Hey Tim....
Couple of points...
First, when I first got my Dak, I was getting 11 MPG for the first few
tanks.... I have over 10K on it now and during the Virgina Meet trip, I was
getting 17.5mpg... so it DOES get better :-)
Second, when under a load (like going uphill) turn off the OD.... I noticed
that after I had the exhaust done, I had a boatload more power at the top,
and lots of acceleration, even more without the overdrive.
As for going DOWN the hill in neutral... um... Huh? LOL
I wonder if it's the 4x4.... do you have the full time tranfer case? Maybe
that's the culprit.... I haven't noticed any wierd things like that with
mine... she coasts just fine!
Glad you are enjoying the new Dak...
In relation to absolutely nothing at all, the wife came to me yesterday and
said, "Have you really looked at those Quadcabs? They are really nice!" This
is the same wife who teases me about my devotion to my truck and said she
would NEVER drive anything but her Lexus.... LOLOLOL Now she is thinking
Quadcab....
===============================================
Preacher
Webmaster: http://www.bastaards.org
Owner: http://www.onelist.com/community/BASTAARDS
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===============================================
---- Original Message -----
From: Tim J Koth <Tim.J.Koth@aexp.com>
To: dakota-truck%buffnet.net <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 1:00 AM
Subject: DML: 2000 4.7 CC 4X4 highway Observations - Long
> I took my 2000 CC 4X4 4.7 Dak with 3:55 gears on a highway trip for the
> first time this weekend. Interesting. I love this beast on the road. But
it
> has it's quirks. I drove from Phoenix Az up to Flagstaff and back. If
anyone's
> ever made that trip, it's about 130 miles from my place to where I was
going.
> But the change in elevation is from about 1200 feet to 7600 feet. So you
are
> pretty much climbing the whole way up, or rolling most of the way back. I
> filled up right after I left the house and then again just before leaving
> there to come back. I wanted to see the mileage difference if any between
the
> up and back trips.
> First interesting thing I noticed was on the way up you are climbing
most
> of the way, but you go down into the Verde Valley on the way. When you get
to
> the Verde Valley there is a 9 mile run down a 6% grade into the valley.
Every
> other vehicle I ever drove up there I got it up to about 75 mph (speed
limit
> 75) and put it in neutral and coasted for the next 7 minutes or so.
Usually
> braking to keep it under 85 or so. I had the Dak rolling at about 80 or so
and
> put 'er in neutral on the way down the hill and she freakin' SLOWED DOWN!!
I
> mean, by the time I was down to 70 and people were passing me I put it
back in
> gear and got on it. What the f___?!?! No wonder the damn thing gets crappy
> mileage. It has to work it's ass off even to go down hill! I'm hoping this
> situation will get better as I get more miles on it. (only have 3K on it
right
> now)
> The other item that kinda urked me is that when I'm blasting along at
80
> or so and hit one of these 4, 5, or 6% UPHILL grades, the Dak would slow
down.
> (unloaded) The problem is, with the 3:55 gears, you really aren't in the
4.7's
> power band in 5th gear until you are going about 90 or so. So I actually
had
> to downshift an unloaded truck a couple times once I had slowed to 70 or
so to
> start gaining speed up these hills again.
> Now for the mileage. When I filled up in Flagstaff before coming back
down
> to Phoenix, I found that I had only gotten 13.3 miles per gallon on the
trip
> up. That was on the highway! I just about loaded my BVD's. Now in defence
of
> the Dak, I was in kind of a hurry and worked my butt off to maintain a
> constant 80 or 85 mph on all those climbs. So I'm sure she was gulping gas
as
> fast as she could! On the way home the beast posted 19.6 mpg. Not too
shabby.
> Most of the way back is downhill. I did notice though, as I climbed back
out
> of the Verde Valley again (Yes on the way back it's a 9 mile climb up a 6%
> grade) that I drank almost an 8th of a tank of gas trying to maintain 75
mph
> up that one hill. And it did good. Finally had to downshift to 4th about
200
> yards from the top since I had slowed to about 60 mph.
> I'm going to change the diff's to have Mobil-1 in them soon. That
might
> make a difference. But the fact that there's no grease fittings anywhere
on
> the damn thing kinda pisses me off in that I can't grease anything else up
to
> try and help. We'll se how things go in the future as the truck gets a
little
> more broken in. I'm walkin' kinda bow-legged after payin that much for
the
> gas for just a 260 mile trip...
> Sorry this post is so long, but I thought some folks out there might
be
> interested in some of what I found on my first highway voyage with the
Grey
> Ghost. Thanks for listening. I'm gonna go pop me another cold one....
>
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