Hi Steve, thanks, i'm very happy with how it looks

For the bed seals, i've read you're explanations' on them and i thought they were too long, this is why i took the picture towards the wheel wells.
Thing is, i do not have much height above the wheel well and the top of the bed.
I'm going to do as you told the first time ... i'm going to shorten them and see if it makes a difference, and agreed, every little bit counts.
I'm not gonna take the fender flares off, because i really like the looks of it.
I did found a decent hill to coast down from, so i'm going to test and see if i can "measure the change"

Right now i'm at 18 mpg, and beware is the middle of fall here right now, at night and in the morning it's freezing and a lot of windy rainy days.
Just on a side note this is 90% highway driving at 60mph speed limit, 10% local roads and occasionally 80mph, at night we're allowed to a max speed of 80mph.
I don't have any complains about my average, but fuel prices over here are through the roof, we pay $ 8.32/gallon.

On the air defector, i made it sit flush or a little beneath the crossmember off the steering rack, but i made it adjustable, so on that side i could raise and lower it if needed.
Looking on you're projects of building an air dam/spoiler to direct the airflow to the ground and the sides, i just have to mount it somewhere on the air defector i think.
This night i went to the gasstation and i hit my fog light brackets, so i can't go any lower on the front bumper.

On the fan, i noticed last year when i hit a traffic jam my temps went up, so coming home i discoverd my original auxiliary fan wasn't working.
After testing i concluded the motor was toast, while i can't go to a junkyard or buy new parts round the corner, i took an old fan i had laying around.
I changed the dual fan setup on my Saab 900 Turbo like 25 years ago, and kept them for....you never know....
I've read the PCM could power a fan to about 50Amps, so i gave it a shot with this single one, just for auxiliary ( AC and failsafe 210 F ).
This works exactly like the OEM one, comes on with AC and when temps creeping to 210F.
Just made a stainless steel round plate to mount the motor and some brackets to the existing mounting points.

I've been searching a lot for a clutch fan delete, and i think i'm going to an 18inch Mercedes CLK 320 fan, or something like it.
I think i will get a chinese PWM generator to drive the fan for the time being.
Because i read if we get the HP Tuners we could regulate the fan operation with PWM signals.
Seems very easy to do with an Arduino board and a 555 chip.....but i don't have any experience with this kind of electronics.

 

Nice looking trucks, fellas! All of them.

 

i have a pwm setup project for the ram on hold. it has a 30amp motor driver, arduino controller and i i programmed it to run at 2 speeds using pwm. i found it was difficult to get it to adjust the way i wanted it to. i have a thermistor to the handle in rush current to protect the motor drive assembly. tested it out using a 7 amp fan i have.

the arduino monitors a voltage which kicks on the low speed then high speed. ..one fan should be easy to set up...

 

TCM swap, I dont think the motor has enough bottom end torque to leverage the gear change that comes with the JTCM... This tank has been a DGAS (dont give a poop) tank & miles driven vs fuel gauge position is similar to the last tank. Which had no change from previous, 15.6 mpg. Once I get bottom end torque up, the JTCM mod can get bumped up if the bottom end torque bump is deemed sufficient to leverage it.

Moving forward here is the plan...

1) drain & fill engine with RP 5w-30, drain & fill rear diff with RP 75w-90, wrap fuel rail (most likely this weekend)... (note, no longer seeing much change in oil color on dip stick so I think the engine is relatively sludge free)
2) WAI & airbox mod(s) - TBD, unplug AC compressor
3) 180~190* t-stat install, remove the fan clutch
4) Volvo fan install & controller, engine temp dependent
5) air dam under front swaybar area (location TBD), bed seals
6) tbd... maybe tuning at this point and or TCM install.

edit: cam & crank sensor swaps go in there as well

thoughts?

 

We do have the same, but completely different vehicles.....2wd / 4wd, so in comparison you could be right.
I'm very happy with it and on mine it made a huge difference, but like i said this ain't a equal comparison because of the 2wd and 4wd version.
This will also be influenced because over here we don't have hills, it's all flat.
So i could imagine this wil be too much with your setup, you had to be changing gear ratios to compensate, but than RPM's goes up again, so gaining nothing but high cost for a little profit.

When you could buy or borrow .....a TCM cheap, i would give it a try, it might surprises you, we do have a lot of bottom end torque.
When i have to speed up from 35 to 60 miles, to enter the freeway, there's a little lag in 3th gear, just seems like 1/2 second with 3/4 throttle and than he goes, it will pull it up to 60 pretty fast, this is without downshift ( kickdown ).
On 60 i set the cruise control and it shift directly to tc lock up and od, so no problems.
I've got the 3.55 rear axle ratio and cruise with 60mph at 1630 RPM's, when i don't come in traffic or below 55mph it never comes out of od.

2) WAI & airbox mod(s) - TBD, unplug AC compressor, thoughts ?

I'm interested in the change with the airbox, but unplug the AC ?
If you wan't to have AC for the summer i can imagine this one, but AC is help full during wintertime too, for defogging the windshield because of the dry air.
If you can live with the AC system cut off during winter, i would use a shorter serpentine belt, this will gain you some more, and it's a fast change to the longer belt with AC for summertime.
Don't know if it's possible though, you might have to take off the ac compressor and put spacers under the mounting points so it clears the belt running below the AC pulley, other thing to look at if you have enough clearance for closing the hood this way....just some thoughts...

 

I still plan to do the JTCM swap, it is just getting dropped down on the todo list some because of the lack of torque. It will just come after some of the mods to bump the low end torque. One aspect of it that may make me try it sooner is the TC lockup speed... I read it occurs at 50 mph vs 40 mph, is that what you see? I am currently turning roughly 1800 rpms @ 60~62 mph.

The airbox... 1st plan is to reduce the opening some and understand the effect (my expectation is the part throttle torque peak will drop in rpms). I know that with the ram, when the airbox was opened up, mpg's suffered, bottom end torque dropped off some. Engineers will have designed it to work ok up to redline, which my truck will never see, and to perform well hauling a load. Going to have to data log it to see the changes and understand where it helps or hurts. I will do that on the 12 mi run I do for the Ram.

As far as the AC compressor goes... the one on the ram has had its fuse pulled for a couple of years now, no issues clearing the front window. It does however have a good heater core in it so no leaking coolant.

Also, I found that the HPT hardware would run me $190 if I turn my current setup in. Might do it and get going on the Dak sooner then January.

 

Yes that's correct, the Jeep TCM locks at 50 mph when you drive gentle.... when you increase speed like i said it stays unlocked until you lift the pedal or maintain a steady speed.
In the morning with less traffic when entering the freeway it wil lock up on 50mph, but only if the engine has reached operation temperature.
Otherwise it may take a 3 to 5 miles on cruise at 60 mph before it locks up.
Therefor and some other reasons i have my doubts on the lower temp thermostat.....

 

Have not heard of that one on the temp holding off lockup. will have to investigate when the time comes.

I wonder what the Dodge TCM does in the '03...?

 

really? a 100% dgas tank, nasty weather, higher speeds and got 16.0 mpg...

that kinda supports the peak torque is up around 2000-2200 rpms. tempted to do another tank and behave.

the only other thing i could point to is the 2 new wheel bearings are "broke in"

 

uodate.. another 15.9 mpg tank, oil change to royal purple done, first airbox mod done, removed front air deflector, created an air barrier to prevent water intrusion, removed airbox snorkle and took it for a drive. as expected, drop in low end torque, easier breathing (also cleaned air filter) with additional open at airbox input = more downshifting during the few drives.

took gorilla tape and covered approx 1/4 of the box opening and took it for a spin. barely noticeable bump on bottom end, less downshifting.

tomorrow it gets rp in rear diff and front diff fluid swap.

had a look at a 4.7 tune and i may dive in sooner, seems pretty straight forward tuning it. tables fod controlling torque output as well as a timing table. timing table for low end is pretty conservative compared to higher rpms