THE GOOD, THE BAD... BUT NO SURPRISES

GPG52! wrote:
We just completed a holiday run from Toronto, Cnd to Kissimmee, Fl.
Some of stats from this trip.

TV: 2014 Ford F250 Super Duty, 6.3 gas, 4.30 ratio, 6 spd.
Coach: 2014 Cougar 327 RES, (Mfg. spec's 10,260 lbs., 1,625 lbs. pin)
Have yet to put it on a scale but could likely add 1,700 lbs. for gear and 1/4 tank of fresh water.

US 90, 79, 19, 77, 95, 4.
Return trip: 2,806.7 miles
Moving time: 56.28 hrs
Moving average 50 mph
I tried to hold the speed at 62 - 63 mph and tried to keep the RPM from going above 3,000. This meant slower hill speeds.

South bound April 2,3 & 4th, 2015
Used speed control when not on wet roads.
6.6 mpg (we had heavy rain)
172.141 US gallons, Average $pg $2.27,

North bound April 16,17 & 18th, 2015
Used manual gas pedal especially in mountains to keep the RPM in check.
6.9 mpg
172.338 US gallons, Average $pg $2.38
Tried to fuel at Flying J and Pilot's to take advantage of the Good Same discount and larger rig friendly fueling stations.

NOTE: we did get up to 9.047 mpg in the Southern state flat lands, but the Blue Ridge, Appalachian , Allegheny mountain ranges brought us down to 6-7 mpg area.

YEP... we did see those diesel dually's through Fancy Gap passing us, but for our use the cost/benefit still supports a single axle gaser.
Coach pulled extremely well... very much appreciated especially after some of those longer days behind the wheel. (single driver)

Nice trip, fuel consumption was at the lower end of our expectation but no big surprise.

Happy trails!!!!
GPG :)

Great post and love the details. I'd bet, though, that if you'd gone ahead and let the RPM climb up a bit by dropping a gear, you might have gotten =better= mileage, but I have little experience on newer ECU-type gassers. I do know that my old 3/4 ton truck, with 5.7 engine, 4.10 gears and GearVendor OD, would get =better= mileage when running at 4k+ on hills than using the GV to drop 600 RPM. My dad out-mile'd me on a trip from Phoenix to Porterville, CA 20-some years ago, by about 1.5 mpg. Gassers typically produce their best h.p. and torque at higher RPM. Again, maybe the newer ECU-controlled engines are better, but you =should= check out the h.p./torque chart for your engine and see at what RPM it performs the best. Try it and post back with the results. :-)

Lyle