Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dodge Ram 1500 3 Liter Turbo Diesel Announced

By how much?

Enough to noticed..Your turning a bunch of part that don't need to be turned.Better mileage and less wear and tear.

For the average driver who might drive 12-15,000 miles a year, and with diesel fuel being 65 cents a gallon more than gasoline, I have to question the economy of buying a rig like this. If you are pulling a trailer , the 2500 or 3500 with the Cummins is the way to go.

Will check into it. Thanks

I`m driving an `05 3500 Cummins. I put in a chip, and get around 20 mpg. I also have a `85 Isuzu Pup with a four cylinder diesel. I get over 40 mpg. It`s 2wd, but gets me and the hounds to the woods. I think this truck will still be kickin when I`m gone.

I'd sho like to get my hands on one of those....Volkswagen used to have a small diesel truck back around that time too.

I'll stick with gas. My bro just got rid of his 01 cummins that he had chipped and all kinds of stuff with more power than anyone would ever need. He raced a supercharged mustang with it and absolutely killed the mustang. And he was getting 23-25 mpg. He replaced it with a '10 cummins with 6 spd and is kickin himself got selling his old one now that he is getting 13mpg on the highway...

BMD:
Hopefully this finds you and yours well on this still Saturday morning.

If you aren't a member of the Dodge Cummins forum or even the Dodge truck forum, then you might start there in your research.

Link to one manual hub conversion thread.
http://dodgeforum.com/forum/dodge-c...drive-line-to-manual-locking-hubs-2.html

Link to another one on the Cummins forum.
http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/98-5-02-powertrain/439404-manual-hub-conversion-dana-60-a.html

When we picked up our '03 - I guess it's 5 years ago now (time does fly ) - I looked into getting one of the Dynatrac kits.

They wanted about $2000 US for the kit and rough and dirty it looked like close to $1000 to have a mechanic install it.

When I crunched the numbers there was no way I could make any fuel savings shy of at least 5 mp/Imperial gallon pay for the kit. That of course is taking into account the number of miles I projected to put on the truck.

Anyway hopefully that information was at least somewhat useful to you sir. Good luck whichever way you decided and all the best to you and yours this weekend.

Regards,
Dwayne

When I was looking a new pickup in 1998 I looked at the F150 and the then-new Powerstrokes with the 7.3 turbo diesel. Figuring 4 mpg difference, and the costs of fuels at the time, it would take about 150,000 miles to pay for the extra cost of the diesel. Eventually it would have been a much better payback, after gas prices rose.

Dodge is supposedly claiming up to 30 mpg in their diesel, which I assume is for a 2wd, running at 55. Figure less for a 4wd, running 75

Now, with all the urea and expensive diesel, I'm not sure you could pay for the engine with fuel savings alone. You definitely can't pay for the truck with fuel savings alone!

I have a 2.0 Ecoboost in my company car, an Escape. It gets a little worse than predicted on the highway, about 24.5 mpg, but not bad for the size of the vehicle. Around 20 in town. Good power, too. When my 04 F150 hits 200k, I might think about another pickup, but I'm thinking the 3.5L Ecoboost will be my choice, assuming they have a good reputation by then for reliability.

Many years ago Winnebago built some small motorhomes with small Renault turbo diesels, and the things were a disaster, seldom lasting more than 20k before blowing up or needing opverhauls. I'm real curious to see how small turbo diesel engines fare, as far as durability, even given synthetic oils and the like.

Well I'll bet if Dodge would have offered that engine option in the Dakota it would still be in the lineup and a major player. Magnum Man

Try to find a junked Ford with a Dana 60.Take most of it except the plastic hub.Repack with new warn hubs.It's fairly simple swap.Most important part is a good wheel alignement

BMD,
Big mud tires kill your mileage, I don't know about the lift kit. My 2005 got 15mpg when it was brand new but the mpg steadily improved until I was getting 19.5mpg highway and 17-18mpg in town by the time it had 40K on it. My 2005 is stock except for a Smarty programmer set on level 1 and I have Amsoil in everything. When I changed to 35" tires (not mud tires) at 76K my mileage stayed the same even though the rpms at 70mph dropped from 2350 to 2100. I have a set of Dynatrac locking hubs but I won't install them until the original hubs wear out. If you do a little research I think you'll find that there's some things you can do to improve your mpg. How you drive has a LOT to do with your mpg.

Not sure what kills the MPG on American pick-ups so quick??? A friend of mine as a Toyota Hilux with a 3 liter diesel and automatic box..With three of us in it and loaded with kit for a weeks hunting, it still averaged 36 mpg on a run up to Scotland..granted, thats imperial gallons, but it still gives you an idea of what should be possible in a Tacoma sized pick-up..

Yeah the 37" X 13.5 tires don't help for sure.

I just read a bunch about the new truck and motor, and a smaller lighter turbodiesel is a LONG overdue development and offering here. On one of my safari's I tooled around in a built from the ground up custom hunting car that was a Landrover Defender with a small 4 cylinder turbodiesel. I was VERY impressed with the low end power and torque, and the fuel milage was just amazing.

I hope this is the first of many.

I seen a VW pickup at Costco the other day. It was up from Sonora. I seen the owner and was asking him about it. Little Diesel engine with 30+ MPG, said it does all he needs it too and more. Then he said in a joking but serious way, "I bet you guys wish you could get these here in America". I laughed and agreed. Nice truck with nice MPG. Since I don't pull more than a boat, I bet that little truck and engine would rock.

Kique

Pete,
"Not sure what kills the MPG on American pick-ups so quick???"

Government regulations kill the mileage on our trucks plus the government mandate to add biodiesel amd ehtanol to our fuel. The regulations actually increase emmisions because they make the engines less efficient.

The lift kit doesn't help either; more air underneath the vehicle = higher wind resistance = lower fuel mileage. Tires have the more dramatic effect however.

I went from the stock 265's to 285's on my Excursion, no lift, and lost 2 mpg.

The DPF, mainly the ones that don't use urea to regenerate take a bite out of the fuel economy. The most efficient combustions cycles generate oxides of nitrogen, so the compression ratio/boost run at supotimal levels in order to meet emissions standards.

Technology may negate the ill effects of the DPF, but the NOx regs are going to be a tougher problem.

The US market hasn't had a midsized or compact diesel pickup since the late 80's early 90's. The ram 50, S10, luv and isuzu mostly got in the 30's with 80's injection technology. In addition to the emmissions regulations, the US market seems to have had a horsepower war between the manufacturers. It seems as though it's unacceptable to need to downshift going uphill whilst pulling your 35 foot fifth wheel.