mpg towing

[whsk]

just finished a 2588 mile trip pulling about 12000 lbs. (5th wheel)DW kept track and here is the low 9.4 and high 11.9-2013 Dodge 3500 4x4 with 6 speed stick-truck did a very good job-I was impressed!overall avg. was 10.6-whsk

[Brad_NSW]

2003 Dodge 5.9L Diesel manual 5 speed. Tow 55-60MPH, Tow 13.5K 5er. Average towing MPG over 32,000 miles: 11.7. Best was 12.3 and worst was 10.9. Very consistent uphill, downhill, into the wind, with tail wind. I drive conservatively and love my 190K mile Dodge!

[goducks10]

I always get better mpg's when the price of diesel goes up. 🙂

[reddwar]

Have a 07 5.9 Mega Cab Auto RWD DRW Dodge. We pull at 62 mph & have gotten as low as 7 mpg & as high as 13 mpg. In the summer I normally get around 11 mpg, in the winter I lose 2 mpg or get 9 mpg pulling. Our 6.0 did not lose mileage in winter. Have gotten as high as 13 mpg in the summer on the interstate down in the delta with no wind & as low as 7 mpg in the winter bucking a 40 mph wind on I 20 in west TX. Oh yes we pull a 2010 HH 363 weights around 15K. When not pulling get a little over on 20 on interstate, combo wife get around 16 I beat that by around 3 mpg, she says I drive like my dad.

Why do I drive a 5.9 Dodge - because we drove a 6.0 Ford.

F350 was quite no wind noise doors did not rattle, did not have to duck when I got in, better seats, pulled harder - Dodge 135,XXX miles have only replaced a $600 wheel bearing or what ever they call them now, while on the road, gets better fuel mileage. Also it does not go in the shop every time it see a dealer like the Ford did!!!!!!!!!!!

Keeping my 07 Dodge, plan on putting 250,000 more miles on it

red

[ib516]

Driver behavior can affect mpg as much as 25 to 30%, so my mpg and your mpg in the same truck are not comparable. I've driven with some people who have one pedal or the other to the floor anytime they touch it. Then they complain their truck sucks fuel :S

The only comparison that matters is over the same route in the same conditions with the same loads, and that only happens in magazine tests - well, sometimes they get it right.

[larry_barnhart]

On our trip to Casa grande az I used the math for the trip to the exit 45 fuel stop we use on the way back in April. 10.98 mpg and to our rv park I wanted to use the main tank for the last short day and that mileage was 11.94. New trucks seem to be too high for our 2001 alpenlite and we are old so nice to like what we have.
chevman

[fj12ryder]

My 2001 Dodge diesel dually got about 8 mpg going into about a 30 mph headwind going to New Mexico and about 9.5 mpg coming back home. Running 65-67 mph both ways pulling our 15,000 lb. Fuzion toyhauler.

[whsk]

I fought very strong winds in OK,TX,NM,the first part of AZ-the truck was very stable-the only way to know was when you stopped to buy fuel!- I am pleased with the Ram-I will take a shot of blue Kool-Aid and take cover now-whsk

[dave17352]

On roughly a 5000 mile trip from Nebraska to the west coast and back I got 11.73 mpg hand calculated in my 2011 Duramax 3500 SRW pulling my 12k Cardinal 5th wheel. I was driving right around 60 mph the entire trip when on the highway. This was all kinds of different terrain as you might imagine. I was pleased with the results.

[Tango__AE7UI]

On recent trips to Cal and then again to Colorado and New Mexico, we averaged 12.1 with our 2006, 131K miles of a D/A, 3.73 rear end and about 10,000#'s of fifth wheel.
Flat country and steep grades. I keep my speed at 60.

[Sport45]

hone eagle wrote:
The compression ratio's have been inching down bit by bit for a while now ,that and all the other measures to reduce NOX have hurt efficiency .

I don't know if the effeciency is down a lot, but the engines today make a lot more power than the diesels of yesteryear. It takes fuel to make power. More power means you can climb hills faster, accelerate faster etc. If today's diesel was driven the same way as the old ones (not generating any more power) the mpg numbers would probably be closer.

Of course, nobody's going to buy a 3.0 diesel in a 1-ton even if it did make the same power as the first generation turbodiesels. But it would probably get about the same mpg's

[Me_Again]

Larry, would you want to take a 2 or 3 MPG hit upgrading to the newest and best?

I do not want a new truck that bad! I would look for a late model third gen Dodge with 6 speed manual(2206 or early 2007) or hold you head from falling off, a 2006 or early 2007 GM (classic) Duramax/Allison.

Chris

[larry_barnhart]

Asking others what they get for fuel mileage is a tough thing to answer. Nothing is the same. Drivers are not the same but nothing as in the earlier sentence also mean drivers. Waste of time worrying what others get. Might be interesting but of no valve. Of course you fellas must agree with me.
chevman

[Me_Again]

panthercity wrote:

Me Again wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
Those numbers are just about dead on with what I have gotten pulling my 35' 5er, both with my previous '07 F350 6.0 and my current '12 F350 6.7 running at posted speed limits on the highways (up to a max of 68-70). Could probably do a little better if I slowed down to 60-65.

The is a bit disappointing! These trucks are getting better and better in so many ways except for fuel mileage. In the early 2000's it was common for Duramax GM's, 7.3 Powerstrokes and Dodge/Cummins to deliver towing mileage in the 12-13 MPG range.

Are people just all towing to fast with them now? I tow at around 62-63 MPH most of the time and average 12.2 to 12.5, and can be as high as 13.5-14 in central California at 59 MPH on flat no wind legs.

I was hoping that the new DEF RAMs would be back up in that range!!!!

Chris

That was before USLD in 2006. Then GM changed their emissions systems to burn the particulate by injecting extra fuel whenever the particulate trap got full. That and new/different tuning impacted mileage significantly.

So I know the 07.5 introduction of the 6.7 and re-gen put the Dodge/Cummins mileage in the toilet, I was just hoping that the introduction of DEF in the 2013's pulled it back out! Soulds like maybe that did not happen. And might explain the 3.42 gears as RAM's attempt to salvage it some!!!!

Chris

[Hannibal]

That's real close to what I got with my four Cummins Rams from '95 to '03. Not bad at all.