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Hypermiling your Heavy Duty

sheath
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sheath Enthusiast

sheath

Posted
Posted

Would be very cool to read what you all are doing. :thumbs:

 

Not many of us bought our Heavy Duty trucks expecting to get great gas mileage.  That wrote, with the recent spike in fuel prices have you adopted any practices to help get the best from your truck?  If you have, has it positively affected your fuel mileage? 

It would be interesting to see how things like tire pressure, driving regimens/disciplines, aero mods, etc.,  actually impact fuel mileage.  I remember the old days when trucks got 10mpg, empty, loaded, uphill, downhill, engine off coasting on long down hill sections... lol

This truck is only half way through the third tank of fuel, so I don't have any competent data to add. 

 

 

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Njmurvin Enthusiast

Njmurvin

Posted
Posted

I'm doing nothing special now. But, when the truck was brand new, I did the 500 mile break-in by taking the freeway from Ventura County to Bakersfield to purchase my tow hitch.  I did my best to keep the speed under 60 but that was nearly impossible for me (big rigs were passing me on inclines - embarrassing).  So, I varied it between 55 and 65.  Using only the lie-o-meter, I was averaging anywhere between 20 and 35mpg.  As I recall, it's a moving average of the last 50 miles or so.

 

Anyway, the point of this is that speed is the enemy of fuel economy on these trucks. Probably the best thing you can do to increase your mpg is to keep your speed down.

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unit Enthusiast

unit

Posted
Posted

You can increase fuel economy by: 

1. Slowing down, cruising at 60 will get better mileage than 70.

2. Maintain a steady speed, use cruise control when possible.

3. Avoid idling - it wastes fuel.

4. Keep tires inflated to recommended pressure.

 

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sheath Enthusiast

sheath

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  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, unit said:

You can increase fuel economy by: 

1. Slowing down, cruising at 60 will get better mileage than 70.

2. Maintain a steady speed, use cruise control when possible.

3. Avoid idling - it wastes fuel.

4. Keep tires inflated to recommended pressure.

 

Is that what you are doing now, and has it made a difference for you that you can quantify?

Lots of articles out on how to hypermile.  I'm more interested in what folks on this forum are actually doing, and what affects you all are seeing. 

When I had my last truck, there were individuals on the associated forum that were doing some pretty intensive testing/mods to see how much they could increase their fuel mileage.   It was a lot of fun to read, and get ideas from.

  • Like 1
KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted
46 minutes ago, sheath said:

Is that what you are doing now, and has it made a difference for you that you can quantify?

Lots of articles out on how to hypermile.  I'm more interested in what folks on this forum are actually doing, and what affects you all are seeing. 

When I had my last truck, there were individuals on the associated forum that were doing some pretty intensive testing/mods to see how much they could increase their fuel mileage.   It was a lot of fun to read, and get ideas from.

That works with any vehicle I’ve owned. Depending on vehicle I can gain 2 mpg going 70 instead of 72 because of drag. I generally still go 72.  In town I generally get 2 miles per gallon better than my wife she idles more than me. It doesn’t matter what vehicle. I watch traffic flow better and I’m not a brake slammer. I found out recently she’s more of an aggressive driver. I never knew. 

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22z712500 Enthusiast

22z712500

Posted
Posted (edited)

I am doing nothing to alter my driving habits.  I spent a good chunk of coin on a vehicle that I knew doesn't get great mileage. I am ok with the pay to play. If I cared about gas mileage I would have bought a tesla.

Edited by 22z712500
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Random Enthusiast

Random

Posted
Posted

These trucks have the aerodynamics of a brick, weigh 3+ tons, and most upgrades/mods people do on these forums only increase drag/weight. The window stickers didn't even include fuel economy numbers when  we purchased our trucks. That being said, I'm mostly just burying my head in the sand ... like fueling up at 1/2 a tank to pretend it's not going to cost over $100 to fill up.

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Njmurvin Enthusiast

Njmurvin

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Random said:

That being said, I'm mostly just burying my head in the sand ... like fueling up at 1/2 a tank to pretend it's not going to cost over $100 to fill up.

Ha!  I wish. Here in SoCal, BEFORE the war in Ukraine I would do that trick and it was usually slightly over $100.  At over $6/gal, I'm afraid it'll be closer to 1/4 tank to play that game.

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redwngr Senior Enthusiast

redwngr

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, 22z712500 said:

I am doing nothing to alter my driving habits.  I spent a good chunk of coin on a vehicle that I knew doesn't get great mileage. I am ok with the pay to play. If I cared about gas mileage I would have bought a tesla.

If it s a toy so you can 'play' I get your point.

 

Lots of trucks are used work/business, day in and day out. 

Those owners care about fuel economy -- and likely can't substitute in another vehicle

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unit Enthusiast

unit

Posted
Posted

To answer the question posed by 'sheath';  yes I do all of the things in my prior post.  I can easily gain 2 mpg over the mileage I get when I ignore those practices.  I'm not a super conservative driver but I like to conserve fuel when I can.  It's not hard and I can use money saved for other things.

  • Like 2
22z712500 Enthusiast

22z712500

Posted
Posted
On 4/1/2022 at 3:52 PM, redwngr said:

If it s a toy so you can 'play' I get your point.

 

Lots of trucks are used work/business, day in and day out. 

Those owners care about fuel economy -- and likely can't substitute in another vehicle

 

Those people also write those expenses off on their taxes.

redwngr Senior Enthusiast

redwngr

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, 22z712500 said:

 

Those people also write those expenses off on their taxes.

True, but still reduces net profit. 

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1

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