# Improving diesel mileage **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Created:** [October 6, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446 "2008-10-06T23:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xdeereman93](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/cdc98d/32.png) [@xdeereman93](https://community.cartalk.com/u/xdeereman93)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446/1 "2008-10-06T23:16:27Z")
Would it be worth the expense to go from 410 gears to 355 gears & a different computer chip on 7.5 turbo diesel for better mileage. ---
**Author:** ![Beadsandbeads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Beadsandbeads](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Beadsandbeads)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446/2 "2008-10-06T23:31:16Z")
The gear change could be productive if your truck is RWD. 4x4 will be a lot more costly. It depends on how many miles you put on. You can get perfectly good gears from salvage yards and that can cut expense. If you need the 410 to pull your load, you can’t change it, though. The “chip”, I can’t help you. I would try a board specific to your particular truck. The only way that I can see that it might help is if you have a dual program which _might_ offer lower power when you don’t need it and higher power and fuel consumption when you need that. ---
**Author:** ![Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/joseph_e_meehan/32/21_2.png) [@Joseph\_E\_Meehan](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Joseph_E_Meehan)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 10:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446/3 "2008-10-07T10:45:39Z")
It all depends on how you drive and what kind of load you are carrying. I getting better mileage was all that easy, they would come from the factory that way. ---
**Author:** ![FoDaddy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/fodaddy/32/717_2.png) [@FoDaddy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/FoDaddy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446/4 "2008-10-07T12:49:03Z")
First off, I’m guess youing are refering to a 7.3L Powerstroke, The 7.5L would be the gas 460. Anyway chances are you’ll never recoup the investment of a gear swap in fuel savings. Figure about $500-$600 for a 2WD, double that for a 4WD. Your fuel mileage will not change a great deal. Maybe 1 or 2 MPG at most. Your truck will also have a harder time towing big loads, and you’ll be putting more stress on the transmission and transfer case, but that’s not a big problem. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/improving-diesel-mileage/20446/5 "2008-10-07T13:57:55Z")
Like the others said, doubt you’d ever get the $$ back from a ratio swap, and you’d be reducing the ability of the truck to tow, etc. As for the chip, I’ve heard they can increase hp by putting higher max boost on the turbo, etc., but I’m skeptical they’d increase mileage.