48Rob wrote:Thanks for all the tips and advice!
Casey,
I looked up rear end ratios, and find that it can help with highway miles, but not so much with in town driving.
Mark,
The fuel management system sounds good for highway miles, but 99% of my driving is stop and go in town.
The other Mark,
Yes, I run with a service bed of sorts.
It is slightly heavier than a standard bed, and it doesn't help fuel mileage.
In the past, it has worked out to a 2-3mpg decrease from having the different bed.
I've had everything from a 454 1 ton camper special (9mpg) to an S-10, (12mpg) all with service beds.
My current truck, a 97 Cheyenne 1/2 ton with a 5 liter V-8 started with 12-13mpg 11 years ago, and now gets 9-10mpg (has a lot of miles on it...)
We also have an 04 Denali with the 6.0 liter engine.
It gets 11-14 mpg...pulls the trailer very well!
It is used by my wife to go back and forth to work 1 mile each way, and for vacations.
The mileage sucks, but we don't put enough miles on it to make much difference.
My employer will be buying this truck and the fuel, and thus has requested that I find a more fuel efficient solution.
It seems that 12-14mpg is the across the board norm for work trucks.
Going with a mini truck to save fuel works fine if the bed is empty, but if you actually need to use it as a "truck" then the mileage is no better than the full sized trucks.
Rob
I can see where buying a smaller, underpowered vehicle might look good on paper but what will that cost on the job by requiring you to be more selective on what tools/materials you bring along due to space or weight limits. When this came up on my last job I suggested we simply equip every substation with all the tools and test equipment we needed and then issue us all Harleys instead of service trucks, to save all that gas we were wasting in those 3/4 and 1 ton serviced trucks with service bodies or tool boxes. I'm sure the Tuttles could come up with a chopper that had a "manlift/bucket" in place of a sissy bar............
Needless to say, we ended up staying with the same type of vehicle we had always used and continued to use 6 litre and larger engines.
