Well I made it back from San Jose. Here's the info:
Two gas stops on the way up, averaged 10.1 & 10.3 mpg.
First gas stop on the way back was the remaining mileage
up, and 25% towards home.. got a "Gulp" 9.4 mpg. The first true
on the way home fillup was a 11.4 mpg (surprised me!), and
my fillup at home was a 10.9 (still good).
The weird thing, my mileage going up to San Jose was with
2-350# jetskis in the bed of the truck + 1 empty 1500# trailer.
The trip BACK to San Diego was with 0 jetskis, but a 1500# trailer
with 3200# Dodge Dart on it. More weight, but better mileage.
Go figure.
I DID drive pretty much 65 mph the entire trip, whereas on the
way up I was running 67-70 most of the time. The 5 mph or so
reduction was a big help I guess.
For people who know the Grapevine, the 4x4 handled it amazingly
well. I hit the grade at 65 mph in D, and slowly approached 50 mph
in D, w/Torque converter unlocked... At 50 mph I selected 2nd gear,
held 50 mph @ 3500 rpm (could a have accelerated but there was no
reason to push things, and 3500 was plenty comfortable)... I did
get slowed by some semis, and dropped to 35 mph for a minute, then
slowly climbed through 40 mph to 45 mph, then back to 50 @ 3500.
Temperatures climbed into the 90's on the way over the grade, and the
car's temp never went over 220 or so, and quickly dropped below 210
after the climb was over.
If I had it to do all over again, I will still pick the 3.55 gears
with the 4x4 for towing, as 3.92s would put you in the 50-55 mph MAX
range for towing in D, and would make the trip a LONG one, plus possibly
worse gas mileage. I ran at 55 mph for a while and though the truck
wasn't 'loading up', it did run better at 60-65 mph (running 2700-2800
rpm). I figured my RT runs 2700 rpm most all the time (in OD), so the
same engine speed for the 5.2L wouldn't be much different.
Sam '99 4x4 RT '72 Swinger
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:16:55 EDT