Stuck in Lafayette, Louisiana

[SmokerBill]

Right now I'm in the Lafayette, LA Walmart parking lot, warming up my 26BH with the furnace, and myself with a couple bowls of hot food I just finished cooking.

I was driving west on I-10 from my Christmas at Hunting Island state park in South Carolina (current destination is the south tip of Texas), and the traffic jammed up big time. I pulled my TT of the first exit ramp, and luckily I found a Walmart next to the fuel stop.

So I guess I'll be spending a few hours here tonight. Might take a nap, then start driving again later tonight.

Just wanted to say, it's pretty darned great pulling a house on wheels when traveling the country. Makes traffic jams much easier to handle.

Have a good one,

[Denise]

So many people head to Texas in the winter! I'm not familiar with that neck of the woods... are you dealing with the snow too or just all the folks heading out for after Xmas specials etc? Happy travels Bill

[Seann45]

Yep RV's are great...When in the mountains I hit a 2 hour construction delay... went into the RV made a pot of coffee heated up some apple pie got my lawn chair out and sat there eating it... I could have started my own restaurant right then and there...

[Crabman]

I like your view better then mine at the moment. Looks warmer too! Enjoy the new 26BH, great floorplan,we almost bought that one but went with the next size up. -Lee

[Denise]

Originally Posted by SmokerBill

I could start a roadside stand at the next traffic jam. $5 to use the toilet. No, I bet I could easily get $10

LOL!!! Maybe we should all make a banner advertising the commode for a fee and stow it in one of the cabinets for the next time we are stuck in gridlock! Heck, that could pay for the gas for the trip (or maybe not for us as my entrepreneurial skills suck!)

Nice campsite. It reminds me of when we stayed on the west side of Cape Hatteras. I love having the water front site!

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm jealous...

That's a sweet site and nice looking TT...

[Mopar1973Man]

Originally Posted by SmokerBill

Thanks Mopar. How do you like your 2002 Cummins? Mine has the EGR/emissions on it and gets around 9 or 10 mpg pulling the TT.

Hmmm... I love my Cummins! As for my fuel records my lowest on record over 160K worth of records is 14.3 MPG and my high record is 25.3 MPG...

As for pulling the Jayco I'll find out more this spring what its going to be like.

But as for hauling weight I got to haul in 10-12 Cords of firewood every year for winter heat. So between a cord on the trailer and the cord on the truck I've never been below 14.3 MPG yet...

But now the TT is a different story... So I'll have to keep you post later this spring...

[SmokerBill]

I've yet to get 20 mpg running with no load, but got close with one tank, about 19.8 mpg. But my truck isn't broken in yet. Just passed the 10k mile mark on it last week.

Today has been a good day. Did a couple big loads of laundry, washed the dishes, went grocery shopping, adjusted the air in my truck tires, did some fishing, listened to some music, played some guitar, and now I'm kicking back drinking some homemade sangria. It's gotta be healthy with all the citrus fruit in it, don't you think? At least it makes me happy and relieves my aches and pains.

I was planning to do some work on my business today, but it can wait til tomorrow.

Here's a pic of my nephews decorating the Christmas tree at our campsite on Hunting Island SP, South Carolina.

Have a good one,

[Mopar1973Man]

That really neat...

As for the Cummins you got a long ways to go for break in... Most don't concider them broke in till about 200-250K miles...

The other factor that will aid you in the MPG game is find a performance box to enhance the timing of the engine this will bring up the MPG's. Also are you hand calculating you numbers? You might find the the overhead being off... Then become worse with enhanements...

[SmokerBill]

All hand calc. The overhead (in the dash in mine) is always giving me an extra mile or two per gallon. So when will the mileage start improving? I heard after 30 or 40k it should start getting better. And as far as adding the box, I don't want to lose my warranty. I think Dodge is kind of picky about mods.

[Seann45]

Originally Posted by SmokerBill

All hand calc. The overhead (in the dash in mine) is always giving me an extra mile or two per gallon. So when will the mileage start improving? I heard after 30 or 40k it should start getting better. And as far as adding the box, I don't want to lose my warranty. I think Dodge is kind of picky about mods.

To deny warranty they have to PROVE that it was what you added that caused the failure... They may try to deny but most judges have already ruled on this one

[Mopar1973Man]

Proble is you will not gain much (maybe 0.2) MPG once it broke in. The problem is the EPA tune in the computer retards the timing and make the numbers poor. Then the DPF goes into Regen it just dumping raw fuel in the exhaust manifold to burn the DPF clean (big loss in number).

Most people I've talk to about the Dodge Trucks (6.7L) seem to gain the most by ditching the DPF & EGR... But you going to have to wait for 100K miles before you think of that...

Like myself I held out till about 95K miles and said "Screw It" Drop a Edge Comp, BHAF, Striaght piped it went from 16-17 to 20-21 MPG... Now with the RV275 injectors I gain just a touch more...

Right now I'm working on a winter time mod to help fool the ECM to believing it summer out and hold the timing more advanced for the cold weather folks so far I got a few beta test going so we'll see how it goes...

[clutch]

Our 6.7 is our second Cummins. Our 5.9 would get 19 empty and 11 pulling our 32' Mountaineer, it had an Edge EZ box and big exhaust. The 6.7 now has 33k and it gets 10 pulling, and around 18 empty. If we buy the Jayco TT I would expect to get about 11mpg. It has a lot lower profile than the 5er and will be about 1000lbs lighter. I have only experienced 20mpg with a Cummins twice.