excuse me mam, do you smoke?

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
I drive a 99 Dodge 3500 Dually with auto transmission, the 24V 5.9 Cummins. Best mileage I see is in town with careful driving, about 15-16 mpg. Towing a 5,000lb trailer at 60mph I get 12 mpg. No overdrive. Given that I have the somewhat frail 47RE transmission, it seems foolish to try and pull that load in overdrive.
 

naticen

Site Supporter
Location
wilmington, nc
Sounds about right. Put a chip in it and some cat back exhaust and you'll get more power and fuel economy as long as you keep your foot out of it. If you don't do the real math, you're computer may tell you that you are getting mid 20's but in reality it'll be a couple mpg's better all around.

I never paid attention to which tranny I've had. They all seem to make it about 200,000 or so between rebuilds hauling 10,000 pounds between PA and NC. I use O/D the whole way with lots of hills, but I lock it out of O/D up the big ones. These are about six different 92-07 Dodges over time. All sold running great at 500-600,000 miles with 1 or 2 tranny rebuilds in between.

An old 12 valve will get you 20's in town. That's what I'm looking for now for my personal truck.
 

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
Thanks for the info. Any recommendations on exhaust and chip? How much can I expect to spend?
 
Thanks for the info. Any recommendations on exhaust and chip? How much can I expect to spend?

I know more about dmax than Cummins but from what I've heard and raced against smarty is where its at for tuners. Exhaust the only difference really is sounds I like my 5" mbrp exhaust. Ditching the cat and a flow thru style muffler is the important parts.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
 

chad256

BOB'n on a budget
Location
Oroville CA
A TC lock-up switch will also help when towing. They are easy to wire in too.
He would probably wanna go with something simple like the edge with the digital display, since he's not trying to go for big power.
 
Last edited:

butti

lone wolf
Location
F-XTC
I drive a 99 Dodge 3500 Dually with auto transmission, the 24V 5.9 Cummins. Best mileage I see is in town with careful driving, about 15-16 mpg. Towing a 5,000lb trailer at 60mph I get 12 mpg. No overdrive. Given that I have the somewhat frail 47RE transmission, it seems foolish to try and pull that load in overdrive.

The 47re isnt really frail. Running in od wont hurt it. Its the shift into od and the tc lockup events that hurt the trans. Just be gentle. If the trans shudders in od than its already too late. You are going to have trouble out of the trans weather you add power or not.. Added power will kill the trans sooner..


How many miles on it? Its rare to see one last more than 150k without upgrades. It seems upgraded units easily last 200k+


I would the transmission upgrades before ANYTHING else. You will get a small improvement in mpg and a huge improvement in all around driveability. Its the best seat of the pants upgrade you can make to your truck.

Go here first http://www.goerend.com/

Then here http://madselectronics.com/
 

Matt_E

steals hub caps from cars
Site Supporter
Location
at peace
It has 231k miles on it. I bought it at the beginning of the year and I don't know how long that tranny has been in there. It has no issues and shifts fine. No shuddering. I noticed a deep tranny pan with fins and drain plug, so that's not stock. Firm shifts but I guess that's normal. TC lockup is typically around 40mph
 
lift pumps are good but airdogs are better i love mine i have an airdog 150. its 2 micron filtration which is double the factory 4 micron and has air and water separation all built into the lift pump. and the best customer service ive ever dealt with like 18 months after i got it, it started leaking. they apologized and sent me full rebuild kit including a new motor, filter, and water separator all i had to do was pay shipping. if you send your warranty card in its a lifetime warrranty

http://airdogdieselfuelsystems.com/
 

naticen

Site Supporter
Location
wilmington, nc
All good info. Some have a switch for O/D off and Tow/Haul The Tow/Haul selection will still put it in O/D, it just shifts later. It's the in and out of it that kills it. The lift pump, airdog, or fass stuff is good to prolong injection pump life, but I don't remember ever seeing improvement in mpg. Not saying none at all, just not that I've seen. You can also mix in a little oil with your gas to help out the injection pump. I have noticed with the Lucas fuel additive, it does help a little in the mpg's too.
 
Top Bottom