Hay from Iowa. CTD 12 valve

[spazatac]

Whats up people?

Mike from Iowa City here..

I'm about 9 years away from retirement so I bought a cheap property 45 minutes out in the sticks, and a clean low mile 97 cummins 4x4 5 speed with 3.54 gears because I want to hit the road and travel coast to coast, and then some. The plan is to rent my house close to the U of I out, and retire to a small acreage where taxes are cheap and then get the heck out of Iowa especially during the winter.. I want to tow a small 16' toyhauler and I hope to get some tips on how I can get better fuel mileage.

I owned a 93 cummins repowered E350 I rebuilt for a while, and was thrilled to get 15 mpg towing a 24' toyhauler through the rockies, fast.. But I sold it and bought the dodge truck instead because I need 4x4.

Anyway.. Any 12 valve owners on this forum?

[oil pan 4]

I say get a bigger turbo. Plus better turbos have come out in the last 25 years.
Bigger exhaust pipe too.
Cold air intake if you don't have one.
And an intercooler I don't remember if the 1993 trucks had them.

[gumby79]

12V VE hear.
what mods were/ are on the 97 you swapped your 93 ford for, or did you find one of the hens teeth unmolested (stocker)?

wrap or blanket the manifold, turbo, and down pipeto get better lower spool dyno proven you tub video manifold blanket test. the only thing under your hood that likes heat is the hot side of the turbo keep it inside the hot side everything eles will thank you.
as oilpan said a better turbo that is small enough to still spool at 55 . the s360 SXE is what i want to get for my truck but with a small housing unless your going to pump it up over 400hp the 12cm is big enough

is the toy hauler going to be a bumper pull or 5th? it changes our suggestions. one of the design aspects of my Aero Tonto is to be the airfoil / diverter for a 5th or bumper pull.
when towing you will probably notice the biggest advantage of the 1st gen 3:1 TQ :HP Vs 2:1
thoe heavier than the 1st gen the 2nd gen is a better truck .
lock up torque converter, heeps better aero than my stack of bricks ,



( oilpan the CAC was always there. 89-91 was Water Jacket CAC located in the intake manifold, 91.5-93 was Air to Air CAC in front of the radiator. nonIC is slang {only twins can have an IC} like Posi in a chevy{ posi is a tm chrysler product})

[oil pan 4]

If I knew in 2013 what I know now I would have gone with a single T76 on my 6.5L chevy diesel.

[spazatac]

Thanks everyone.. I installed a heat blanket and wrapped down pipe on the van but not the manifold, so Ill get started on that for the 97.. Any brand suggestions?

The van had a 91 block but was intercooled with the IC head I believe.. It had a big H1C with smaller 16? exhaust housing and ran great after the rebuild, and sad to see it go but it wouldn't fit in my garage.

My 97 is a unmolested stocker with 109K. The HX35 is really tight but no boost gauge as I felt fuel pressure was more important at the moment. No noticeable turbo shaft play but doesn't spin as easily by hand as the old H1C which had a little bit of axial play, but would spin allot longer by hand. Coked bearings?

I haven't bought a 7' wide trailer yet because I don't want fenders.. Ive found them here and there.. But there always so far away, as I want a rare 7x16 narrow track model like in the texas CL link I thought I could post. But Iv also considered a round nose/roof old school horse trailer because they are narrow as well, but would need the axles narrowed to the same width as the truck and wheel wells installed inside.. Better mpg with goosenecks to. The 7' width is why its so hard for me to find a suitable used trailer, as most 7' wide enclosed trailers still use the same wide axle as a 8' wide uses, but with ugly fenders. If you search Pace 16ft cargo sport trailer on dallas trailers by owner you see what Im looking for.

Goals for the truck are reliability and economy. My buddy tells me HP upgrades usually increase the efficiency and fuel mileage.. But I have my doubts but haven't really found a group of people who's goal was the same as mine.. Until now.

The TTB 50 free spin mod is on my list.

[slowmover]

I use a dead-stock common-rail CTD to pull a 35’ travel trailer at an average 15-mpg. Engage cruise control. That’s it.

4WD was a mistake. Not needed for trailer hauling. The penalties can be line-itemed large & small as to why. Percentage of total engine hours while engaged is first. Crap steering is second. These can be adjusted, but not overcome. The rest of the list follows.

So look instead to annual miles EXPECTED. You’ll need to do baseline testing, first, and plan mods second. Once SOLO miles are baselined, predicting Towing MPG is an extrapolation.

The trailer is aerodynamic, or it isn’t. There’s no magic state in-between that isn’t insignificant pennies.

1). How many years of ownership?

2). How many nights aboard, annually?

Until you’ve settled on these, you’re tail-chasing. MPG, by itself will not free up additional miles for the same expenditure. It’s marginal.

And a truck that old needs to be COMPLETELY re-wired. That’s the second starting point.

I don’t want you to have to re-invent the wheel. Where you’re presently headed. I’ve been involved fifty-plus years besides being a professional driver.

Fuel is less than half the daily cost of RV travel.

Your starting point is TOTAL COST OF OWNETSHIP over expected time and miles. You MUST be able to translate that into a cents-per-mile basis for ALL vehicle use. RV travel is only a subset, full-time on the road or not.

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