Truck mods for better fuel economy?

[musician/lawnman]

Guys as I mentioned in another post I just upgraded my truck from an 04 Ranger 3.0L auto trans. to an 05' F150 supercab xlt with the 5.4L triton. It tows better & will haul much more & I know that generally big truck means less mileage but when towing with the ranger I would get 9-10 mpg cause the truck was killing itself to haul the load. The new truck doesn't know the load is there. I expected my mileage to go down with the new truck under normal driving conditions but thought it might actually get better mileage while towing the trailer (which it does but only by about 2 mpg). I am contemplating some modifications to help the truck get better mileage. Possibly a tuner, &/or performance chip, a cold air intake/K&N filter, a vortex intake circulator.... etc. Anybody played with these on their trucks? I'm not really looking to boost 0-60 times but to boost the F to E times ya know?

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I would advise the tuner for the truck I have used them with good results. My experience with 6cyl has not been great for fuel economy. You will love that 5.4 triton it is a great engine. keep the oil changed and the air filter clean a it should give you no troubles. I recommend Mobil 1 5w-20 (6 qts) and a pure one filter by Purolater I can get you the part number if you need it the carry it at advanced auto. no one beat wal-mart for the price of the oil though.

[Fernando's CleanCut!]

Hi Chuck.
Well if you thinking of SAVING gas, theres really not that much out there, I mean your truck will not run a 100mpg!
I belive this works like "more gas = more power". the Cold Air intake will give the engine more air (more hpwer), but saving about a 10% on gas, the trick here is that when the car is in a complete stop, the acceleration is less restricted, so the air intake makes it easier. About the SuperChip I heard it runs around $200-$300 (do you really need it?), wich this will give about 30% more horse power to the engine.
With a set up of a new Cold Air Intake you will need a new exhaust cuz more air is going into the engine so the same pressure has to come out... and if you want to go all the way, new headers, new cam gears, pullies, High-Flow catalyst, supercharged LOL! you will have a RACING TRUCK!

I sent you an e-mail of some tips on Saving gas. But with a clean Air intake, regular oil change, and adding FUEL INJECTOR Cleaners you will be ok. besides we deduct all this money on our taxes
Good luck.

ok, heres MY question "Have you heard about Pimped out MOWER?".... I'm still looking for this to come out. Zero turn with an Air Intake? supercharged? hehe.

[musician/lawnman]

Pro cuts, Thanks for the reply, yeah I run synthetic in all my vehicles, I've contemplated running it in my mower though I'm not sure how much it might help. The oil in these mowers just gets dirty & needs to be changed long before theviscosity breaks down so you would just have expensive dirty oil right?

Fernando, thanks for the tips, I know a guy who has an 06 with the 5.4L & was getting 13mpg in town & about 16 highway. he said he put a $300 chip in it, set it on an economy mode & now gets 15-16 mpg in town & up to 26mpg highway. That would be huge! I've been trying to get back n touch with him to find out which brand & model chip he's using.

[makbootzy]

http://www.tornadoair.com/HowItWorks.php

Well I was reading some on here and it seems that everyone is driving Ford . Well I just bought a 04 Silverado with a 6.0L does anyone know how to get better milage out of that? Oh and there is a pic of my truck in show off your stuff form, in the topic Growth of Your Service.

[musician/lawnman]

Well my old truck (the ranger mentioned above) got an average 9-10 miles per gal. towing the trailer.

My new truck has been sucking down the fuel! I gased it up today. 8.77 mpg uuuuggggggh.

So today I bought an SCT tunner/programer & set the truck on an economy setting & changed it to shift a little different.

I'm hoping that will help. I am also looking into a cold air intake / Air filter.

[musician/lawnman]

On a side note.... This thing hauls & holds a heck of a lot more than the old truck. I went to the landfill today & the truck was full but I could have fit a bunch more brush on it If I had to. I had 600 lbs of stuff in it! The most I ever had in the ranger was almost 500 lbs & I thought the truck was going to die that time..... The suspension in the F150 didn't even squat down at all today.

Also I got pulled over yesterday for havng "an unsecured load" I had tie straps holding the brush down but aparently that isn't enough You gotta have a tarp type cover on it. So I'm going to engineer a tarp holder/roller retractor to fit on my truck (kinda like you see on big dump trucks). I wnet to tractor supply yesterday & picked up some assorted stuff to start building it. Anybody ever built one before?

[Steve]

I am looking forwards to seeing what you create.

I am not sure of the exact design concept you have in your mind but I found this one online and thought it was a neat concept that might help you.

Well Chuck I hear you on that 8.77 im driving the silverado with a 6.0L and I am expecting to get about that too, if not a little lower. I'm still tring to find something that I can do to get a little better milage with out paying a lot for it.