An interesting thing happened the other day ... I was sent to Gaston, SC to pick up a load of pet food. It weighed just over 40k lbs and was going 1400 mi away to New Brunswick, Canada. My last fuel-up in the USA was at the Dysart's Truck Stop at x. 180 on I-95 near Bangor, Maine. After which I delivered the load to the town of Dieppe near Moncton, NB; returned to Auburn, ME, picked up a load and drove to Guelph, ON - all without refueling. When I rolled into our yard in Guelph, the fuel gauge still showed above the minimum level (above the yellow field but below the 1/4 mark); and I would hear the low fuel alarm if the truck's nose was going up or down on a hill.

All in all I did 1,395 mi and it took 186 U.S. gallons to fill the tanks up at the yard. Which means I did 7.5 MPG! That's real, not the ECM. The ECM still showed the eternal 7.1 MPG.

OK, here's why the fuel mileage was so good. Out of 1,395 miles I did:

- 300 mi loaded with 40k lbs from Bangor, ME to Dieppe, NB (Can.) Huge hills in NB!
- 400 mi empty from Dieppe, NB to Auburn, ME
- 680 mi loaded with ... 1,010 lbs (!) of auto rubber mats from Auburn, ME to Guelph, ON (Can.)
- 15 mi empty from the consignee in Guelph to our yard in the same city.

All this time I pulled a 53 ft dry van and my speed was 59-60 MPH (1,350 RPM). The engine is CAT C15 turned up to max horse power and torque. So, even with a big engine you can get decent fuel mileage if you run slow and have a light load.

BTW, this is my last dry van run, as I'm waiting for the trailer dealer to tell me I can start heading to Missouri to get my Wilson step. They started the production on Aug 10th, and should finish Friday, Aug 14th.

 

I have many times got 7.6 7.8 m.p.g running fron indy to g.r. MI & back. 45,000 wt going up 43,000 coming back. 55 m.p.h in MI. 60-62 in IN. I think the biggest factor was I hauled skidded steel coils up & fire brick back. the loads had no wind resistance. compared to when I hauled plastic pipe, 25,000 lbs 13ft high & got 4.3 m.p.g even though my rpm's run higher than most60 m.p.h @ 1500 rpm's I am still happy with my lil 350 h.p. det. the fuel mileage savings over 10 years has paid for so much. I will also say that hywy tires gave me a lot better m.p.g than my lug's, but the lug tires lasted twice as long, but cost 100.00 more per tire. some react as if I am lying when I tell em my m.p.g. they just look at my cabover truck with over a mil miles & no major work done to it, & they think no way it get's good m.p.g.

 

I like cabovers. Too bad Freightliner doesn't sell here the Argosy anymore. I remember you writing about the low weight of your truck that helped you get more loads...

 

I want an Argosy like this: Twins Custom Coaches | Gallery

 

Since I disabled the EGR on my ISX, I have consistent mid 7's month after month, pump to pump. The ECM is showing high 7's most of the time. My ISX seems to absolutely love 1400 RPM, fine balance between power and mpg. 1400 puts me on 64-65 with 3.42 rears and a 13 spd in an International 9400. I pull an average of 38,000 payload. Mostly operate PA - CO area, usually staying north of I70 / I44. Lot of two lane running, and if 55 speed limit, I will drop to 12th and run about 1450 rpm which puts me on about 58 except in Illinois where I will consistently run in the top hole at 1300 / 60 mph. I rarely operate the engine outside of 1300 - 1500 rpm.

 

My ISX is the same way. Anything above 1500 RPM and it just feels like it is screaming.

 

120 gallon tanks like me? I've done 1500 miles a few times.

 

I'd like more info on disabling the EGR on an ISX. I just went through my 2nd EGR valve in 4 months on mine. I avg 5.2mpg lifetime avg on mine so far, with 16% idle time and 49.7% of engine run time in top gear (according to my latest printout). I got the Tripac installed about a year ago, so I expect that number to change dramatically since I'm no longer idling. My idle was excessive due to sitting a lot in warm areas, or idling to keep my lil pug cool when loading hhg in areas like Phoenix and Las vegas while I would load hhg for a number of hours.

 

I'd prefer this one. This is a Renault Magnum they make for Germany.

 

3.42 ... that's fast .. i wanted to change my rears to that. but with 2,000 torque and 3.73 rears now i'm killing everybody on hills but of course everybody passes me on flat.