New to the 3G have some milage questions

[jraker]

Just bought a newly used 06 mega. Dave Smith found one with only 17,700 miles on it so I snatched it up and said good bye to my old friend. I am still getting used to this truck and the way it drives. This one has 3. 73 gears where the last one had 4. 10 but was somewhere inbetween since it had 35's. Noticed my trip from the tri-cities up to dave smith in the '01 I was getting ~17. 6 mpg. On the way home I got 17. 73 (all hand calc'd, although the lie-o-meter is getting closer). This truck is bone stock. I would have expected better milage especially since most of the trip from ID is mostly downhill. Both trucks were autos.



So here is the question. I want to improve the MPG on this truck but not have to do everything I did to the 01 (still listed in my signature). I plan on adding a canopy and that should help a little. I seem to remember when I put larger tires and the Banks Power Pack on the last truck my milage jumped. This was all a blur since I got married, got laid off, got hired and moved to Alabama all in a months time. In any regard, the truck left Seattle fully loaded with all our worldly posessions and averaged 20. 36 mpg over the 2300 mile trek to Huntsville. When we moved back it got 19. 78 with the same load plus a little. The best I got out of it before the upgrades was ~15. 7. I saw an article in Diesel power that tested adding a DynaPro front hubs. They saw a 2. 5mpg increase on the 6. 7L.



1. Should I add the hubs, anyone have experience with this?

2. Should I hack out the kitty?

3. Are there any exhaust upgrades I should consider?

4. Any gains on the intake elbow (banks, ATS, AFE, CFM)

5. If it comes to a mild programer which one should I use. Seems like smarty is the way to go but worried I will have to upgrade the transmission.



(I would like to keep this truck forever as I did my last one. Do I need to upgrade the transmission now for longevity? Is there something I could upgrade without the cost of a whole transmission that could save me from that later down the road?) Lots of questions.



Joel

 

[BGlidewell]

1. gauges
   
2. intake
   
3. smarty
   

 

[AH64ID]

1. gauges
   
2. intake
   
3. smarty
   

Depending on the hp level an intake is not need, and really provides no benefit below 450rwhp (I have seen the dyno runs to back that up). .



A Smarty Jr will yield a small bump in mileage.



Otherwise the biggest effect on mileage is your right foot.



The hubs will help some, but it takes a lot of fuel to pay for the price tag. Same thing with a cam, its just takes too many miles to only do it for mileage.

 

[p-Bar]

If you are getting that kind of mileage i wouldn't touch it . All the stuff I did to mine i didn't think it was worth it. Maybe 50hp injectors

 

[JExum]

A cfm air intake horn for about 350 on mine made a better improvement than the stage 2afe airfilter system and was cheaper. It also lowered my egts by about 75-100 degrees and speed up the cool down time for the turbo. The cfm horn will add about 30hp to 40hp I could feel the gain. It might help your mpgs a little like 1/4 to 1/2 mile gain. But a Smarty tuner is good for 2 to 3 mpgs. Getting 17mpgs on a newer 5. 9 is probably right. With everything I have added to my truck it averages 16-17 best ever was 19. 4 but mines a 4x4 longbed that weights almost 9,000 lbs.

 

[Mark31]

As a cheap starting place, I would consider the newer Mopar air filter and see if it had any effect on mileage. The part number is 53034249AA. Also, I wonder if a 10k or so load on her for a few hours would help break her in. Hope you got a good 'un! Mark

 

[Southbound]

jraker-

Your post didnt say if you had an auto or manual (maybe I missed it). If you have a manual (G56) then 17 mpg is right. Unfortunately the 06 got the first gen transmission which has a low final drive (6th) which basically converts your diff to around 4. 11. My truck actually gets better gas mileage in the city rather than the highway. My average in the city is 18 mpg tops and on the highway I am tracking closer to 16 mpg. Good luck with your truck!! The one thing you will need to watch out for is your front-end parts (replaced at 94k) and your steering box which I have had 3 ... . total miles is 110k so far. Note: The 06 mega has some weak front-end springs so you might look at Kore / Lorenz for a better ride. I also added air-bags which improved the ride in back... . even when empty.

My . 02

Southbound

 

[Motorhead]

Don't hack out the cat. SMOG checks are around thge corner and it has been shown on the late 5. 9's that it doesn't make much difference. You also have a 4 inch exhaust stock. Buy a Smarty jr and run the economy setting. I put the free wheeling hubs on my '07, 5. 9 and empty mileage improved 1 to 1. 5mpg. Last year I ran from Seattle to Yreka, ca. , one tank of fuel, drove speedlimits and got 22. 3 hand calculated.

 

[MRFost]

Smarty Jr. and learn to drive gently. I found Smarty Jr. at Tow, driving gently, does at least as well as set on Economy setting -- and it's more responsive to boot. My lie-O-meter is reporting 26. 5 today -- and I'm driving some 50 to 65 and a little 75 and probably average around 63 -- the actual hand calculated is in the 23 range with the smarty and the rather low speeds. You can get 20 at decent speeds with the Smarty Jr if you control your emotions. Check the signature for other mods like the 35's -- those helped.