Angled tonneau cover questions

[slowmover]

OP, glad you’ve been a driver. Other than doing it all in one day, ease off like you’re loaded, and the rest is easy enough.

I wrote all that to get it down for once.

Everyone hits the wall at 600-miles. No ones any good after that. Not just economy, but safety.

If you haven’t tried the IH-5 route, might think about it. Stop short of Portland at 480-miles or so, and use 52-mph to calculate when you’ll be east of town 75-miles before 1200. Play with those, rely on local knowledge as to start time. Penalty in miles may not be that high and offsets backwoods route shorter miles (and lack of services).

Like I said, I use cruise control and recommend it. Let the truck drive the truck on the level terrain

The other thing I didn’t go into is mechanical condition. The standard items for a turbodiesel truck are:

No CAC leaks
Verified alignment
Zero steering slop (high likelihood on 4WD even new)
No brake drag (caliper)
Tire pressure

On the last one I’m no fan of overly high. My highways mpg highs have been at scaled load values vs the Table. Ride, handling and braking more important. Get the CAT Scale app and use it today. Get a baseline. TARE weight. Just driver, stuff permanently aboard, and max fuel (top off at truckstop).

I carry about 1,200-lbs in mine continually. But it’s within 40-lbs at all four corners at 7,940-lbs. Had to repack some to get that. That’s about 2,000-lbs per tire. So, staying inside Dodge recommendations, and using the Michelin LT Tire Load & Pressure Table, 50-psi was fine. Tires only last over 100k Miles this way.

When you’re loaded, check it again real quick on scale versus the cold pressure at departure. Might only need a little. 5-psi above minimum indicated is good. Check two hours later after gliding to a stop. Want no more than 5-7% psi rise. 10% needs more air; another 5-psi. (CapriRacer posts here, see his posts).

MPG is about a whole bunch of small things. Records, too. Fuelly a popular app.

Other than that’s its book maintenance. Bring up to date.

And a proper winter front. Which is an underhood heat exchanger cover. Mines MOPAR and heavy backed vinyl. Covers the whole radiator and support. Four flaps to control airflow thru fan. Use at 41F or lower. Bound to be a similar Ferd piece. Not expensive. No way to get decent mileage without one when that temp is met.

Biggest addition to annual mpg average (that you understood that why I wrote it all) is closed-shoulder, highway-rib tires. I’d choose (exclusively) commercial service tires like Bridgestone Duravis or Michelin LTX no matter what tread design. They’ll outlast the other types; pay for themselves.

Those are expensive, but what isn’t are shock absorbers. Minimum should be entry level Bilstein. Or go up a step. Vehicle tracking is at stake, not just ride.

Waze is for wusses,🙃 but, hey, you’re Californio, now. One of Jerry’s kids. A Garmin 770 GPS and a righteous CB get more done. I’ve dumped the WAZE app.

I can tell by the way you write it’d be easy to communicate what matters. You’re in the right place.

Make it an overnight trip. Seriously. Dinner in a Nissin Thermal Cooker in the back seat floor (look that up). Lunches in a cooler. Cut costs other ways. What you’ll find is that you arrive fresh, almost rested. And maybe before you would have dragged out of bed after a one day marathon. You might be surprised. After all, the drive time is the same. What does it matter if you took a ten hour break in the middle?

Safety ain’t expensive. It’s smart. (The second part is that a pickup is the least stable private vehicle on the road. Takes but once, and life is forever different. And not just for you).

You won’t have to leave home quite as early (I recommend no more than a half-hour prior to dawn according to GAISMA), and an early stop means plenty of time for a leisurely dinner. Time it so on Day Two you get thru Portland and Spokane at good hours.

I’ve been behind the wheel forty-five years and big trucks for twenty. MPG has always mattered. I let percentage change to the annual average pay for my vacation travel. Thousands of miles. It sure as heck pays for two nights at a motel. (See my thread for details).

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[freebeard]

From Hucho's text,the optimum angle will be a function of the length of the downward-sloping ramp,as a percentage of the overall body length.
We used to have that graphic,but PhotoBucket made it go away.

Can you describe the graphic generally? I might have it. One of your pencil overlays? How many columns?

[gone9]

Appreciate the info. I’ve done the I5 route back n fourth to Seattle to see some friends, really not bad to Be honest.

We pack a cooler with a light breakfast, snacks, lunch, snacks, fluids etc. and I to use cruise control the majority of the flat terrain. I’ve tried the overnight thing and we’ll to be honest I just don’t sleep all that much. And I can only say this as best as I can, if I get too tired I pull over and camp. Only did it twice before but we’ll worth it. Im an active member of a diesel forum too so keep in touch with members along the route in case anything major comes up.

I’m a little anxious for the trip since CA is quite a bit different than Idaho to say the least lol but the work is plenty for someone who’s hungry in CA and Idaho is still a different economy. You need to have 20yrs in a trade or have connections and I don’t want to go back to driving trucks just yet lol.

Looking forward to posting post full tonneau cover results in just a couple weeks. I’ll check our CAT scales too. Truck was 7640 by itself with fluids topped minis 4-6 gallons of diesel. I’ll guesstimate 250ish lb of tools, extra fluids, supplies and weeks worth of cloths. I pack light from military experience but the wife’s two bags are always a little funny to look at compared to my backpack and a half hahaha.

[slowmover]

One way to play with fuel mileage would be like this: Choose a refuel stop about 45-miles from home with the intention of stopping short of Portland travelling the IH-5 Route. Maximum use of cruise control. Re-fill at the best choice near the stopping point for the day. Same on second day.

This eliminates the factor of warmup of all but the tires (about 75-miles; this may be the T/A at Redding, CA) and thus maximizes the “per tank” number. One would be looking for the highest at that speed and for that route travelling north. Choose the re-fuel stations well as they can serve in the future for the same purpose. (Same pump, etc). I’d want at least 300-miles for comparisons. (There’s a Pilot just N of Salem; find the stops you’d want, but make the distance worthwhile).

YC to P is 534-miles according to map service. Grab a room south of town. And according to the recommended roadfood website, there’s a local favorite called Annie’s Donuts just off the 205 near 84 in Portland. Surprise your girl. (Fullers Restaurant or Original Pancake House are others).

Fill again at the recommended Hermiston, OR truckstop if that’ll get you to a station near destination. Lancaster Market at Hayden looks good for travel in both directions. It’s only about 200-miles, but that’ll work.

In every event just fill to first automatic shutoff. Consistency every time that way.

IOW, ignore the middle of the drive from approximately Salem to here. You’ll be driving for economy as always, but have had both the warmup penalty and the couple of miles OOR for breakfast; it’ll show in trip average, same as all other miles till you’re back in YC.

Redding to Salem.

Hermiston to Hayden.

Whatever station you choose, make it just far enough to zero out the warmup penalty. Minimum about 25-miles. Don’t need more than 75. Every time this trip is made, one has references to work from. Note weather and set speed differences; and check actual travel time. Find at least one rest area in southern portion for mandatory break.

Second part is breaking the habit of “white line fever”. I’ve a friend who runs out of New England. We were just discussing this phenomenon. He has the habit of barely stopping till his destination even if days away. Isn’t aware of the how it goes past. He sorta just “wakes up”.

It’s dissociation. The concious mind is no more present than in watching TV. The house next door could halfway burn down with the proper breeze and we’d not notice.

WLF will get ya killed. It’s a form of contempt. “Well, I’ve driven this road a thousand times”. X-ray vision that can see that stranded school bus full of children around a blind curve. Right.

Making the choice to not pull over until tired is well past the point of driving for safety or economy. Contraindicated.

With a reasonable daily distance and all stops planned, FE will go to its highest. Same for safety.

I’m not trying to make your trip a higher out of pocket expense. But the long term point of a percentage gain to the annual average is that it alone (not just other owner and operator expenses reduced) will cover what’s needed for safe travel.

Start with new habits. Throw in some fun. And run the isolated miles at the highest skill level. Outside of maximizing cruise control and travelling at a lower speed, don’t take on new ways of driving you won’t keep. Just do these simple items and be fanatic about maintenance & repairs. Then your aero mods will stand out.

Believe me that what I’ve tried to be persuasive about more than works. It’s setting a new baseline.

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[gone9]

Appreciate the insight and I'll definitely do more thought on a two day trip vs my normal time. I've experienced the WLF a couple of times and it was a bit jarring to say the least. I normally hit it about Spokane WA when im just shy of two hours away. I won't lie I normally do 99.9% of the driving two since my wife doesn't like how big the truck is etc. I may give here a couple hours of drive time to give my brain a brake lol.

I'll keep a log of this trip though for temps, locations, and detail regarding fill ups.

I had a questions though regarding the one click stop for fill ups.

The superduties are infamous for partial fil ups and many do what is called the hutch or harpoon mod. it lets the tank breath much better because I usually can get 3 more gallons if I let it do the auto one stop and then wait 30 or so seconds and fill again at a slower speed.

Its a PITA for fill up tracking because its a super common issue with the 1999-2003 7.3l superduties not breathing enough to fill up fast enough with foam build up etc. I usually fill up on the slowest setting on the pump too and it helps a bit.

[Big Dave]

I did the harpoon mod way back. Filling took forever before that.

But let's face it. Unless you've spent big bucks for a graduated fill column getting consistent fill-ups is an iffy thing regardless.

I defeat that by extension. I make my tests over 1,600 miles on a repeating circuit - third Interstate, a third two-lane state roads and a third urban/suburban. Drive the posted limit (70 for the slab, 55 or 60 for state roads and along with traffic in town) That four fill ups.

After four fill-ups the variations have averaged out and I get believable results.

When you seek MPG, instant gratification is elusive.

[gone9]

agreed. Plus I'm more than aware that a tonneau cover/Air-Dam are going to take some time to see the improvement to be honest 1-2mpg more is more than enough for me...

Its a 7700lb truck with a level kit and BFGoodrich A/T tires so without extensive (probably costly) modifications I can't expect much but again with diesel on average 3.30-4$ in CA right now 1-2mpg will pay it self off in less than a year and im a long term guy so that is A-OK for me haha.

The tonneau cover arrives on Saturday but the truck is not going to be ready on Thursday not Tuesday and talk about bad timing... I had a brake failure on my little 99 grand am commuter car. The driver wheel had a star splatter patter of fluid and the wheel well was soaked... and the brake fluid reservoir was empty so gonna barrow the inlaws jeep and see what failed.

*I put on all new rotors, pads, calipers about 6 months ago from autzone so im betting cheap parts failed but its a 18 year old car and I didn't feel the need for race car parts lol.

p.s. my 99 grand am gets about 24 average (v6) and best I ever got was 29mpg but im gonna add wheel skirts, and air dam to that down the road. I care about looks on the car so it will be fun going a little more crazy with that car

[slowmover]

The Dodge guys sometimes did “the vent kit mod” on the fuel tank which may be similar. The idea with using first auto-shutoff was for sake of consistency fill-to-fill over a test range. So, whatever works. Records are the thing, as you note. I’d add some pics to those records. Reminders.

And don’t forget engine hours. Even if the only timer is the phone. Calculating average mph is what separates smart travel speed decisions from those that are not.

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[freebeard]

I always go with 2 clicks. I had a Type III that would take it slow, one click could fool you.

Two in a row.

[Hersbird]

One option with the A/T tires I did was look for some new truck takeoffs. These guys dropping 60k on a new truck often want big tires and custom wheels so there are nice mounted and balanced highway tires all over Craigslist with little use. I got a set, wheels and tires, off a 2015 with 8000 miles on them for $350. They are also taller, 33", than my stock tires, 31.5", which helped drop my cruise rpm a bit. In my case the extra height on the truck doesn't matter as the camper behind it is way more frontal aera than the truck will be.

I still want to do a cedar strip aero bed cover with the possibility of being able to angle it up as a deflector when towing. One I want to learn the technique, two I want to have a dry place to store stuff not towing, three they look freaking sweet if you saw the tread with the Toyota one.