Moose Pump Review

[GOOSE]

I'm gonna guess the lowest possible OD speed will be most efficient. Maybe 58-62?

Duct tape some cardboard cutouts onto the rims, make a simple air dam that kisses the road out of some sheet metal, block the radiator for a slight higher operating temp, loose the mirrors, max the tire's air pressure, leave the air off, and see what happens. Anything over 25mpg is magical as far as I'm concerned. I think you are set up to make it happen. Lets see it!!

 

[david85]

There was some one on EcoModder that claimed to get something like 28 MPG out of a 1984 F250 if I remember right. Taped some cardboard wheel skirts over the rear wheel wells and kept it under 50 MPH. He had a manual transmission (I'm guessing 3.55 gears) and the truck was a bare bones base model other than having the diesel option. I think it was barely over 5000lbs empty.

Well guys I managed to find the right driver download online so I can interphase my new laptop to the transmission computer. The adaptor cable I used before only came with a windows XP compatible driver so I'm in business again with the windows 7 OS.

Normally I have the secondary shift table for a "sport mode", but now I used the secondary table for an "econo mode". Wandered around the freeway for about an hour this evening getting the tuning to where I am happy with it. The truck can now engage overdrive at 55 MPH with the tach showing about 1200 (think it reads low by about 100). Whats funny is the truck will still chug over hills rather easily like that without smoke or bogging down but we'll have to see how it reacts with the trailer attached.

Think it will work where it is because I tried accelerating with the cruise resume function going uphill or downhill and it drops into OD right where it should. Manual acceleratio is fine too. Also made sure to have the kickdown sensitive enough to prevent any smoke lugging. about 30% into the throttle travel it downshifts (guessing about 10-20% of the total available fuel flow).

Transmission temps held steady at 140F and slowly dropped to 136 if I locked out OD. At one point I increased speed to 75 and held it there for a few minutes. Trans temp stopped rising at 146. Didn't seem to change much going uphill or downhill.

Temperature is taken directly from the TOT sensor in the valve body and displayed on the laptop.

I'm actually wondering if I might be over cooling it a bit. 150 - 200 seems to be the ideal range. cooler fluid is more viscous. All this hypermiling talk has me thinking to switch to synthetic oil in the diff. Figure it s worth it?

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

awesome David!!!!
can't wait to here the results.
your getting great fuel economy now anyway.but this will be a great test to see the difference.

synthetic everywhere is worth it in the long run.
thats whats in these rears factory anyway.it should be changed every 100k miles.
when i was driving around without my dump properly welded in place,the hoist came down and frigged up my diff cover and caused it to leak.i thought id be getting a dually axle,so i just used a blend as it was cheaper,and i thought would be temp.im sure thats good enough though.full synthetic would be best,and down the road when i have far,far less to do to this rig,im going full synthetic in everything.3+ a gallon makes every mpg increase mod that much more drastic.

also David,
have you considered a front...um what do they call 'em........you know,those air deflectors that mount under the front bumper? i bet that will help some too.i see they have 'em at LMC for my truck,but i didn't check your year.just an idea.

oh man,iv been waiting for this 55 MPH run from your truck since that hypermiling thread you had going at FTE!!! i cant wait!

 

[david85]

Air dam. No, I haven't but I've been toying with the idea of a full belly pan for a while. We often talk about the poor aerodynamics these trucks have but the underside is horrible. I will put one on the electric car eventually anyway but I'm not sure what to use. I could probably make an air dam without too much trouble but I don't know if it would be worth it. Probably not something I'll have time for just yet.

I did not realize they had synthetic gear oil from factory in the differential. I've been running conventoinal 80/90 pennzoil for LS all this time. Bought a box of the stuff years ago when a local parts store was closing out. Still not even half way through!

 

[david85]

I just got back from the trip averaging 55 MPH........what a drag!!!!

Kept it in overdrive for most of the time but on steeper grades I flicked the switch to allow an easy downshift to 3rd. A little strange seeing the tach tracking that low (even for me)

As it turns out I wasn't quite able to exactly replicate the original conditions of being loaded in only one direction. Instead I had something to carry both ways. The weight is not significant, but there is some extra wind drag.

Also, the fan was installed and I used the A/C intermittently.

Ended up with 18.8 MPG

I should also add that the latest calculation is based on a total distance of 412km, with about 80 of those being short trips into town in urban conditions. The remainder was towing at 55 in the above stated conditions.

Not quite 19 MPG even but pretty close. At the very least I can say with more confidence that the previous fillup was no fluke. These were consecutive fill ups on the same tank at the same pump, at the same nozzle setting. Think thats got it covered.

 

[david85]

Another week, another trip. Same route, nearly identical load, and slightly worse weather conditions with some wind and rain from a recent storm that blew through. I also caught just about every red on my way back home.

18.4 MPG this time.

This consecutive tank already had about 88km on it before the actual towing trip (total of 419km since last fill up). Most of them were running around town but included a crazy sprint up and over the steepest hill in our area. I figured with all the feathering around, it might do the beast some good to get the EGTs up for a little while. Turns out there was a ricer at the top and my truck had the scent all along

Too bad I wasn't able to try this trip without the trailer. Not sure when I'll get that chance.
I can't prove anything until I run an actual test, but my gut tells me a 25 MPG average might be possible.

 

[Clydesdale]

So the mpg gain is slowly paying for the pump?

 

[david85]

Even if I have a mere 1.5 MPG ahead before the pump was rebuilt, I would say the pump will pay off within a year or 2. Buying a pump locally would have cost me close to this anyway and I've heard plenty of bad reviews for the cheep $300-$400 pumps on Ebay.

Not positive, but I MIGHT be able to make another run this week but without the trailer. That would be interesting to see.

 

[Brutis]

I hope you can make the run. I can't wait to see the results!

 

[david85]

Well scratch that. The parts I am hauling this week are just barely too large to safely fit in the truck without damaging them and considering what they are worth.......trailer is coming with me tomorrow.

The last fillup had predictible results considering the conditions. 402km on the rear tank returned 15 MPG. The drop was because I was hauling at speeds closer to 75 MPH last week since I was running a little late.

Roughly 150km on the front tank @ a punishing 13 MPG......ouch. However this is almost completely short trips in town with lots of warmup time or having a little fun on brief sprints on local highways (I generally like to get the EGTs up at least once a week so I find a steep hill and let it run). This truck never liked short trips especially with the fan on though. However, all previous results of late were on the rear tank and involved much higher fill volumes. Its possible the front tank is a bit of an outliner, but considering previous experience, I have not reason to believe the 13 MPG result.

As you can see, there is no black magic to getting good MPGs. Even a truck with tall gearing can suck the fuel down with a heavy foot.

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

yeah,my readings are all over the place due to distance variations and different size loads too.
all you can do is keep an accurate record and count on the average,cant worry about one or two tanks much.
im at 15.98 MPG over the course of 10 tanks so far. generally always hauling,and or towing.
i find this extremely good myself considering the heavy loads i can put on her,and that big wind catching bed.
match that 460 gas jobber.

 

[david85]

And on that note, today's run was done during a mild wind storm averaging 70 MPH. Not fun on the way south but was better coming home. I locked out overdrive for this trip so here's the kicker:

15.5 MPG - which is virtually identical to the results I would get if I was able to use overdrive under similar conditions.

Its not completey surprising since I already knew using overdrive in higher load situations doesn't save any fuel in my case because it drops below the power band.

Next week will be a similar run since will need to take the same parts back home again. I'll see if I can repeat today's results.

 

[david85]

Managed to repeat the earlier 55 MPH towing test today.

Cruise was set at about 55-56 MPH with about 20 minutes idling through traffic thanks to an accident (must be because I left my camera home again!). 2004 style F150 got messed up badly and seemed to have rolled once - tranny fluid dripping like blood out over the fender from under the hood. Note to self: don't leave home without the dash cam anymore. Last time I didn't take it, an old camry caught fire on the side of the road . People were nuts on the roads today though.

Anyway, here's how the numbers stack up:

Total distance: 392km (248 miles)
Total fuel burned 48.1L (12.72 gallons)

60 of those kilometers was driving around town earlier in the week.

Final MPG result:

18.82

A am still running consecutive fillups over this period so I don't think this is an outliner.

Conditions were very good today as well (other than traffic). Minimal wind, and no rain.

Would REALLY like to try a trip without the trailer at this speed even though it is boring as hell. Only a matter of time

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

you get used to it after awhile though David.besides,just think how much $ you can save in a year by not going over 55mph with diesel @ 3 bones per gal.
keep it up man! that's money in the bank.
i bet the guy driving that 04 f150 wish he had stuck with 55 today too lol.

 

[david85]

I'm actually a little surprised that the engine can consistently deliver better MPGs even below the peak torque RPM. when I first started doing these slow tows, I was expecting performance gains to taper off the slower I got. It seems I was wrong about that and 1200 RPM is still quite economical. Hope there is still enough oil pressure for what I am doing to this poor thing....