The Devil made me do it!!

[JEBar]

In this case, the devil = high fuel prices :confused: Over this past weekend my wife and I drove from Raleigh, NC on I40, through the Great Smokey Mountains, to Knoxville, T. and back. For the first time, I drove my truck by the tack and not by the speedometer. During entire 728 mile trip, cruse set to keep tack on 1900 which yielded 63/64 mph. Fuel added twice, once at 429 miles and again 299 miles later. First tank 20.3 mpg .... second 20.5 .... trip average 20.4 .... this is the first time I've ever gotten 20 or better mpg on our 3500. Very pleased with truck's efforts, have known all along that speed is her enemy and I have heard others mention getting 20 or better mpg but have never been able to keep her in a speed range that you allow our truck to do so :cool: By the way, cheapest fuel $1.639 Exit 152 at Flying J west of Durham, NC and $1.699 just east of Knoxville .... JIM

[ 03-17-2003: Message edited by: JEBar ]</p>

[mackin]

Jim

That is some good numbers....Proves it's all in the foot.....

MAC ;)

[ 03-17-2003: Message edited by: mackin ]</p>

[JEBar]

must admit driving that far while being passed by everything on the road wasn't easy on my nerves but when it was all over with the time it took me to get from there and back wasn't markedly longer than on previous trips .... Jim

[Tsckey]

JEBar,

I had a similar experience last Friday. Needed to go to San Francisco on business and thought it would be interesting to see what kind of mileage I could get. I set the cruise at 100 rpm over your target, which yielded just over 65 mph. I fueled up on my return. The round trip is about 170 miles. I got 19.9 mpg. BUT, I was in stop and go traffic for many, many miles, a fact of life out here, especially on a Friday afternoon. I suspect that my mileage would have been closer to 21 mpg, but for the traffic.

Now, on the one hand, driving that slowly, with people whizzing by is a bit frustrating. But, on the other, when I drive at my usual 75-80 I get to my destination too soon. I find that I like driving the thing so much that a few more moments of tooling along seem like an added bonus. I've had all kinds of vehicles over the years and I can't recall another I'd say that about.

TC

[bigbobed]

Did you pull Black Mountain in cruise and stay in od?

[LanceW]

you think slowing down is bad? I did worse than that- Jane and I went out and found a 91 toyota Celica to drive when we aren't pulling horses. Between paying for Diesel fuel and dually brakes, tires, trans, etc we figure the thing will pay for itself in about 18 months... plus the dually has 190,000 on it, and we're not in any hurry to go out and spend $45,000 bucks to replace it. With the way we've kept the truck up, it should last a long time if we take it easy on it and stop driving it when we don't need to.

I have to hold my breath every time I get near a speed bump- afraid my a** is going to drag. It's like driving a roller skate, but 35 mpg feels pretty good on the wallet. Besides, my job moved downtown, and I feel stupid wheeling into the parking garage in a 6500#, 20 foot long truck...

It ain't the most masculine thing in the world, but on the bright side, it's a rag-top and the dog loves it :D

[ 03-18-2003: Message edited by: LanceW ]</p>

[JEBar]

bugbobed ... pulled Black Mountain with cruise set at 60 (speed limit 55) with Juice set in Level IV .... fortunate to not come up on any slow traffic and she didn't down-shift. Have done this several times since owning the truck. Interestingly enough, if cruise is set at 55 she will down shift once or twice on the way up ... guess it has to do with the overdrive power band. Can take her up using foot throttle at 55 without a down shift ....In Knoxville, reset Juice to level II, no downshifts on grades on the way back. First time I've run the truck in II and frankly couldn't tell any difference. Will be interesting to see if Level II will take it up Black Mountain as easily as IV does .... Jim

[sdaver]

im glad you can do it....Ill never get it.......318 miles 4 hours 16.56 mpg

[JEBar]

sdaver .... "318 miles 4 hours 16.56 mpg" ... by my figures you averaged 79.5 mph :eek: while I was averaging something less than 64 mph, with that being the case, would say you got excellent mileage!!! ....... Jim