Your comparisons are with the powerstroke. Try out a cummins or a duramax and your opinion will change. lol

 

hahaha..
one of our powerjokes was a 2005? 6.ocrap F350 and it never broke 11mpg unloaded. It also went in the shop about 30 times the first year we had it. Nobody wanted to drive it haha. Pulled one of our service trailers to Rapid City SD and we ended up buying 2 maybe 3 cases of oil. it was puking it out somewhere pulling the long hills on I90 in SD. It wouldnt get over 65 or 70 to save its life. and 5th gear was too low to pull but 4th it was screaming at 3200rpms.

I dont miss the fords or dodges...

 

I used to have an 06 LBZ and on 35s it got 18 running 75 with just exhaust and a tune. It got 14.5 running 70 pulling the jeep. My truck now on 33s gets 11ish running 75 and I havent towed anything since the bigger tires. So Id have to agree with thunder on the mileage thing. The noise doesnt bother me and atleast here diesel is only 10-20 cents more expensive than premium unleaded plus the diesel will get better mileage atleast since I like to run semi aggressive MT tires so the diesel would be cheaper per mile fuel wise and I dont really buy into diesel maintenance being all that much more expensive. While it does take a lot more oil for an oil change, it lasts 10K pretty easily and fuel filters last double that as long as you get clean fuel. I think your problem is you had a powerstroke

THese days I only put about 5K a year on my personal vehicle because I have a company truck and my wifes car so my truck only gets used on road trips or when something needs to be hauled. So in either case maintenance items arent too big of a concern.

Im mainly concerned with unloaded mileage as thats what my truck is 95% of the time but as I said I want to make sure Im not limited when I do need to tow. I dont tow over 10K ever really so I dont need a diesel to handle the actual weight. My biggest annoyance is going up hills are needing to accelerate at a normal pace and the damn thing having to downshift all the time. That was one of the things I loved about my Dmax, put a load on it and the turbo would just start singing.

Besides the fords being nicer trucks and the crew cabs making the GM crew cabs look like extended cabs, theres not much I could do to an ecoboost so it would keep me from screwing with it. Only concern with those is that if something does go wrong Im screwed. Itll cost me major bucks to fix as there arent a lot of them sitting out in the junkyard like LSx's and a dmax if I did pop it I could fix it myself. I damn sure wouldnt want to but I could for a couple grand.

 

I agree the 6.0 is garbage. I have tried the other diesels, but they didn't impress enough to buy one. That's why I'm back to gas, but if we're to tow heavy all the time I'd suck It up and buy one.

 

Is the gearing correct on the gas truck? It's been my experience that gearing is critical to fuel mileage on a gas truck. Especially when an oversize tire is used. My brother had 5.3 with 3.08 and he went to 33 tires fuel mileage went from 20 to 12. He put 4.10 in it and it went back to almost 18.

 

Yea that makes all the difference..
im running 2000rpms @ 70mph and about 55-58kPa on flat ground..

 

I did my own tuning and it was spot on, that didn't have anything to do with the heat.

My mileage numbers are what they are, doesn't matter if you believe them or not.

Anyway, Cody, it sounds like you already have yourself convinced that you need a FI gas engine and that you don't want to drop the extra cash on the diesel. With how few miles you put on your truck, I'd have to agree with you. OEM is nice, so that's a point for the Ecoboost...but it depends on how much maintenance and tweaking you're comfortable with. You know the Magnacharger kits are pretty much set it and forget it, turbo would be more work and upkeep most likely...

 

If you really want mileage, ditch the bigger tires and get something stock size. Rotating mass kills mileage. I know it hurts traction, but I'm already looking to downsize to some 30" 245s to help mileage on my truck. You can't have it all, but you can have a good compromise if you know where to cut back.

 

The truck is not geared right by any means. If I keep it and continue on it will get a 6l80e and 4.56 gears to get my rpms up a bit higher. I dont want to get rid of the tires. The wider load range E tires are much better for towing, theyve got more sidewall plys so I dont have to worry about getting flats from mesquite thorns all the time and when it does rain at the deer lease a MT is a necessity. Not because the mud is very deep, its just slick as baby **** and will gum up a street tire real quick and Id rather not take out a bedside with a tree.

If I keep on with this truck, Ive got a set of patriot stage 2 243s which will flow about what my stock L92s do on the intake side but more on the exhaust all with a smaller port so that should get port velocity up which will help tq at low engine rpm as well as going to a small tq cam then of course the deeper gears. All that should dramatically change how the truck runs, the biggest unknown for me was/is everyones experience with the attributes of FI will yanking some weight behind them.

From what Ive seen(read) it looks like people who slap on a turbo to an underpowered vehicle(ECSB/CCSB 4.8s) tend to gain a bit of mileage. While I have a bigger motor, its most definitely underpowered for my pig of a combo. Im not trying to turn my truck into a prius but Id be happy as a pig in **** if I could knock down 16-17 on the highway unloaded.

I still dont understand how nonnie gets such damn good gas mileage.

 

Its the right foot.. get your tuning software out and learn the scanner part.. watch your kPa for intake vacuum.
You would be supprised how big a difference it makes. Keep that number as low as possible.
my cruise control sucks i can get about 3mpg better with my foot vs it. Ill ease off the throttle goin up hills and barely roll back in it goin down hill using the hills to my advangtage.