New Miles & Mileage Records

[dorkweed]

Made a long weekend road trip this past Friday until today. I had to go to Beardstown, IL to pick up a rifle that I won in a DU raffle 2 weeks ago. From there I went to Springfield, IL to stay the night with friends and hang out for a while Saturday morning. Late Saturday morning I left Springfield for Benton, KY to see the puppies that my dog sired. Spent Saturday night in Benton and left for home about 5:00PM Sunday evening after spending the day with the pups and hanging out with Doug, the owner of the dam that had the pups.

I left my house about 10:00AM on Friday with about a half tank of fuel and drove the 60 miles down to my folks house to leave my dog with them for the weekend. He would've been miserable on the trip seeing that it was really, really hot!!!! Left there about 11:30AM to head to Beardstown. A friend asked me to stop in Bath, IL (about 25 miles N of Beardstown) and pick up some goose decoys for him, so I did that and continued to Beardstown. I got to Beardstown and picked up the rifle ( an AR15 ) and then headed for Springfield. About 3 miles from my friends house I stopped for fuel. That tank of fuel I averaged 20.8mpg and got 650 miles on it. The 650 miles was a record for my truck.........a short lived record. The first half of that tank had some towing miles of it also......I'd say about 75-100 miles or so. Once I left for the trip, I kept the speed on the Interstates at 65mph and on the state roads at 60mph.

As I said earlier, I hung out in Springfield until 11:00 and headed for KY. I kept the speed the same as before. It was much hotter on Sat. than on Fri. but it wasn't humid, so I really didn't need the AC and the sun wasn't beating directly on me, so I never used the AC on this trip. So anyhow, it was about 325 miles down to Benton. I should also say that I ran the last 100 miles or so of that leg of the trip with no lift pump either; but that'll be another post!!!! Left the truck at Doug's shop Sat night until I left to head home on Sunday evening. Spent the day with Doug and the pups and headed home. It was 101* at 5:00 in the evening when I headed home and made it the 350 miles to my parents house and had about 1/8 tank of fuel left. Spent the night at my parents and headed home today and made it the 60 miles home or I should say to the fuel station to fill up. The overhead DTE was reading 26 miles when I pulled into the station. Stuffed the tank with 31.16 gallons of diesel and had 727 miles on that tank of fuel. Mileage hand calculated to be 23.3mpg!!!! Very happy camper here!!!! Gotta run now, but watch for my lift pump thread.

I really think the real hot dry weather influenced the mileage on this trip. I've driven the leg to KY before but it's always been cooler/colder. In fact coming home on Sunday, I could feel the difference in the truck as the temperature dropped as the sun went down. Driving while it was over 100* to maintain 65mph on level ground the truck needed only about 3psi of boost. But once into the flats of central IL with the temps now in the low 80's the truck needed about 4-5psi of boost. The hotter the temps, the less dense the air is and it's easier for the truck to push through.

[Mopar1973Man]

Wow now you got something to crow about there congrads on the 23.3 MPG I know you've been trying hard and long to get it up there...

[guesswho512]

I know you've been trying hard and long to get it up there...

thats what she said congrats on the new record. no pics of the pup? won a ar15 in a raffle! thats awesome

[dorkweed]

thats what she said congrats on the new record. no pics of the pup? won a ar15 in a raffle! thats awesome

Go to the "General Section" for the puppy pix!!

[AH64ID]

Congrats! I have yet to break 20 on mine, maybe one of these days!

The hotter the temps, the less dense the air is and it's easier for the truck to push through.

I think air density plays a much larger role than many folks realized, especially if its -10*F out!

[dorkweed]

Congrats! I have yet to break 20 on mine, maybe one of these days! I think air density plays a much larger role than many folks realized, especially if its -10*F out!

I agree 100%. Like I said in the long post above, I could really feel the difference in the truck and see the difference in the gauges as the temperature cooled down from a high of 101* to about 82-83*. I kept the cruise on 65mph on the interstates and 60mph on the state roads. That helps a lot also.

[AH64ID]

I agree 100%. Like I said in the long post above, I could really feel the difference in the truck and see the difference in the gauges as the temperature cooled down from a high of 101* to about 82-83*. I kept the cruise on 65mph on the interstates and 60mph on the state roads. That helps a lot also.

I have seen up to 18psi to cruise at 80 in 10* weather, where in 75* weather is 12psi and 95* is 8psi.