How many of you guys have manual tranny 2WD D350 trucks and what kind of mpg do you get?
I owned a 1992 manual tranny D250 2WD for 5 years and recently sold it due to getting to the point of no return rust wise. The best rust free replacement I could find was a 1993 D350 DRW automatic w/OD, I wanted the extended cab so that made the decision even easier to buy it.
The guy who owned the D350 told me he got some ridiculous mpg that was more than my D250 so I blew that off as being BS. However, I didn't expect the mpg to be as bad as it is, right around 15 to 16 on mostly country roads at 55 mpg. The 1992 D250 got maybe 22 to 25 on the same drive and I didn't expect that out of the D350.
However, years ago before I bought the 1992 D250 I had a non IC 1989 D250 2WD with the 727 3 speed automatic and it generally got 21 to 22 mpg so I thought the D350 being an auto with OD might get a little closer to 20 than 15. I don't know the rear axle ratio on the D250's but I know the D350 has a Dana 3.5 based on the options sticker under the hood.
I guess the root of my question is whether changing the D350 over to a 5 speed will get me much increase in the way of mpg. I remember now why I got rid of the 1989, I HATE driving automatics. I fell in love with the D350 and knew my chances of finding another one in similar condition were nil so I bought it and decided to try to live with the automatic. It's not going very well. I guess part of it is the amount of pressure required on the accelerator to keep the D350 moving, the D250 seemed to be a lot more responsive, yes I do realize the D350 weighs more. But also I just love shifting gears.
There is a place near me that does the swap and they keep the automatic stuff for resale. I know of another place I can get a full swap kit for $500 less, do it myself, and resell the automatic stuff to offset the cost.
I guess I can live with the automatic but I'm not going to enjoy driving it as much as I would with the manual. If I can increase the enjoyment and get some reasonable increase in mpg from the swap, then that makes it easier to think about swapping.
TIA for any information you can provide.
Joe