new to forum looking forward to some MPG's

[gone9]

small update:

Found a short bed are hard top tonneau cover for $125!! even if the guy can find the hardware I can put some bolts through it with some rubber spacers and camper tape to seal it off from the rain.

I drew up some sketches to where I had a 3 piece plywood unit that folded up between the fender wells and laid flat in case I use the bed but for $125 I may got for the hard cover. it looks like fiberglass and molded over the tailgate with a lock too.

[gone9]

Well, wife heard me yammering about fuel economy and the truck. She ordered me a tri fold soft tonneau cover lol. Seems it would be a good mix for covering items in the bed, yet semi rigid for the hopefully improved economy.

I leave in late December and I have the recording from last trip only a month earlier the prior year. So if I’m hitting 18-19 mpg I’ll know there was an improvement.

16.7- running 80hp time 65-68mph average.
17.7 running stock ecm file stopped at same gas stations on the way back.
Little over 2k miles round trip. Drastic elevation changes, big up/down hills but again if a tonneau helps me I’ll know at the pumps.


Here is the link to what she ordered me:

https://www.realtruck.com/american-t...tonneau-cover/

[elhigh]

Excellent find on the cover. That's a good price if it's in good condition.

Only take the air dam as far down as the lowest hanging pieces of your undercarriage, but as far out to the sides as possible to cover the tires. Lower than that and the improvement gets negated by the increased area.

Besides that I've read stories that described improvement all the way down to the ground, but every time the dam scraped the road the driver would grit his teeth. There's a point beyond which the improvement in performance isn't worth the added discomfort.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes. Start a garage page for your truck and we'll all be able to follow along.

[puddleglum]

I agree with elhigh on the air dam. Raising the front probably created even more turbulence under the truck than before. Anything you can do to smooth out the airflow will help. You may want to consider making a belly pan as well as an air dam.

[gone9]

My buddies brother works at some sort of factory that makes big rubber belts lol. Once I get my truck back from the body shop I’ll take some measurements for a air dam.

I’m going to try the tonneau cover, Mirrors folded for about 2k miles in late Dec this year. Then hopefully within a week I can get a rough air dam that doesn’t interfere with daily use.

I’ll see about adding a pic of the current set up now and then after each mod etc

[gone9]

The tonneau cover has been a nice addition and clear fuel economy improvement. average 1-1.5mpg consistently. It even got me almost summer blend diesel mpg out of winter blend. I can't say the fuel additives are good/bad but for diesels I feel the power service product diesel kleen made an improvement in winter blended fuels for me.

Air dam is a little more difficult because of deep snow so I am looking for another front used bumper to modify. The superduty front bumpers are only held on by 4 bolts and are very easy. So I will have an air dam in the garage for winters then 10 min swap to air dam in summers.

I looked into lowering the truck but its not cost effective at the moment. I would need new oem front leaf springs around $140+ each even used outrageous. then swap the rear block for another with the same angle. Plus getting shorter shocks for the front.

I have dabbled with the idea of an angled tonneau cover for simpleness but this winter I will have more inside time to see about fabricating a small frame and possibly some sort of plastic for the shell. My brother is a much more accomplished fabricator then me so he would probably help choose material and assembly etc.


other mods that improve driveability but not measureably mpg.

-Motorcraft AIS severe duty intake-more direct ram intake style along with whats called a zoodad mod for the 99-07 powerstrokes.

-wicked wheel 2 turbo wheel-lowered egts, builds boost faster,

-power hungry performance chip-Love the high idle and no start features and can get custom tunes for shifting.

-straight pipe-lowered egts, way more sound, interestingly little more get up on low end acceleration too.