Yup, playin' in the truck twice on the tank...

We'll see how she does on the open road, going to Virginia on the 20th for my sister's 18th birthday.

I used to take I75 up to the Atlanta bypass and get on I85 all the way to I77, but that's 100 miles further then just going up through Georgia to Augusta...

Think we'll take the country way this trip...

 

I used to live in just west of Augusta in Lincolnton - right on Clark's Hill Lake. There is NO good way to go from south central Georgia to Augusta. It's either interstates that take you WAY out of the way or highways that go thru EVERY damn town where the traffic picks up and the speed limit drops to 35!

When I lived in Vidalia (8 years) I was only a couple of miles from US1 which at least was a straight shot up to Augusta. Going thru towns still sucked though.

From Douglas I usually take 441 (which you can catch in Pearson) up to Dublin and then 301 over to US1 and then up...

 

We used to drive up through South Central Ga, and then we started taking the interstate, it still takes the same amount of time to drive, just seems to NEVER end.

 

God, I'm dumb....

Back on subject with some longer term comments:

I started losing MPG's like it was cool.. I have yet ANOTHER floggin exhaust leak.. at the manifold.. north of the upwind o2 sensor.. all that equals= jacked up fuel delivery..

but it seems to seal when the truck is warmed up..

never buy hedman headers.. they are crap.. warped flanges. grrrrrr..

anyway-

My mileage started slipping.. I couldn't explain it.. I looked and looked, and just couldn't understand it other than the exhaust leak, but we're not talking about a massive leak here.. I also have been plagued with a regular p1281 code, which tosses the engine into open loop- and that attacks mileage very effectively.. even accounting for those, I had issues..

I started holding the gas station I frequent suspect.. sure enough, swapped over to another one I somewhat trust, and mileage skyrocketed to near what I was seeing before.. near.. not to where I wanted to see it, and I wanted to see what i was seeing before AND a gain from the star-tron.. as far as I was concerned, the star-tron had forsaken me..

anyway

I work on base.. they have some snazzy freebies for the troops, and one of those is a nice little auto hobby shop.. I was killing some time and drove through there.. I stopped to talk to a dude who has a rockin' Monte Carlo-

he says to me at the end of the conversation: "man, you may want to put some air back in those tires now that you're off the trail, huh?"

me: "wtf you talking about 'trail'?"
him: "i figured you'd been out on the trail with your pressure so low"
me: "how can you tell my pressure is low? it doesn't look low to me!"
him: "it's a little hard to tell with those 20" rims, but they are.. I'd bet they're around 40psi or so- and E range, you should crank them to at least 55, if not 60psi"

he points to an air hose w/gauge...

I roll over to it, and the dude is floggin' right as rain.. I'm at 40psi.. wtf? I fill it to 55~57psi, and in short order with that bad *** rig they have set up, thank the dude, and roll on out of there..

I haven't done the math on it, but I'm back up around 14ish, pressing 15.. whodathunkit?

it's always the little things that slip past you, no? floggin' air in the tires.. dang.. I had let some out several weeks ago when I was trailing, and had my buddy refill it whilst I was grabbin' us some beer from inside the store.. I never thought to check.. I bet he thinks the psi is 35, as it would likely be for a C or D range tire.. go figure..

in short: check your floggin air pressure.. THAT additive ABSOLUTELY works..

 

I have E load range tires as well, Wal-Mart installed them to 35PSI and that's what I've left them at. I wonder if I shouldn't go up a bit.....

 

it will be on the sidewall... most e range i've encountered want 55psi.. you can overcharge them some, but not a lot.. if you load them (cold psi) to, say, 65, you'll be okay, and you'll see your rolling resistance decrease some- which will aid your engines effort to get and keep those tires rolling- which equals better mileage..

 

Yeah i have load range Es and I run them at 55-60. Though the max is 85 I surely dont want to be driving on rock tires...

 

+1 more. E range on my Yota - 55-60! Almost rides too hard though. Probably won't put Es back on next set.

 

I checked into this yesterday, there is no recommended PSI on the tire, the only reference to PSI is for max load per tire, which is over 3k at 80PSI.

I've checked on the web, some are running 55-60PSI. Hmm....

 

"E" load tires are just too stiff for a half ton truck. Hell "C" tires are rated for more weight than the truck bed is. Most "E" tires are 80 PSI max and should be run with 60 PSI minimum. Just too damn harsh for me.

I ran "E" tires on my old Furd diesel and that was about it. I run "D" tires now, 50 PSI max that I'll usually run at 40-42 PSI unless I'm airiing them down to go off-road. That's a pretty good load range tire to balance towing/hauling with road manners IMO...