Ford Superduty V10 towing trip

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To the OP. That's about what our Excursion gets pulling our newer 30' TT. The older 30' TT was slightly better. The older camper was a two-stepper whereas the newer unit is a three-stepper entry. The higher road clearance of the newer TT didn't help getting in/out of our driveway and now pulls harder on the highway. Rats.

The 14.7 mpg empty highway was a best case, no-wind, scenario, with slightly under 14 more normal. The best it ever did towing was a 9.9 with a brisk tailwind and 50 mph max road-speed in OD. One of the truly rare times the wind was ever favorable. :R

Wes
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I was a little surprised to see the 8.1 get better mileage. I get between 6 and 7 mpg with my 2500 8.1 towing a 12.5k fiver. I have fiddled with my driving while towing and the differences are minor...though the rockies killed me over the summer. I‘m sure my bigger tires put the hurt on me too (295 70 17).

Mine is close also.....usually around 10-11 city and average about 14 highway when empty,Have gotten as high as 16.2 empty/highway. Towing my 5ver with truck and trailer combined is approx.17,900# and get about.....anywhere from 7.1-8.5 depending on where I go.

Did 5600 miles towing with my Excursion this summer. 2wd stock height pulling a 5k pound hybrid. Had just about every terrain you can imagine averaging from 8.25 to 11 with over all trip mileage at 9.27 at 65mph. It had plenty of power to pull hills heading up to South Dakota and ran through the Texas heat without getting above 200 on my trans. I do wish I had done the Y pipe and tuner before but we all learn the hard way.

In retrospect, did 6 hours of highway driving with 4 adults and two kids for Thanksgiving at 68-69 mph and got 16.5 average filling up at the start and finish at the same pump at roughly the same ambient temp.

Those are pretty good mileage figures for a V10 running empty. The towing mileages isn't surprising.

I recently did a trip with both of my F350's running together.

-'97, 7.3 diesel E4OD auto/od, 4wd dually with 4.10's and 235 tires.
-'92, 351 gas C6 auto/no od, 4wd srw with 4.56's and 285 tires.

The diesel truck was loaded and towing, 20,000 lbs combined gvw.
The gas truck was running bobtail with minor weight in the bed, 7500 lbs gvw.

Both trucks ran together, same speed and route the whole trip. I drove the diesel and paced my son, who followed behind me in the gas truck. I drove at what I know to be the optimum freeway mileage speed for the gas truck: 55 mph.

Both trucks have dual 20 gallon tanks. Both trucks started the trip with 2 full tanks on each truck. We stopped together at the same gas stations on the way, and at the destination. I topped off the tanks on both trucks each time.

I found I was putting right about the same amount of gas in the one truck as I was diesel in the other one, each time. Amazing how they can get roughly equal gas/fuel mileage, all other factors being equal (speed, hills, wind, driving style, etc), when one was moving almost 3 times the weight that the other was moving!

Diesel really is awesome :B

Your towing mileage seems accurate considering it is a 5th wheel. The wind resistance makes a huge difference. I get a little better with my TT but your combined figure is within 2/10ths of mine. Kind of hard to compare to others unless it was a straight apples to apples comparison with height and weight.

I get about 7 towing our "new" TT and about 10 unloaded. Yes, they're thirsty, but they are also extremely reliable. Funny thing is, our old fifth wheel that weighed less by about a 1,000 lbs gave me worse mileage than the TT. 6.0 vs. the 7.

Wow sorry guys, I'm not online too often...

To all other V10 owners, thanks for the input. This should give everyone a good idea what to expect from this towing beast.

jerem0621 wrote:
Your numbers towing are accurate based on my experience as well. My truck was a dually and empty got around 9 -10 ish basically no matter what I did. If I could get 12-14 like you empty I would have been ecstatic.

Since you mentioned the 8.1 your buddy had.. may I ask what the MPG for your friend was? I have been considering an 8.1 in a Suburban recently. I suspect that the MPG's between the V10 and the 8.1 are relatively comparable. But I am not sure.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

We stopped comparing long ago, towing it's a wash but I'm clearly better on fuel when empty.

fla-gypsy wrote:
Your towing mileage seems accurate considering it is a 5th wheel. The wind resistance makes a huge difference. I get a little better with my TT but your combined figure is within 2/10ths of mine. Kind of hard to compare to others unless it was a straight apples to apples comparison with height and weight.

Yes I agree. We have the same truck, I too have the 4.10 axle w/20" wheels.