Here to Get the Most From My Big Stuff

[Jim Allen]

Been both a big-block, dual-quad, 105 octane premium, rubber burner and a bean burner with the likes of V-dubs, Fiat 600s and 850s and Austin-Healey Sprites. Even toyed with electric conversions. Today, I'm trying to wring the most from what I have, need and use, which include a Honda Accord, '05 Ford F-150HD gasser, '86 F-250HD diesel and a coupla farm tractors.

[SVOboy]

Welcome to ecomodder! Which vehicle do you drive the most?

[Jim Allen]

Me... probably the F-150 because it's used for work and gets better mileage than the F-250 on cheaper fuel. We drive the Accord when possible. The F-150 is undergoing tests and modifications to get the most out of it's 5.4L. With said mods, I've scratched at 20 mpg a few times, which is pretty good for a fullsize 8,200# GVW truck with a 300hp engine and 4.10 gears. I can eke an honest and consistent 17.5 mpg on level ground at 65 mph and scratch at a consistent 18.5+ at 55. I need it's capabilities, as evidenced by recently hauling nearly 11 tons of grain in after harvest. It got 7.7 mpg in the process, incidentally, which is pretty good considering the amount of work being done.

[Red]

The Accord and the F-250 are going to be your best bets for MPGs.

Welcome to EM

[Jim Allen]

Been driving the '86 F-250 4x4 for 21 years and the best it's ever done was 16 mpg at 55 mph. Were I to spend 3 grand and install an overdrive trans, I could scratch at 20, but it would take a long while to recoup my costs. Add that diesel is almost a buck per gallon more than gas and that I can squeeze 18+ from my F-150. Plus, that truck is semi-retired now. Now running that old truck on veggie oil... that's a possible plan. Not really a practical one for me, but possible. I have been filtering my used motor oil and running it in small amounts in that truck, as well as my two farm tractors. No gains really, but a little less fuel to buy. Bear in mind that my truck sees only about 7K average annual miles. The Accord about the same, maybe up to about 8K. Everything I do is based on those annual averages, so me spending big buck to gain 2-3 mpg won't amortize. I'll be dead before the payoff comes!

The '86 F250 HD 4x4 just turned 135K. The '05 F-150HD 4x4 is at 12K. The '00 Accord V6 is only 62K. We don't crank on the miles... which is conservation in a way, huh?

The Accord is a V6 but driven well and good on fuel for it's power output. I have seen 30 mpg on level ground, highway. 28 is more typical highway, with 25 in mixed rural/city driving out here in the country. Never lived in town with it really, so don't know what it would do in a commute situation. Probably high teens, low 20s.

BTW, thanks for the welcomes. Look forward to adding Ecomodder to my daily forum perusals!

[Johnny Mullet]

Glad to have you here!

[elhigh]

I kinda chuckled to myself when I saw you mention hypermiling and tractors in the same sentence. Considering what they do, the loading regimes in which they spend all their operating time, I don't think there's anything you could do for the tractor.

I have a '45 Farmall A, it's really just a toy. But the governer built into the front end is what the throttle lever controls, really, so when I start to load up the engine, it's the governer that gooses the gas, not me - I don't move the lever. When the load goes down, the governer lightens up and gives exactly the right amount of fuel to keep the engine at the selected speed.

I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, I actually kind of surprised myself to have that all in my head. But my point is, those things are already scrimping wherever possible, just from the outset.

Is your F-150 4x4? If not, maybe you could lower it a fuzz, add an airdam to get the wind out from under the truck, smooth things up a bit? Make it easy to remove for when the snow flies. And check out Aerohead's stuff with aerodynamic caps. Certainly there must be some way to make an aero cap to cover the bed, that would be easy to remove or fold or something for when you've got the bed full.

[Jim Allen]

Well, now I know there's at least one other tractor guy on the board!

I have one Farmall too; a '70 Farmall 826... about 92 hp. It has a German Built Neuss, direct injected diesel that was noted for it's fuel economy. Basically, they took an 856 and replaced the 105 hp 404ci with the Neuss 358ci and called it an 826. This tractor has 8,200 hours but can still give me a skosh over 4 GPH working at 85-90 percent power with a 9-shank chisel plow behind set at about 10 inches depth. Have run it on B15 but it likes straight ULSD best.

[extragoode]

Originally Posted by elhigh

Is your F-150 4x4? If not, maybe you could lower it a fuzz, add an airdam to get the wind out from under the truck, smooth things up a bit? Make it easy to remove for when the snow flies. And check out Aerohead's stuff with aerodynamic caps. Certainly there must be some way to make an aero cap to cover the bed, that would be easy to remove or fold or something for when you've got the bed full.

I'm working on a couple designs like this that would fit my needs. I wouldn't have got the pickup after all if I wasn't going to USE it.

For the aero cap, I was thinking something like a two part cap cut diagonally from a front corner back to the opposite rear corner and pressure fit it in with a wheel and a lever in the middle. Then when you want to take it out, you just drop the tailgate, move the lever over about 60 degrees, making it longer instead of wider, and just lift it off. The three problems I have with this is 1) the quick release mechanism would take up most of the interior space, so I wouldn't be able to use it while hauling much of anything. Not ideal, but could probably be resolved with a little work. 2) it wouldn't be modular or foldable, so it would require more room than I and most other people would probably have to store while not in use. This would be compounded by the first problem, since it would be not in use more often. I'm currently at a loss, how to handle this. 3) it'd have to be light to allow you to lift the whole thing off in one piece, which would probably mean carbon fibre or some such. If it were modular, this wouldn't be such a problem, but that would also make it require more time to remove. I'd prefer to make it out of wood, since that's really the only thing I know how to work with, but I know that's not a good excuse.

The other project I'd like to make is less ambitious. It's a half toneau/motorcycle ramp. I'd like it to be two pieces that could be connected long ways to work as a ramp, or short ways for the half toneau. Simple enough as soon as I figure out how to connect them while functioning as a ramp and be able to support my 350# bike. I'd also like to shape the pieces so that one could still be used while the motorcycle is loaded in the back, but this may prove to be impossible, since the bike is too long for me to close the tailgate. Maybe the other peice could be a down peice to function as a make shift gate.

Sorry for the long post. I had a lot to put out there. Suggestions welcome.