Truck Camper Magazine Chooses RAM

Miami Vice wrote:
Truck Camper Magazine chose the 3.73 rear end to get better gas mileage.
If there same rig had the 4.10 rear end how much would their gas mileage suffer?
Miami Vice

Probably not at all. It is a game the manufacturers play to get higher fleet averages with the EPA testing that is not done on the highway much less with a 3,000 lb. camper sticking up out of the bed.

My 1998 Chevy Tahoe got 17 MPG over a period of 12 years and more than 170,000 miles and that was with 4.10 gears and a 4-speed automatic transmission. Now with 6-speed transmissions you get 2 overdrive gears so there is no penalty with an empty bed traveling down the highway with lower gears.

When you are towing a load or carrying a heavy camper with all the extra air drag it generates, higher gears work against the engine which spends less time in its peak power band. The more the transmission has to downshift the more momentum is lost and the more fuel that is wasted in the process.

It is really a moot point as a truck with a camper or a trailer in tow is not going to get good fuel economy. My truck with the camper and no head wind consumes 20% more fuel. Add in a 15 MPH headwind and fuel consumption goes up another 20%.

That the wife of the couple that runs Truck Camper Magazine preferred the look of the Ram truck is of no interest to me as someone else's wife may prefer the look of the Ford or the GM trucks and if they call the shots that will be the truck that is bought. It has nothing to do with the merits of one truck over another.