Starting a pool.......
 

I started a mpg test of my 6.0 diesel/automatic regular cab 4x4 F350 today. Here are the mods:

235/85 16 tires, broken in about 500 miles, replacing 265/75 16.
Radiator grill block (fabric)
Bed cover (plywood)
Removed spare tire from beneath truck and put in truck bed.
Relocated trailer harness out of airstream.

I'm driving several hundred miles on the highway in the next few days. I plan to obey the speed limits, mostly 65 mph. Just to see who pays attention to my posts, I'll send a crisp $10 bill to the person who guesses my mileage most closely. In case of a tie, the first person to post a guess wins.

21.2 mpg! :D

19.8 mpg

65mph in a Ford F-350??? (granted it's a diesel) I'm going to go with 16.8 mpg... so prove me wrong Sludgy!

What will be the shape of the bed cover? Flat, rectangular, or tapered? This makes a huge difference.

omgwtfbyobbq is hoping for a tie as he's the "first person to post a guess". He can win if his guess is the closest or he can win if others tie for closest.
We know what you meant to write...

17.6

18.1

17.5

I go for 18mpg.

15mpg. Is this like The Price is Right where you can't go over?

I withdraw my guess! I forgot I don't believe in gambling...18.1 is back up for grabs.

19.1 mpg!

18.6
 

I bid 18.6mpg

19.3

20!

lets see if it can be done.

OH by the way nice truck. This may make some people cry on this site but i love all the f series truck. My mom drives a new f 150 and i love it. Its really hard to get her or my dad (drives a new accord) to hypermile them tho. anyone know of ways to get them to gradually start hypermileing

If we could arrange for gas to go up to, say, 2.70 per gallon, maybe they would be motivated. Oh, wait, that already happened...

21.3

18.9

Is it a dually? I say 16.5mpg.

22.2 I'm bettin' on Sludgy, not the truck.

One ton, new engine not broken in, I think it's going to be . . . oh . . . say 16.2 mpg.

Sludgy, when you have the time, drain the front and rear differential fluids (only do the front after you've driven it in 4wd a bit) and replace with synthetic. There's a lot of metal floating around in there from the gears breaking in and you won't believe what comes out, particularly the rear.

Also replace the tranny filter if you haven't already.

I'm counting on Sludgy's skill and the skinny tires.

29.8 picoacres.

(That works out pretty close to 19.5mpg)

Answers and hints:

The truck bed cover is made from 1/4" luaun plywood; it's flat, not tapered or boxed.

The closest guess is the winner, whether high or low.

The rear wheels are single.

I plan on adjusting the odometer mileage for tire diameter, as published in the Tire Rack tables.

I'm at ~320 miles thus far on this tank. Weather has been mostly good so far, except it sucked today on about 100 miles of the return trip from Holyoke, rainy with strong headwinds. I tucked in behind semis most of the way, but this weather has to have hurt mpg.

I'm making a 100 mile round trip to Haverhill tomorrow in better weather, after which I'll gas up at the same station.

However, I'm using the wife's car to go to NY this weekend, and may not have time to post the results and select the winner until Monday.

This isn't gambling, since YOU didn't bet any money. It's a contest, and you can pick a number!

The conflict is profiting at the expense of another, :) (for me, at least)

To me, Sludgy is giving a prize to the winner. I didn't pay to enter or anything like that. He is just being a swell guy and having fun with his new truck.

But, you gotta go with your conscience. I have rules that I put on myself when it comes to drinking that wouldn't make sense to many people, but they are what my conscience requires.

Who drinks anyway, not me, :p

I'll go back in for 18.1 with the proceeds going to darfur if I win.

17

Haha! If I wanted to win that way, I'd just say my guess was something along the lines of a real number equal to the sum of the function that approaches Sludgy's afore mentioned mileage as the time from this comment approaches Sludgy's announcement of the afore mentioned mileage, mapped to the positive reals. Assuming time isn't quantam. ;)

18.5

I used to have a 7.3 IDI dually. My TOP mileage I ever got was 23. That was a freakish ONE TIME thing. It consistantly got 14-15.

E-350
 

Years ago, I put 1000's of inefficient miles on the Ford E-350 Ambulance Conversion Van with the 7.3L non-turbo Navistar Diesel. The Cd had to have been terrible with the extended height and lightbar. Ah, the good old days...

https://pic16.picturetrail.com/VOL698.../245407167.jpg
Unit 113: Second from the front, behind the Bronco.

We would fuel-up at the end of every shift, but FE was rarely calculated. I once did some calcs and figured 14-17 depending on how many emergency calls we had vs. long-distance transfers. Then the turbos came out, right when I moved-on...

RH77

THAT'S the spirit!

1
 

So, at the very last minute, can I bid 1 mpg, Bob?

20.5 mpg.

19.8 mpg. It sounds like you are really trying!!

BW, I already got 19.8, in case you want to choose something else...

Opps
 

Sorry, :o I made a quick look and thought I saw them all,

19.9 then.....if I missed that one let me know.