I recently purchased a 2006 Dodge Cummins 4x4 with the 5.9L. Everything about this pickup is stock. Only has 31K on it and we got 21.5 mpg on a road trip. When I am towing my horse trailer (about 7K lbs) it drops to approx 17mpg. Is there something I can do to improve my mileage as this is my daily driver too... If you recommend a cold air intake, which one and since I travel on dirt roads allot, should I get a dry or oiled filter? Any suggestions would be great!
Lisa

 

Increase tire pressure a bit. Get thinner tires, rolling resistance is not to be underestimated.
- Slow down, keep the engine in the optimum range,
- Shift early.
- Avoid braking- look ahead!
- Keep a steady pace
- No hard starts

If you obey these rules you will be amazed how many etxra mile you can make with one gallon.
Ok, driving like granny is no fun

 

Go to trip.

 

I would use nothing but a dry paper filter if you get CAI. As for mileage take your truck down to the local exhaust shop and have them cut the cat off the truck and weld a pipe back in. Also a mileage chip from Edge or Quadzilla work really well too.

 

Sounds like pretty good mileage to me.

 

Yea that is pretty good. Your truck stick or auto? Im assuming its 4x4 since your in ID.

 

It is an automatic and yes, 4WD is a must! The "kids" around here are telling me to get a cold air intake, chip and exhaust but I do not want to spent the $ if it is not going to help... I told them if they wanted to buy the stuff, I would install it.

 

Thats pretty good mileage already. And it should help, but you dont have to spend a lot of money. Like they said, get the cat (and muffler, if you dont mind the extra sound) cut out for better exhaust flow, good dry filter, and a tuner with a good economy tune, which aren't too expensive.

 

that's about what mine got when i bought it too. cat delete and superchips cortex on tow mode getting 22+ empty and 16.5 to 17 pulling 8000lb camper.

 

Cool! Thanks all for the suggestions!
Lisa