On Tuesday May 29, 2007, I left Lake Havasu City, AZ heading to Michigan for family vacation. I driving my 06' CTD Megacab, pulling my 24' Crownline Deck Boat. When I left Lake Havasu I went up through Las Vegas then headed on Interstate 15 to Utah then headed eastbound on Interstate 70. I purposely wanted to go through the mountains to see how my truck would handle with a load. Let me tell you, this truck is AWESOME.....It pulled through the mountains like it was made for it.

When I reached Indiana I stopped at the Cummins plant in Columbus, IN and got a tour of the engine plant that makes our diesels. When I reached the front counter there were2 engines on display, the 5.9L and the 6.7L. The tour was awesome starting with seeing the engines blocks in their raw form,then go through the machining process and then get built up until they werefinally tested.

Iinquired aboutwhether or not they could detect if aprogrammers had been on a truck. The guy immeidately said, "You means ones like Bullydog, Smarty, and Edge?" Hewent on to say that they currently havemeasures in place so they can determine if an engines goes bad they will know if it was due to the owner/operator or if it was a faulty engine. He even went on to say that they find it ironic that all the companiesclaim their productis undectable. They admitted at one time it was but they fixed it. He said Dodge may not be able to detect a programmer or other modificationsbut they can.

Once I finally made it to Michigan and I did the math on my actual fuel costs I got 10-mpg. I was disappointed with that considering I have 38K on the truck. Oh Well....

 

Thanks for the description of your trip and tour.

I seriously doubt they can tell if you had used a programer. If the dealer can not pick the data up off of the computer, no engine mfg. is going to find traces.

What speed were you towing your trailer? Much of the way, you could probably tow at 70-75 mph.. When you make your return trip, try to keep the tow speed to 55-60. I think you will see a BIG improvement in fuel economy.

Good luck on your trip back, keep us posted on your trip home.

Ralph

 

Bush must be involved, hes got to know everything

 

If I run 70+ towing my camper I get 9 -10 MPG, if I run 65 or less I get 11+ mpg. FYI......

 

I will keep that in mind on the return trip....

 

NICE set up you've got there !!

Why does it look like your truck drops so much in the azz end? Maybe that has something to do with the decrease in mileage.

 

That is a nice boat man. Give some more details on the boat, lol.

 

Mayfair,
i am guessing that the boat is just loaded a smidge too far forward on the trailer. I am sure when he reloads he'll leave it a few inches further back.

 

Wouldn't driving that way SERIOUSLY increase the drag? He's actually be pushing air trapped under the truck right?

 

As big mike mentioned I need to re-evalute the boats relative position on the trailer. When I last checked it out,I hadthe desired 10%total weight on the tongue. Something may have shifted because Idid not notice that sag until I posted that pic. I did have a lot of stuff in the bed when that pic was taken.My buddy has the same exact truck (white in color) and his boat is about 11,000 lbs, he added the Firestone Air Bags and he has been happy with them so I may take a look at the those.

Moredetails onboat:

24' Crownline Deck Boat, Volvo-Penta 5.7l GXI Duo-Prop. The boat runsabout 50-mph at WOT. Its israted for 14 passengers, the swip step on the back adds 2 feet, so when I talk with people that dont know much about boats I always say its a 26 footer. I have about 300 hours on the boat and have had zero problems with it, except for operator induced mistakes. There was a slight learning curve that I was always behind. I added a large aftermarket stereo system, that included some sub-woofers, amps, I-Pod controller and Sirus Satellite. One thing nice about deck boats, is that when I pull-up on the beachI can step off the front of it....

I am going to down to Tennesse June 12 for a Crownline National Rally that will be on LAKE NORRIS. I am the only one from California so I should win the long distance award. This will be my first rally and everyone tells me they are a blast. It is a four day event, with events planned throughout. I believe there are over 100 boats registered so far. They will have a poker run, fastest boat contest, loudest stereo contest, best rig contest (I have the big dodge...bbbbbrrrrrr) stuff for the kids, a big tie-up, a texas hold-em tourney. All makes and models of Crownline will be there. I will take lots of pics......