99.5 R50 No Roof Rack Better Mpg?

[trashman]

The wife will be driving from Dallas to the east coast then up to Pittsburg soon .With the Warns installed I am looking for any thing else that might grab her more MPGs .Some one here once mentioned removing the rack seemed to help i figure with all that straight driving what the heck i might be on to something .Last spring we drove to NC with the bikes on back and a roof bag avg around 16 mpg driving the crap outa it .unloaded its the same old 18 .She won't be loaded with anything but 2 suit cases this time . what do you guys think ???

[Trainman]

Well, it is easy enough to do, so why not? Can not hurt.

 

Other ideas:

 

use cruise as much as possible, I get very good MPG when I use the cc;

 

keep to the speed limit;

 

try to anticipate traffic to reduce the tendency to yo-yo the speed. Why accelerate up to a bunch of slower traffic, then put on the brakes, then speed up again when a nice constant speed will get you there just as well;

 

take any extra stuff not needed for the trip out of the truck;

 

make sure the truck is well maintained (ie fuel and air filter in good shape, tires at proper pressure, good oil).

 

 

Doing all the above, I can get 24-26 MPG (imperial, or aroumd 22-23 MPG US) on the highways around here.

[trashman]

Just did a 150 miler without the rack ...yer not going to believe this but it picked up 1mpg ..sweet

[DJ Dank]

What kind of roof rack do you have? Unless its the newer style SE rack with the airdam, I can't imagine getting any mileage improvement from removing the crossbars. I get about 16-17 on the freeway usually loaded up. Thats with lift and bigger tires.

[trashman]

DJ believe it or not its a stocker 99.5 rack .the real test is going to be the big trip when she gets back i will repost with the results.My work vehicle is aF350 CREW CAB 4X4 stroker i installed a front front bumper replacement called a RANCHHAND which is really massive (google itif u have never seen ) it dropped MPGs by 1.5 but sure keeps the deer outa my face and i get free fuel via my job.