it if it was proven (to us) to work. Our trucks' drivelines, the engines especially, are built to last far longer than the body, and that's too bad, but also unique.



I, for one, will not even consider a newer vehicle. I don't want computers and emissions garbage. That's why I bought this truck. With 150K miles now, and figuring 10K to 15K per year for me (most likely 10k or less now that I bought a 40mpg daily beater 75hp 3-cylinder subaru. Hey, it's 4wd at least!), I plan on the Cummins outliving me. I just need to figure out how to keep the Dodge from falling off it.



Lets see: 850K more miles to it's first overhaul at 1 million miles. So that's anywhere between 57 to 85 more years, which will make me somewhere between 104 and 132 years old! I might need those extenda-step things by then...



I'm not cheap-shooting (shotting?) Dodge, either. Considering the extreme conditions it endures as my plow truck, it is hands down the least rust-prone vehicle I have yet owned. It's worth investing in saving it.

 

[surfbeetle]

My paint started peeling a few years back. I drove it like that for a few more years. Then when TDR did that story on the McKinley custom sleeper, I decided to get one rather than getting a bigger truck. I painted my truck and the sleeper was painted to match. I got to keep my 24 mpg cummins and got a back seat for a lot cheaper than a new truck.



Now if I could just figure a way to pay for that new Challenger that I want next year, my truck would get even less miles...

 

[FLynes]

23. 3MPG... . you 3. 54 guys stink!



Seriously, though, I've had the reverse experience with my '01 St. Louis truck. I love the assembly quality that went into it, and the interior and paint are holding up well. I have no cracks on my dash, and no rust issues anywhere. The only thing I've done to it was to have the outer panel of the driver's seat replaced with a new piece of leather... . the original owner liked getting in and out by sliding, rather than getting up.



My 1997 Saltillo 2500, on the other hand, was a piece of garbage. The fit and finish of it just plain sucked. The paint quality sucked... . the clearcoat was coming off in several places, the cloth was separated at the seams on all seats, both front and rear, I had rust on my lower door panels and the ever unreliable 46RE (Yeah, the truck was a Gasser) lived up to my expectations and crudded out on me at 96,000 miles, while I was towing my travel trailer (I never towed in OD either).

 

[DonTX]

23. 3MPG... . you 3. 54 guys stink!



You can have mine as soon as I find a good 3. 30 to replace it with, should bump me up to 27mpg or so!:-laf

 

[georgej]

I have agree with FLynes. My ST. Louis built 3500 has been flawless in assembly quality, I have 106k miles ,no paint problems, no rust, original vp, interor still looks new,shiny chrome and only one squeak in the front end that is driving me crazy:-laf. Seriously I appaude the crew at the St. Louis plantOo.

 

[FLynes]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, I still have the original VP and the original LP and have 110,000 miles.



Crap, I need some wood to knock on now.....

 

[The patriot]

Fueled up yesterday. 15. 1 gal's and 300 miles. 19. 86 MPG's.

That's not even really trying. It was 90% highway A 2K RPM's or less.

If I smoked didnt "smoke" one or two gassers it would have been 20.

Eric