2005 Ram 1500, 4.7L 4x4 crew cab; I get 9.9 MPG. $100 every 2 weeks about :/ is this normalish? It's winter and basically all city driving.

 

2005 QC diesel 4x4, 211k on the clock, 17 mpg city/20 mpg hiway. Currently starting to write my own tune for mpg purposes (hiway) only.

on a side note, I am approaching my 200000 mile anniversary... Bought the truck in March 2006 with 13,500 on the clock.

 

You're filling it up, just in small increments, with many trips to the gas station

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. That'd be a monster commute...

I do have an update on my fuel mileage. I did some tests the other day and pulled out 21mpg at 61mph. Averaged for 3 round trips on a 1.1 mile test strip (read pretty flat road) near my house. How'd I do that? Couple of things that help. 1) warm air intake (WAI) 2) front splitter and engine bay belly panel, 3) fairings in front of the front tires 4) 1/4 grill block.
I am also using a Taurus Efan and running a Superchips 91 perf tune.

For those who are interested, here are the details of the above mods.

1)WAI=I have a 4" flexible dryer hose running from the upper corner of the radiator where the upper radiator hose connects...directly into the factory air box. I get about a 30*F temp rise on IAT. NOTE: This only works on MAP vehicles. MAF does not seem to notice...
2)front splitter and eng belly panel. The NASCAR picture gives you an idea of what it looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuser_(automotive) My truck's splitter only protrudes about 1.5" from the plastic bumper spoiler. It's a prototype, cut from 3/8" plywood, painted w/black oil based paint, then coated with clear RTV. It extends to the front edge of the front wheel wells. Eng bay panel. I'm using a piece of 0.050" 6061T6 aluminum sheet, about 3 feet long and 3 feet wide. I've also fabbed some corrugated plastic pieces to cover the gaps between the alum panel and the wheel wells (didn't test with those yet).
3)front tire fairings. Idea originated from small fairings I saw in front of the front wheels on the Viper ACR and the Corvette ZR-1. My truck's fairings are much bigger, and look like triangular wedges in front of the tires to divert the air past the sidewalls.
4)Yep, I've blocked part of the front grill. If you look at a RAM SRT10, I mirrored my truck from it. About 4-5" on the outside edges of both sides of the grill are covered with black plastic.

My truck also has a bed topper, which actually hurts mileage a bit, from added weight and worse aerodynamics. If you have a flat bed cover (even if it's painted plywood) you will be better off. Even better than no bed cover at all--it's been wind tunnel proven.

I'll post a couple pix in my garage as I've already exceeded my attachment limit...

 

Sweet! I just got done (within the last 2 weeks or so) doing a front bumper insert from a gasser, 3/4 grill block, secondary front spoiler (under the swaybar) and a mild wai hose going from near the exhaust manifold to the area where the airbox draws air. The wai hose gave me 20~25*f, ran yesterday in 65*f ambient temps and IATs got up to 85~87*f. Truck ran awesome (diesel). I also just started tuning my ram for cruising rpm/calc load with mpg in mind. Dropped rail pressure about 1k & decreased duration a tad bit.

I have a 115 mile run up the interstate I do for comparison purposes. I let the cruise control handle the throttle & keep it at 64~65 mph. Fill up before & after and hand calculate mpg. I have been measuring 20.2 mpg on the run with no real change in the mpg with the mods I mentioned above. I did have some concern about the tonneau cover & tailgate spoiler mods & mpg... seems like mpg went down with them. I have a rollup canister type of cover and my truck sees no change either open or closed which points to the tailgate spoiler.

Anyways, cant wait to test the new tune! Cant do it for several days since we are getting a series of storms coming thru.. grrr... My overall goal is to be able to get 20 mpg easily on the hiway. Still think I am about 2 mpg off.

 

This what my over head siad, runing 94 octane with tecron bought in Golden BC, I pulled 18.5 mpg on my to calgary Alberta...

True dual ex conversion, 373 lt slip 6sp man 373 ltd slip cab high topper, cruse set on 60 mph, 6th gear 1800 rpm.

I had my rear slider open on the truck and it felt like my truck was cutting threw the air better, cant really prove that this helps MPG.

 

In 6th gear you run 1800 RPMs at 60? That sucks. I run 1750 RPMs at 70 but that's with a 5 speed and 3.92s. For me I'm running 93 octane with StarTron and on my trip back home the other day I pulled off between 17.5 and 17.9 on the overhead which is accurate in my case. For my mods I'm happy with what I'm getting. I'm hoping once I free up my exhaust I'll break the 18s. In town though I only manage 9-10. I've determined it comes down to RPMs and speed really because I can run 1600 RPMs at 30-35 and only manage 9-10 or I can run 1600-1700 RPMs at 60-70 and get 17-18. I do have bed cover but I'm also lifted 6 inches and I have the heavy stock 20s with 34 inch A/T tires

 

60 mph 1800 RPM is not at all bad for a hemi powerd 4wd 3/4 ton truck, 75 mph is arround 2500 rpm but 60 mph is the marker for mpg with my truck, over 5500 rpms my rev limiter kicks in

As a compasison, MY 5sp Elantra touring, 2.0 4 cy is pushing 2500 RPM in fith gear at 60 mph, red line is 7000rpm, thats hard to get used too even thow the elanta will get twice the mpg as my 2500 hemi..

My 2500 is lot more fun to drive due to the toruqe on tap and less need to down shift..

MY past Ford f-150s would average abought 2000 rpm at 60 with 355LTD slips and were thirsty basterd's, my 04 F-150 reg cab 5.4 3v 4x4 was a pig!!

 

I suppose. For 2500 RPM I could probably do 90. And I always have plenty of power where I can take off cruise control and lightly press the pedal and gently push past slowpokes without downshifting lol

 

Careful on what size exhaust u pick, go bigger than 3" single and you will loose mpg. Focus on mods that will increase low end torque. I have no experience with the hemi but on all the motors if worked with, low end torque = better mpg.