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Originally Posted by dem45133
Maybe I'll get a small 4 banger convertible sports car... but they get three prices for these too... at least then when it kills me because of some idiot I went out in style. I have a mint 85 Suzuki 700 Madura... but its dry warm days only and I am only a 2 wheel a little spooked rookie yet. A dog or a deer (which are everywhere here) will kill you, not to mention idiots that don't look. Something to be said for weighing 7k. I've had heavy metal for so long... just the lightness of the suspension and brake systems in these itty bitty cars make me nervous... there is just is nothing there... itty bitty everything! One run into the ditch and out to avoid some idiot...will kill it.
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Safety and comfort are very subjective, but modern passenger vehicles have never been safer. The argument that one needs to drive a bigger vehicle than anyone else for safety reasons, bothers me. Usually the person that feels they need extra safety is a bad driver (not implying you are) and they put others at greater risk by hurling extra mass down the freeway. Everyone trying to drive bigger cars than everyone else is a rat race that nobody wins.
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Will see if I go to single tire. For towing fifthwheel or gooseneck the dually is better depending on the tongue load.I like the dually, but running empty it has too little wt per square inch of contact area on wet pavement...
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You have more experience hauling than me, but I'd think a 3/4 single would easily handle the load, and provide a better ride the other 99% of the time you aren't hauling. With a low-range gearbox, pulling up ramps without burning the torque converter should be a piece of cake.
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I've been babying the 3/4 all week... doing various hypermile things... 62 on a four lane with zero traffic!!!(aghh!!!), 1/2 mile to accel to 60 (Geeez!)... letting it pull down to 35 on the hills (dbl geez!)... but it looks like all I'll gain is 30 miles on the tank full (about 28 gal on typical fill up), that $8 worth... not sure its worth it the aggravation factor.
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I don't think slow acceleration or slow hill climbing saves much fuel, if any. Engines are efficient when run at higher loads and inefficient when running lower loads. I've found it to be quite efficient to accelerate and climb hills at 80% throttle.
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Originally Posted by dem45133
Some of the aftermarket performance chips for the Cummins cite 22 mpg... but leaning that far out makes me nervous.
Has anyone researched this?
Oh, someone asked about intercooling... its not from the factory... straight into the manifold. I think there are kits... but they were set up for the super performance some of the pullers wanted if I remember right. The idea is cool air is more dense and more O2 gets into the cylinder.
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You can't lean out a diesel engine because it is already fully lean. It pulls in more O2 than necessary for complete combustion. I don't know what these chips do to increase FE, but I would be curious. I run an Edge Juice With Attitude, but didn't track MPGs back when I fitted it to the truck. Mostly I wanted the gauges it offered because I was loosing low pressure fuel pumps all the time.
The Dodge/Cummins comes intercooled from the factory.