How do you improve fuel economy on 2006 ram 2500 diesel?

Answer 1

A chip seems to help a bit, but its pricey and voids your warranty. I have a Edge Evolution piggyback kit on the ECU that when used on the "Level 1, economy" Tune will give me about 26-27 MPG on the highway (according to the on-board computer) when I keep pace with traffic. I was getting about 23-25 with the stock ECU programming. Be careful if you decide to go this route. Some chips are setup for performance only. While its fun to blow large clouds of black smoke on unsuspecting traffic, that cloud is mostly un-burnt fuel that could have been used to propel your truck.

Another route, that can get pricey is larger tires and wheels. It's an easy way to add some Highway MPG to that truck. Essentially, if your tires have a larger circumference you travel more distance on the same work from the engine. This is normally a bad idea on cars and light duty trucks because it adds "Un-Sprung" weight that can greatly increase stopping distances, increase acceleration time and create handling issues. However this type of truck can take the weight. If you have the Heavy duty package the max tire size you can go on the stock rims (without a lift kit) is 37X12.50R17 (it rubs a touch when making tight turns) also pick a low rolling resistance tire like General Grabber HTS. Going this route could make your speedometer give you an inaccurate reading. If you are considering both methods try and find a tuner that has "speedometer calibration/correction" as a feature in its software. You can input your total wheel size and It can give you a better gauge reading.