Hello!

[user removed]

50 miles a week, 2600 a year (commute only). That's bicycle range. I'm not trying to aggravate the OP, but the real question is cost accounting and whether the cost benefit is justified. He could ride a bicycle but it gets awfully hot for that in summer. A scooter would work, even electric with that short commute. I just bought one from the scrap yard for $25 as a project. Even an electric bicycle that requires no license or insurance.

Of course I don't know the specifics of his commute or if low speed options as far as routes are available.

Bottom line is there are always options and his location has low annual rainfall.

ECO, if my answers are inapproprite, then feel free to ignore them. it's basically just thinking out loud.

regards
Mech

[EcoSuperDuty??]

Yeah Old you really need to read my first post again, if you ever even read it in the first place?

I am moving in a month to a 40 mile round trip....

[user removed]

Roger, read it and forgot about the move, one of the issues with a 63 year old brain that used to memorize serial numbers on dollar bills to impress women in bars. Repeat the serial number back to them a week later.

With a 40 mile commute your fuel costs will skyrocket which makes the cost benefit of a cheap bike that much more apprealing.

Read the Bible and Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (W.L. Shirer) at age 10. Read my third grade reading text (385 pages) in 24 hours.

It's just the memory that I can't rely on like I used to.

regards
Mech

[user removed]

Diesel Dave is the man here as far as getting astounding mileage out of a similar vehicle.

regards
Mech

[EcoSuperDuty??]

I can understand that, I am just getting a little aggravated with almost everyone posting unhelpful "change your vehicle" responses.

I have my truck for a reason, one day I would like to do long distance cruising as well as various other things. I cannot just sell it and only have a motorcycle as I have dogs, and if there ever were an emergency I can't very well strap them on the back of a bike and go to the vet. Also being in AZ with day temps of 110, I can't go out in the middle of the day full leathers to the grocery store and get anything that won't spoil on the ride back.

So yes I would love to have a motorcycle again, if I can work something out with my insurance company where they understand the truck would be a back up to the bike and thus decrease the cost of insurance that would be fantastic but without knowing if that is going to be possible I am looking for ways to lower running costs on what I have now.

[EcoSuperDuty??]

I have PM'ed both Diesel Dave and Big Dave

[elhigh]

Hey Eco,

Start a garage page for your rig:

at the top of the page near the center where it says "Garage & Tools" click "Garage," then find "Add new vehicle" and you can drop in some info on your rig. You can't tell how you're doing unless you have records of how you did, and this helps a bunch.

Yeah, both DD and Big Dave are The Man for squeezing more miles out of bigger trucks, it's bonkers. JRMichler does great with his midsize Chevy or GMC (Colorado? Canyon? Is there a difference?), too.

[EcoSuperDuty??]

Yup it is up there, one of the first things I did No idea about weight, drag or frontal area lol

Same truck different badge lol

[elhigh]

Ford's specs on the current F-250 XLT SRW SuperCab (I'm going with the SuperCab to split the difference between regular and crew, we're just ballparking here): about 7000 lbs curb weight. Obviously your real world results are likely different but it gets us in the zip code.

Frontal area: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ement-462.html

I saw someone else's estimate of 38 sq. feet for the F-250, that sounds close.

20mpg moving a bus that size down the road is, frankly, pretty good.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

My grandpa never had any problem with soft tonneaus when he used it. Never had any flapping or other negative effect to the mileage.

Originally Posted by EcoSuperDuty??

I envision using my truck as a long distance cruiser one day so need to stick to a fuel that's readily available everywhere at any hour.

Actually, if you would eventually add the secondary fuel system for vegetable oils, it's an advantage, since you would have another fuel option, no need to sacrifice the ability to run on regular Diesel fuel.