Hello, I'm new to the forum and all, and the ram in general.

Anyway, I recently bought a 2001 Dodge ram 1500 4x4 quad cab 5.9L. The power steering pump just failed, and I would've replaced it myself, but my truck is 2" too tall to fit into my garage, and I'm not going to work on it in the 14 degree alaskan weather outside. So, dodge wanted to charge me $240 for a $50 pump, and $100 for labor. Luckily, I was able to get it done on the AFB for $176 total.

Anyway, here's where my question is; I live in Anchorage, Alaska. The city of Anchorage is at about 50' above sea level, but I live up on the base of the moutain where I think the air is thinner. Today, I was driving through downtown about 2/10 of a mile from the ocean, and I noticed my truck was much more responsive, my mileage was better, and the truck was having to work less to keep up in traffic. I was able to cruise at 1500 rpm's, and not loose speed when going up grades. But then as I was getting closer to home, I noticed I was having to go to about 2000 rpm's just to keep going and get up smaller grades. And I also used up much more gasin the short distance to my house.
So, could the altitude be causing this, or was I likely just imagining it?

If it is the altitude, could I get a new intake system to level it out around home, then improve performace around town? Or, can I take it to the dealer to adjust the computer or something? But if I get the computer adjusted, do I have to worry about too much air-flow?
I heavily deal with 2-stroke motors, and know too much air in the air/fuel mixture can kill them easily..especially when they are revving to 38,000 rpm's (yes, 38,000).

I was thinking about an intake anyway, and was wondering who makes the best one to get better mileage? (I know mileage and performance kinda go hand in hand when it comes to air systems, but I figured I throw that in in case some are better at performance than mileage and vice versa...)


Thanks in advance!

 

I don't know about your altitude questions, but I have the K&N FIPK Gen II on my truck, and I noticed about a 0.4 MPG increase over what I was seeing previously. I drive my truck hard on the streets/highway...This is because I have a sweet sounding exhaust and hearing the FIPK sucking in the extra air is sweet...Adjusting for diffent tire sizes that have been on the truck so all things are equal, I noticed about a 1.0 MPG drop when I put new tires of my truck...I lost about another 0.4 MPG drop when I did my exhaust...so the FIPK gained back what my lead foot took away when I installed the exhaust...My next step is too reprogram, and regear to regain the 1.0 or more that was lost from the tires.

 

if the truck it 2 inches too tall let the air out of the tires lol...you should be able to get the truck tuned to the higher elevation what is the diffrence between the bace and town in evevation?

 

Base elevation is probably 100' above sea level, downtown is 50', I'm not sure what it is where I live though, but it's pretty much on the moutains, so I'm thinking the air is thinner, thus causing me to need a leaner mixture, or more airflow.
But I do know the altitude isn't that high up where I live, but maybe it's just thinner here, or I'm just imagining it, lol. Anyone know of a way to find out how much thinner the air is, and if it'd be enough to affect my truck?

 

Thinking about it, it shouldn't make a difference...I run at about 200ish feet normally, but my truck does just fine when I'm up in the 4500 foot range...Actually, my MPG increases when I'm running in the higher altitudes...Our trucks have an enormous drag coefficient that is lessened in thinner air.

 

Ok, it looks to be my imagination then...
So, I'm still lookin into an intake anyway. Are they worth it? And which are generally regarded as the best?

 

I think that the K&N that I have is worth it, but that is me...I have always run K&N on my rigs...They are highly regarded and a lot of people here have them on their rigs.