My project references Phil ...

[lasitter]

Originally Posted by slowmover

I don't follow on the "value" of stopping only once. Fueling only once, okay.

If you revisit the site, I've modified the graphic to make it easier to understand that the one stop is just for refueling. Other than that I don't think it matters how many times you stop to eat or sleep.

Wayne had plenty of stops for camping along the way. I won't be camping, thank you.

Originally Posted by slowmover

I hope I simply misread this being a partial objective.

It may be buried, but I reference "teams" of drivers in there somewhere.

Aerolid: Again, I like the idea fine, maybe even a bed extension, but for something that would gain the attention of farmers and rural America, I think the tonneau (or shell) is as far as they'd go for now. It's all about the numbers, and which side of the fence the greatest number of viewers would come down on.

Originally Posted by slowmover

Your route includes the 85-mph

I thought the west Texas interstate had of max of 80mph. At night that drops to 65mph, so I was planning to do that section at night. If you can point me towards the information for the 85mph max speed, where it is and all, I'd love to have it.

[Big Dave]

Lassiter asked:
“So you can drive forward until it slides over a parking curb, then back up, and it slides back over it with no problem? I was wondering about that.”

Big Dave answers:
Yes I can. Even when the air dam was down to 1.5” above grade it slid effortlessly (albeit noisily) over curbs.


I have often thought that if I hit the lottery, I’d get a custom axle shop to make me a 1.7:1 axle and I’d modify the truck enough for a Spicer seven-speed with a 1:1 top gear. That way, I’d only have one gear mesh between the flywheel and the drive wheel.

The Gear Vendor IS spendy. I drive about twice the US average and it will take a while to justify it. But with diesel over $3.50/gallon…

My diesel does not have a throttle, but it does have a throttle on the exhaust, which is normally activated to promote a quick warm-up in cold weather. Mine sticks shut from September through June and it is an exhaust brake, so I electrically disconnected mine and its now stuck open. Without it I freeze for about six or seven miles on a cold morning.

All of the emission controls on 2006+ diesel trucks are a disaster as far as MPG are concerned. Particularly the DPF.

Lassiter posted;
“I wish Brett Herndon had some backing for his invention. I'd love to buy one for my truck after my current project trip.”

Big Dave says:
You & me both.

My truck is >8600 GVW so it does not have an EPA estimate.

Even if your doubled the EPA estimate (something only a few folks here manage) , your truck is gonna have a tough time making it with one fill-up enroute. It would be a tall order for Phil’s aero wonder. “Real world” pickups just ain’t gonna make it.

Thinking about “everyman’s truck.” What is the major functional difference in your truck and an Insight or Prius? You can haul a lot more freight. Now most pickups I see are mostly only hauling butt. I my case that is a fairly heroic load, but most guys are skinnier. Should a pickup MPG test not be done with a standard and uniform load – say 800lb of sand bags or the like? I often wonder about my own claims which are done (mostly) unloaded except for the aforementioned fat butt.

[slowmover]

Thanks for clearing up my misunderstandings.

The 200-mile section of IH-10 from Fort Stockton to Junction, TX is already 80-mph the past five years (and some lesser known roads); maybe more of it by now. 85-mph has been approved by the Legislature. Signs will go up at DOT's pleasure. Run 80 and you will be passed by 2 out of 10 vehicles according to DOT.

Should a pickup MPG test not be done with a standard and uniform load – say 800lb of sand bags or the like? I often wonder about my own claims which are done (mostly) unloaded except for the aforementioned fat butt.

500-lbs in bed, full fuel with driver, and 4000-lb U-Haul 12x6x6 enclosed trailer on a proper hitch (500 TW). This will cover half-tons plus 3/4 and 1-T pickemups fairly well. Certified scale weights to keep tongue weight inside factory parameters (and consistent among vehicles). Trucks should be weighed unhitched, but with driver, fuel and bed load prior.

(Might go to 9k for the bigger trucks, but not less than about 5k for the smaller. The real problem is in setting up a weight-distribution hitch properly across a range of vehicles. So an agreed-upon TW needs to be set, thus trailer max load determined. Trailer TW is the towing rating brick wall as bed payload [rear axle] is limited).

Realistically, this covers what a pickup truck can do. A reasonable analogy is to a car with four adults and luggage (up to near rated capacity).

The U-Haul means uniformity among test vehicles. A prescribed number of full stops and accelerations would need to be counted in. Rolling resistance would be highlighted.

Terrain & altitude are the real problem for cross-country comparisons.

There isn't much aero penalty with the big U-Haul is "the problem". I ran empty and loaded foru times over the same 350-mile route and still saw 18-19 mpg versus 24-27 solo (7,400-lbs versus 13,500 of a 20k GCVWR). A 25 to 30% fuel penalty.

With an RV (conventional hitch) 30-40% mileage reduction is the expected range, gas or diesel.

It makes a bit more sense to baseline a particular vehicle, and then when loaded according to an agreed method to suss out changes in RR and AR to find percentage changes.

.

[lasitter]

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Even if you doubled the EPA estimate (something only a few folks here manage) , your truck is gonna have a tough time making it with one fill-up en-route. It would be a tall order for Phil’s aero wonder. “Real world” pickups just ain’t gonna make it.

That's true for a lot of reasons, beginning with the very long list of things that have to be just right for this to work. But if you take the same week that Wayne did to cross the country, then you can work a lot of things in your favor. The temperature, humidity, wind and weather are a big deal in all this.

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Thinking about “everyman’s truck.”

Part of the gimmick here is giving people something to look at that doesn't look all that different from their own truck. I want them thinking ... "You know, if THAT truck can do it ..."

Originally Posted by Big Dave

Should a pickup MPG test not be done with a standard and uniform load – say 800lb of sand bags or the like?

One thing I've been considering for a while is the sort of "handicapping" you could do to even things out between different types of trucks.

I can imagine that for some event you might have an adjustment factor of +1 gallon of fuel for ever 1,000 pounds of payload, or something like that. If you wanted to do a new vs old contest, maybe the old trucks would get an extra allowance of fuel per model year, based EPA averages for new vehicles versus old. It is really hard for old vehicles to compete with brand new technology, after all.

I can imagine a lot of ways something like this might eventually shake out, but my first task is coming up with an idea that others are interested in watching or discussing, and then moving on from there.