01' F150 XL 4x4 w/ Triton V8-What can you do?

[wagonman76]

Anyone know of a cheaper scanguage? Also, anyone know of one that works on a 1987 toyota pickup?

If it is fuel injected, you can build a mpguino for it.

[Blister]

Originally Posted by 95badbird

I would highly NOT suggest lowering the 4x4.
get rid of it, and get a 2wd.

That's not an option. This truck was a gift from my dad and was purchased from a company auction for $1500. I was disabled by cancer in 2001 and my total income is $697 a month. While we have lots of trees here, I haven't the one fruiting money yet. If it wasn't for THIS truck, I wouldn't have any opportunity to make any money with my backhoe.

lemme ask you, what do you get for gas mileage now?

I went from an average of 13mpg, to an average of 17 mpg, just by changing the way I drive.

I have no idea what the truck is getting at the moment. We've only had it a week and haven't driven it to the point of being able to get any idea of the mileage it's getting.

and, when putting around town, with or without a load, a lower gear would help....say going from 3.55's to 4.10's.

If you want to know the gear ratio you have now, you can check by two ways:
first, get under the truck, and see what the diff tag says on it....or, look when you open the driver's side door, their is a sticker in the door jamb that has info about the truck....their will be a place on it that says AXLE, it will have a code of something like H9 on it. write that down and post back, and I can see if its in my Ford shop manual.

I crawled under it and didn't see anything on either case. The door sticker, under "axle" just says "19". I don't have any experience here but the whole thing looked kind weird. The front wheel axle is set off to the passengers side of the underbody and the rear wheel axle is centered. No numbers on either casing.

I still think the aerodynamic mods have a great deal of merit since I am forced to use this vehicle and need to make some kind of progress in the FE arena. I just have to work with what I have at the moment.

[Blister]

Originally Posted by wagonman76

If it is fuel injected, you can build a mpguino for it.

Nope, No fuel injection in this one.

[95badbird]

I didn't really mean for you to get rid of it.....I was just saying, if you were to actually lower it, it would be silly to do that to a 4 wheel drive truck.

And thats a great deal on that truck.


The place where I'm talking about on the axle, will be on the very top bolt, that holds the diff cover on....it will look like a thin piece of flimsy metal that will have a code stamped into it.....

When I get home, I'll see what the 19 is for, and let you know what gears you have.

[95badbird]

Blister, check out this link....it has the axle ratio codes in it...

F150online Forums - View Single Post - How to identify rearend?

[TestDrive]

Removing the front axles, differential and drive line would have reduced weight for a slight increase in fuel economy. Probably worth while if you could have done it yourself. Quite a long term payout if you pay someone else to do it for you. With your low miles per year, really not worth while.

Part of the reason for suggesting removal was to eliminate concerns about mismatched front and rear differentials if you swapped in a numerically lower gear ratio in the rear. But I wasn't taking the automatic transmission into account. I now think Big Dave is correct, you don't want to mess with a taller gears.

Another reason for suggesting removal - on older ford 4x4s with manually locking hubs, hi-mileage, worn parts would eventually lead to the passenger side hub locking itself simply by virtue of the wheel spinning at highway speeds. (And the driver's side hub would unlock itself while you were using 4 wheel drive). I'm told, more modern 4x4s such as yours lock the hubs automatically. I'm presuming they're subject to the same sort of worn parts and may also become engaged at unintended times? This would be a large parasitic loss. Fairly easy to test for this. With front wheels off the ground, turn each wheel several turns by hand and watch front drive line to see if axle is engaged.

I can say this though. I can do without 4WD AND air conditioning. The only problem with no air is the windows will be rolled down- it's hot here. I'm not sure if the drag from open windows will negate the savings from getting rid of the A/C or not.

At highway speeds AC on is better than windows all the way down. Below 35 mph or so, windows down wins. AC comes on automatically with defroster to help dry the air blown on fogged windows. Depending on humidity and how often you must defrost, you might want to add a toggle switch and relay so you can prevent AC compressor clutch from being engaged.

[Big Dave]

Blister:
If you need 4x4 then you need 4x4. When 4x4 is not needed, be sure your hubs are disengaged. Automatic hubs are not as reliable as some people think.

Even when you have them disengaged, 4x4 costs your MPG in a couple of ways.

First you are dragging around a half-ton of unused machinery. That would have its effect even on my big truck operating in flat terrain. This also shows up as reduced towing capacity.

Second a 4x4 sits higher and has greater aero frontal area than a 4x2.

[Clev]

I would be surprised if you can't find somebody who would trade you straight across for an equivalent 2WD. I have a Ranger 4WD, and it gets somewhere around 16 mpg; I think the 4WD system is contributing to that. You'll also find parts to be more expensive and harder to find.

Your other option once business picks up is to buy another vehicle. My dad was getting killed by $4 gas in his GMC 2500HD with the utility bed, so he bought a used little 2WD Sonoma and put a toolbox in the back. Even with wider "sport" tires, he gets 23 mpg at 70-80 mph, or more than double the 2500HD. It paid for itself the first year, and now he only drives the 2500HD when he needs to tow something or carry stuff that needs the utility bed. You may not be able to do that now, but it's something to think about for the future.

I'd say a Scangauge or MPGuino should be your first choice. You're going to have to figure out the best gear and speed for both running empty and towing the trailer. With an auto, you may find that your torque converter can lock up in 3rd at a lower speed and give better mileage, or in 4th at a _higher_ speed and get better mileage. You won't be able to tell any other way.

Aero mods should be next. Sealing up bumper gaps, the bed-to-cab gap (maybe with a heavy metal tape, or that tailgate sealing tape), maybe a coroplast belly pan to clean up the huge cavern under the bed. I wouldn't tow with any kind of grill block without getting an accurate aftermarket tranny temp gauge and engine temp gauge. (A lot of Fords have an "idiot light gauge", so don't trust them.) When you replace tires, buy the stiffest highest-weight-rated tires you can. (I see a lot of trailers with car tires that bulge out the sides; not good for FE.)

[meemooer]

well since it's late for me and all these posts are huge i'll say this.
Your truck has a torsion bar front suspension. This means that you can pull the front driveshaft and the torsion bars have adjusters, you can back the bolts out for them as far as they need to be for the torsion bar key to bottom out. most people do the opposite, and crank the bolts in to raise the front end.

[Ptero]

Just a comment. You can't makle a princess out of a pig. You don't use the truck enough to justify putting money into it for eco mods. Get an economy car and occasionally use the truck for what it was made for. If you must use the truck, air up the tires to sidewall max and drive 50 mph in high gear. You most likely have a lock-up tranny in a 2001 so accelerate very slowly into high and stay there. (Use the same technique for a non-lockup.) Don't let it kick down pulling grades - back off the throttle and keep it in lock-up high as long as you can. Some models require you to reach a base rpm for lock-up. You'll have to figure out where this is.

That is the number one thing you can do. It's free and easy.

If this is the engine you have
5.4-liter, 3-valve Triton™ V-8 Engine
it reaches a torque rating of 90% at 2250 rpm
which means your best economy is probably around 1400 - 1600 rpm and you will never have a good reason to exceed 2250 rpm pulling heavy loads aside from time constraints and traffic.

If you don't have a tachometer, borrow a hand unit and write down your rpms at speed. Then, on your regular run, determine your optimum economy driving speed. A vacuum gauge hooked up to the intake manifold will really help. You'll figure out what it is telling you about your economy technique real fast.

When pulling a trailer load, make sure the trailer tires are at max sidewall pressure. Accelerate as slowly as traffic will allow. I mean, take a mile to get up to speed if you can. Smoothly and steadily. Really. This is the big method to minimizing fuel use in hauling.

On the road, use constant throttle technique. Find your foot position for say 50 mph and hold it steady in that position (or less) for the entire trip. Let your vehicle determine the speed on grades. Use this technique for both loaded and unloaded, truck, car or motorcycle, and you will see a dramatic difference in fuel use.