The "Sweet Spot" (best MPG)

Nope. Don't do it. Don't go there, trucker. Too late, he went there.

You ever pull out of a truckstop, some bottom feeder is in front of you at the light. Light turns green and rookie stalls it. He's waiting for the clutch brake so he can put her backin gear and light changes. 2 minutes later, light turns green again, rookie does the clutch brake thing again, and puts the truck in granny and makes a turn without shifting? You're stuck at he light for another turn. "Stay calm, he's gone. I will be on the bigroad soon." 2 minutes later, you're finally get a green and it's full go. You get on the entrance ramp and you see rookie at the bottom of the ramp. A truck moves left to let him on. Same company as rookie. And they're matching speed. The truck in the middle lane is a 62 mph truck and rookies truck runs 62.25 mph. And the day started so nice. You weren't in a hurry, but after sitting at a traffic light for 10 minutes patience is running thin. Instead of doing the decent thing and letting the truck back over, rookie gives it everything he has to prevent a truck from the same company from passing him.

 

I can't speak for all slow trucks, but I've done 60 mph for almost 10 years now. I will say it is a little bit different driving, sometimes I've gone 65-68. You absolutely have to look in your mirrors more, and judge the speed and gaps of vehicles behind you. But if I catch up to a slower vehicle, I'm not just going to pull out like an ###. It also depends on the speed, and I don't have a speed limiter so I usually make things go quicker. I also have good power, so I don't get "caught" passing someone uphill. For example fully loaded through Wisconsin there's only one hill I'll slow down more than 2 mph.

But I see your point. I've never understood this fascination of making your day shorter by 5-10 seconds. Maybe they're on EOBR's? I have no idea.

It's about communication and co-operation. If there's a bear on the shoulder or a ton of cars coming down a ramp, I should be able to move over into the hammer lane even if I slow down traffic a bit. There's nothing unreasonable about that. I won't be cheap with my intentions either, liberal use of the turn signal (and don't worry, I just checked it last time I stopped too, so I know it works). I've never understood this obsession with passing people right at an on ramp either. Three vehicles side-by-side yet there's only two lanes, and the guy in the right lane is *NOT* the jerk. The other two are.

 

I've been there but the sad reality is that its not just rookies hanging out in the left/middle lane....it all boils down to laziness and no courtesy towards others on the road...

 

How many hours will you need to drive at 70 to make up the distance for the time you lost getting that third lane driving award vs. driving 60?

Close to 3 hours I bet.

And I'm not even talking fuel or the cost of the violation.

That's just silly.

 

What's silly is how this thread got completely derailed because a driver decided to (yet again) show his disdain towards slower trucks. While we're at it; I've been noticing a lot of you fast supertruckers are out of blinker fluid. I can understand you not knowing it because that ex-Schneider Century is in top operating condition. But I just wanted to let you know that all the truck stops have it on sale right now for the low price of courtesy and respect.

 

If two trucks are passing that is fine.I will give them time to a certain point.
If it goes on for miles then i'm going around in the restricted lane.
This crap of two 63 mph trucks battling side by side for miles just shows that either driver has no respect.All one has to do is let off the throttle for one second and the battle is over.They refuse to do that.

If another truck is having trouble passing me i will always back out of the gas for a second.
It amazes me that 99% of the drivers on the road will not do that.

And yep....one day i will get caught in the no-no lane.I will pay the fine and life goes on.
If you run through Atlanta all the time like i do how many trucks do you see in the restricted lanes.....?
More than i can count.

 

Speak for yourself on the junk equipment...

 

?? I drive a 2014 Pete 386. If that's junk, then I don't know what good equipment is then.

 

I agree, I proofed that to myself when my vpod went. It was just passed midnight and the qualcom reset for the next day on stats. I decided to drive 117 miles to the nearest Detroit, pulling an mty 53. Wasn't the fastest truck on the road, lol, but I got there. Checking the stats, 9.9 gal used to travel the 117 miles. That equats to 11.8mpg. No vpod no boost. Ashame I couldn't get this all the time. More boost u use, less mpgs.

 

Back on topic here,
I installed one of those power harness plug and play units and my truck pulls way better and i had an increase in fuel mileage of .8 mpg on average.
I figured it would use more fuel but was really surprised of the mileage increase.
If i keep my foot out of it i went from 5.8 to above 7 mpg....
My ProStar has never hit 7 mpg before.
We run heavy and a lot of hills.