Improving Fuel Mileage Advice.

[Papa Rick]

This has been covered somewhere but didn't find it. I am looking for advice on how to improve my fuel mileage. I haul logs for a living with gross 80,000 to 100,000, so I am not expecting 7 or even close to that, but want to do everything I can to help in the fuel economy.

My set up is this:

2003 W900L KW Day Cab
C-15 475 Cat Motor
13 Speed Trans
390 Gear Ratio
25.5 Tall Rubber

Not looking for snake oil products, but advice from people who have learned how to get better than avg fuel mileage.

[tootie04]

Your truck is not a fuel friendly truck anyway. I know the more wind resistance you have the worse your fuel miliage will be. I know when we were hauling logs with the T600 we still got crappy fuel mileage because we were not on the open road. We were on alot of back roads and all so fuel mileage suffered. Other than not idleing I really dont know what to tell you..... :sad:

tootie

[heavyhaulerss]

driving habits help me most: i keep 60-62 on interstate. i take off gradually & brake easily. i also avoid too much shifting, like if i'm 100-300 ft away from a stop makes no sense to go into a higher gear just to downshift again real quick. just keep in current gear. other wise the trying to match the rpm's & speed will use more fuel. proper tire inflation is a big deal too. i keep mine at 110 psi. dont keep engine at high rpm's but dont lug either. hwy tires get me better fuel mi than lug.


get behind another trucker &
do some drafting

[heavyhaulerss]

oh by the way i get ave 7 mpg by my habits.

[rank]

1. slow down
2. stay off the hills
3. don't idle
4. don't haul heavy.

Some you can control, some you can't. If you drive 500 miles a day, idling 6 hours a day will lower your mileage by 1 mpg.

Our drivers drive 70mph and they average 5.5 mpg
I drive 65 mph and I average 6.5 mpg.

[solo379]

driving habits help me most: i keep 60-62 on interstate. i take off gradually & brake easily. i also avoid too much shifting, like if i'm 100-300 ft away from a stop makes no sense to go into a higher gear just to downshift again real quick. just keep in current gear. other wise the trying to match the rpm's & speed will use more fuel. proper tire inflation is a big deal too. i keep mine at 110 psi. dont keep engine at high rpm's but dont lug either. hwy tires get me better fuel mi than lug.

Very good! 8)
Your truck, is definitely not specs for speed. CAT's got thirsty, with high RPM.
Just take it easy, and be very gentle, with those pedals.
Like somebody once said;-Imagine, you got a raw eggs under it! :wink:

[Camstyn]

I really doubt you're going to do any better than about 5 mpg. Does your truck go off-road at all? With your 3.90 rear ends I wouldn't expect any kind of fuel economy if you're cruising any higher than 55-60mph on the highway.

I get about 3.9 - 4.0mpg with mine and it's not going to get much better with the work I do with it. I could easily drop it down to about 3.0mpg if I wasn't driving it nice. Hauling logs and heavy loads at that, you can't expect to see the kind of numbers that some brag about.

[marylandkw]

Here is an old thread on this very subject with lots of fun math in it.

http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...521&highlight=

Our trucks are alot alike, I am in a 07' KW W9B with an 06' C-15, 13 speed 24.5 tall and 3.73. Since the switch to ULSD my mileage has dropped about 1mpg and with only 50,000 on the clock I am getting 6ish at the pump but I don't run as heavy as you do either.

[solo379]

Since the switch to ULSD my mileage has dropped about 1mpg

Did you mean 0.1mpg? Cause i didn't notice any difference...

[marylandkw]

Since the switch to ULSD my mileage has dropped about 1mpg

Did you mean 0.1mpg? Cause i didn't notice any difference...

No I meant 1 full MPG. But it is hard to say what it is attributed too. It is a brand new truck and I only used LSD for a few months before I was forced to use ULSD(thank you uncle sam) So it could be just a new motor getting broken in or it could be the ULSD. I prefer to blame the government.

[person]

And the tires not being new any more.

[solo379]

I prefer to blame the government.

Yeah! That's easy! :wink:
I don't know, what's the nature of your business, but if it's "regular haul", your truck is specks very low for CAT, unless you run it at about 55-60mph.
Once again, i didn't notice any difference with ULSD...
btw worn tires, improve your mpg, not reduce.

[person]

yeh. I was getting confused here. I thought he was getting better mileage now from his new truck.

[marylandkw]

yeh. I was getting confused here. I thought he was getting better mileage now from his new truck.

Nope, worse. But it has been all over the place as it breaks in I suppose. I am gonna wait until I have at least 100k before I get real worried about the MPG.

I don't know, what's the nature of your business, but if it's "regular haul", your truck is specks very low for CAT, unless you run it at about 55-60mph.

I am in a NEVER EVER off road dump truck hauling 70k around in the mountains of Maryland. Now they are not real mountains but hey, it's all we got! Solo my last truck had 4.11 and was identical otherwise and I managed better than 7mpg. To say I am easy on fuel is an understatement. I do however do 65 or less all the time.

I follow alot of the same rules Rank Does.
1.Never Idle
2.Never speed-EVER
3.Smooth starts and stops. (I am not in a drag racer afterall)

[solo379]

I am in a NEVER EVER off road dump truck hauling 70k around in the mountains of Maryland.

Than it's specks about right! 8)
Still, 1mpg drop in a fuel mileage, unless it's switch to a winter time, would get my close attention. I mean if it's constant, not just for some particular trip, or day.

[marylandkw]

I have noticed the drop over the past month and am paying very close attention. I just cracked 50k miles and the dealer and I are assuming it is "breaking in" still. We also have some concerns about my idle time. I don't idle unless I have too. Doing small driveway paving jobs I put 3 or 4 tons in the hopper pull up and then repeat in about 3 minutes until I am empty so my idle time is rather extreme, much more than I like for sure. But I figure that idle time is better than shutting down the motor and restarting every 3 minutes.

Last time I checked I think my average speed (hour meter vs odometer) was like 23 MPH.

[allan5oh]

Last time I checked, I got 8.16 MPG.

This has been the best year so far for fuel mileage. I almost exclusively use ULSD.

[Papa Rick]

Sorry everyone for not replying for some time, but have been in the hospital since last Thursday afternoon. Had a blood vessel burst in my lung cavity and almost bled to death before it was discovered where my internal bleeding was coming from.

This is what smoking can do to you. Dr told me that my coughing from smoking caused this to initially rupture and then burst.

One good thing is now I quit smoking!

I appreciate the advice and suggestions on gaining mpg.

I don't guess it is that bad considering the avg 5.5 mpg with what my hauling is then. Just want to do my best to save money on fuel if at all possible.

[allan5oh]

Holy CRAP buddy.

GET BETTER!

Gonna quit smoking? (Just HAD to ask)

[Papa Rick]

No Smoking since last Thursday!