Gas mileage with a Truck Camper

This is a good discussion. Moving from a half-ton to a one ton might mean at most a 1 MPG drop, assuming a gasser. A diesel, I'd gain MPG.

As for me, I get about 15 MPG overall.

98 GMC with a 6.5 diesel, 8.2 Bigfoot camper that has been on the truck 2 yrs now, low mileage last yr was 17.2 mpg and this yr. a trip to Vancouver gave us a high of 19.2 mpg and a short 300 mile trip last week was 18.3 mpg and that is driving the speed limit 100k at 1900-2000 rpm, I have keeping track of fuel mileage for yrs and my mh is at a 12.5 mpg for the past 10 yrs.

Empty I get 15-16 mpg.
Camper gets 8-10 mpg.

The interesting thing... I pulled out the stock 350 and put in a GM HT383E crate motor. Nothing wrong with the old motor, I just wanted the more power the bigger motor provides. No change in mileage compared to the old motor! The new motor makes more power and spins less. It climb hills at 2800rpm in (D)rive at 55mph, the old motor spun a 4000rpm in 2nd gear at 45mph.

EMPTY (70-75mph): 20-mpg
LOADED (62-65mph): 11.5-15-mpg

Although we don't notice the wind (even when loaded), the truck responds to the wind with lower fuel mileage.

Ticki wrote: "That same year truck with a diesel would probably yield 18 mpg and cost 3-4k more , not 40k more"
I cannot fault your logic.
Around these parts, a 1995 Ram Cummins, 12v would be well over $10K with that same mileage, if you could find one that the owner didn't think was gold plated. The 12V Cummins is kind a cult vehicle around here. It's touted to be one of the only rigs still moving after the Sun's micro burst of energy. No electronic anything. My idea was to show kind of a cost comparo between an oil burner and a gasser. When I bought the '01 CTD, the diesel penalty was only $4900. I was sure I could drive it long enough to pay for the penalty/mileage differential. @ 168K miles, I'm afraid I've failed miserably. Ken's cost per mile in driving his V-10 will be a lot higher than my CTD with the same load. But, his total outlay in devoted truck funds will be MUCH less.
jefe

I think wind resistance is more of a factor than weight.

Truck by itself-- 17-18 MPG,
Truck with tall boxy trailer-- 7 MPG
Truck with camper and tall boxy trailer-- 8.5 MPG
Truck with camper only -- 12-13 MPG

Pulling the trailer our mileage actually improves by adding ~2500 lbs of camper.

Thanks for all the input folks....but now I have another question. I would be looking at a lighter truck camper (under 1500 lbs preferably)....also at popups.....Question is, does a pop up get better mileage due to being lower?.....that is if the pop up and hard side campers weigh the same

jefe 4x4 wrote:


My neighbor, Ken, just bought a 1995 gas, V-10 Dodge Ram 4X4, single cab, long bed, appliance white, Dana 70 rr diff, pickup with a cool insulated and carpeted over sized shell with 60K miles on the odo. What is that? 3K miles a year for 20 years? He paid $3500 for it as it needed a new CAT but runs and looks great like it's in a time warp. It has 450 # ft. of gasseous torque. Now the '95 was the first year for the V-10 and there were a few bugs to be ironed out and apparently were, but the cost vs. miles vs.condition is hard to beat. On the 150 mile drive home he got 13 mpg. How long would it take to recoup the better diesel mpg on a $40K truck, never mind the cost of the camper, compare to the $3.5K Dodge V-10?
jefe

Jefe , with all do respect , that is not quite comparing apples to apples . That same year truck with a diesel would probably yield 18 mpg and cost 3-4k more , not 40k more . Not trying to disparage his deal , sounds like a good one .

On our trip to Alaska we kept pretty good track of mileage by calculating the the fuel used on the pumps. We averaged 11.5 mpg for the entire trip.

Someone suggested (Fred at Outdoor Express RV) that keeping the RPM's at and below 2000 would increase mileage considerably. It really has, for us! We take off slowly, do not use cruise control, let it build up momentum downhill and ease off accelerating uphill. 1750 RPM seems to be best which translates to around 62 to 65 MPH. On recent long trips we were able to get a steady 13/14 MPG.

We have noticed that we find ourselves in convoy with other trucks and vehicles employing the same stuff. It does add up to a savings on longer trips but is harder to do driving locally.

We have a SRW rig, which we had to adapt because duallys were kaput on Asssateague Island. They now permit duallys and if I were refitting I would choose duallys and prolly would not get the mileage we now get but should have improved stability and an improved margin of safety.

Bedlam wrote:
Less Stuff has a Ram 1500 with a canopy and carpet kit.

Could it be a magic carpet?