I have studied lots of post, and asked questions, and I think I have a good
list of mods, which will greatly affect my mileage.

I am ordering the mods in a way that will affect mileage, most to least.

The faster I save gas money-the more the mod pays for itself.

Please read and comment.

1. Foldable Bed Cover (Looking at Red's Beds diamond plate, it reflects the sun in Phoenix, the black ones would cook)
2. Switch from factory 17" steel rims to 20" Albas (increase rolling diameter-I have 4.10 rearend)
2. Efans
3. Underdrive Pulleys
4. Edge or Troyer Tunes

Planned mods (not sure if they would help mileage)

5. Magnaflow catback sido exhaust
6. Air intake

Am I missing any thing?

Thanks

 

If you do Efans Don't bother with Under drive pulleys just my 2C
You have to grind a hunk of metal (some kind of mount )off the bottom right side of the water pump to make them work any ways its a pain in the a$$

 

These mods might help increase your mpg, but the biggest "mod" that will help is keeping your right foot off the floor. I try to accelerate at a normal rate and anticipate stopping so I can increase the amount of time that I'm not slamming on the brakes. Try to keep your rpm's under 3000 during normal driving and you will get the best mileage possible.

 

I have to emphasize here...I have a 4.10 rear end.

I do not get the mileage that 3.73 owners do...

The difference at cruising speed from my '03 with a 3.73 and 18's, and my new 4.10 and 17's-is 250 rpms /or/ 2000rpms at 70mph against 2250rpms at 70mph now.

A 163 wheelbase truck doesn't lend itself to leadfooting, its just plain heavy.

Sidenote: Phoenix has a law which causes all of our gas to be special blend, for emissions. As far as I can tell, no one else uses it, and it costs more. Most of you are at $2.00 a gallon now, we're at $2.38, and I feel lucky.

 

You have a big rear end.....

(Couldn't resist)

Doubtfull you will get your money back from all those purchases in the way of better mpg.

 

I would second Triton's advice but take it a step further: If you're not on the freeway (or entering freeway), you should keep your RPMs under 2K for best milage. Using a ScanGuage II, I've found my 5.4V makes the best milage between 40-55 mph. And starting/stopping kills MPG in our trucks, so... hold it to those ranges and try to keep pace with stoplights. That will give you plenty of left over MPGs to burn when you feel like gettin on it!

If there were a magic mod that would boost MPG significantly, we would all have one by now.

Use you mod money for power/play. Use your foot for MPG.

 

Txnole,

Kind of contradictory.

I'm basically saying that new wheels and tires will help me get to the 2000rpm threshold (indirect gear reduction), and the other mods are designed to reduce load on the motor, causing it to use less gas to make power.

I drive at least 80 miles per day on the freeway, and that's a fixed distance, so aerodynamics, rolling resistance, and overall load are the primary forces I want to affect.

If I could get 5 miles more per gallon x 36.7 gallon tank=183.5 miles more per tank, that means 2.29 more days per tank.

Currently using one tank per week, that means (2.29 x 52 weeks) =119.3 more trips on the same amount of gas.

My gas budget is $5000 this year, and 119.3 is ONE THIRD of a year, so that means that I could spend $1666.66 on mods-this year-or throw it in the gas tank.

The mods mentioned would be about $5000, so amortized over 3 years, I would have all the mods-paid for by not pumping more gas.

Beyond three years, I have an additional $1666.66 in my pocket every year.

The case sounds strong...but I still want some criticism from people who have done it.

 

would leveling the rear down, or adding a lower front valence help w aerodynamics on these heavy tanks?

 

Keep in mind rolling resistance and unsprung weight with the rims/wheels. If you are serious about a 3 year investment and a return on that investment, then you should know what the weight difference would be. Also a lower resistance tire would help.

The 4.10 gears are not hurrting you as much as you think they are. They are probably helping your stop and go more than hurting your highway mpg.

If I could, I'd give you my 3.55's and take your 4.10's.

A methanol water mix injected may help as well and they run about $2-300.

I dont think that 5 mpg average or overall increase is realistic, however I havent ever tried to get that number. I would think 2-3 is more realistic.

Oh some turbo companies are claiming an increase of 2-3 mpg with their kits. More power more mpg = more smiles.

 

We have this in parts of DFW in the summer. It sucks.

I have read what you are trying to do here. If you could pull it off, I would love to know with some details about what you thought made the most impact. I have not been able to do a single mod that significantly affected my fuel use. I don't have a tuner though. I did in my Tahoe and it didn't make a bit of difference on fuel whatsoever, so I have not done it in my F150 yet. I may for the performance impacts, but for now I live with my 14-17 MPG.

I drive about 100 miles a day to and from work. Often in stop and go traffic, which is likely the biggest problem.

Good luck.

 

In the real world, I don't thnk you'll ever save half the cost of the mods in gas costs.

 

I do mostly highway with the wife and 2 kids, and I have to say the best mod for mpg is my wheel tire combo. Then my Edge tuner, then my Magnaflow cat back si/so. Tires went fron 255-70-17 to 325-60-18. I have 3.73 LS. At 70 mph my rpms dropped from 2000 to 1800. That is level 2 on the Edge. I will go back to lvl3 in a few weeks and will get even better fuel mileage.Truck is 4x4 screw 05.

 

What I think what I'm looking for is that each mod,

bed cover, underdrive, efans, tunes, each claim to give 2-3 more mpg.

The wheels and tires will lower rpm at cruising speed.

I think its unrealistic to think I can add each claim together and get 10-12 mpg more, so the goal would be half that.

I agree, nothing will take away the sheer weight of the vehicle, and its necessary to use power to get it up to speed, but once there, I'm thinking these tweaks will combine to reduce overall load on the motor.

Which is why I placed exhaust and intake last. They seem to have more effect on torque, than horsepower, and torque is the force used most when accelerating from a dead stop. Torque also will influence whether my truck downshifts when accelerating, or stays in the same gear.

Diesels spool the turbo to increase power at speed, not downshift. Same principle.

 

Thanks 05supercrew,

Your 1800rpm statement pretty much supports my torque logic. If you can get the rpms down, and still have the power to run at speed, mileage improves.

 

I have a bed cover also and notice little if any improvement. The tuner makes the biggest difference all around. At very best with all mods I personally think all you can get is 2 mpg better and that will be at highway speeds. Thats my opinion, others might get better. My truck has 11k on it.