What kind of MPG do you get whle towing?

DMAX154

Active Member
Was wondering what kind of MPG all of us get towing out Heartland RVs around. Lets hear it, what do you get?

Tell us what kind of truck.
Any mods that you may have done.
The weight of your trailer.
And anything else important.

As for me I have a 05 Chevy 2500HD with the Duramax and Allison tranny.
Sundance 3200RE goes about 12000 when its loaded. ( Thats a guess on the weight ) I have a Diablo Chip set on 40HP, 4" turbo back, Banks Ram air intake.

I get between 9.5 and 10.5 running about 70 mph on the highway.
 

AL KADEY

ALLEYKAT&MOMMAKAT
07 duramax .... 108 days of trailer use this year averaged 11.3 mpg since Easter. 1 trip of 2700 miles, the rest from 130 to 700 miles. Average speed around 60 mph.
 

bsummit

Arkansas Chapter Leader-Retired
08 Dodge 3500HD Dually, 6.7 Cummins, no mods, 11 to 13 level roads, no winds, hills and mountains in northern Arkansas, 9.7 to 10. Weight approx. 14500 lbs.
 
2005 Dodge cummins, air bags, jake brake bighorn at about 12000 lbs Wife and I traveled 11000 miles this Summer and averaged 11.4 MPG
 

bill40

Well-known member
05 3500 DRW LLY, banks 6pk, setting 3. Just finished 3100 miles cross country pulling BC 3500RL, 14850 on scales. Tried to keep 60 mph had high of 12.3 low of 9.8 in mountains. Avg for trip was 11.5mpg. The higher the speed the lower the mpg, just my 2 cents.
 

tkralc66

Member
ford 2008 f250 4x4 diesel ,, pulls an ultralight sundance 260 rt ,, brand new bringing it from spoakne to las vegas today ,, the left rear wheel blew off broke off the studs ,, wide track def worked as i was able to limp trailer into les swchab in dillon , mt ,,, they fixed it ,, said all the wheels were loose and not balanced from factory ,,
8.6 mpg at 70
 

Rrloren

Well-known member
Was dragging a Travel Trailer weighing in at 11000 lbs until a month ago when we got our Sundance 2900MK. Trip out West past June aveaged 13.1 mpg hand calculated. Just put 900 miles on the Sundance and ave. 13.3. I run no more than 65mph
2007 Dodge, 6.7, 6 spd auto, Air Raid intake , Hypertech Max Energy set on Level 2 and the EGR valve is unplugged.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
ford 2008 f250 4x4 diesel ,, pulls an ultralight sundance 260 rt ,, brand new bringing it from spoakne to las vegas today ,, the left rear wheel blew off broke off the studs ,, wide track def worked as i was able to limp trailer into les swchab in dillon , mt ,,, they fixed it ,, said all the wheels were loose and not balanced from factory ,,
8.6 mpg at 70

Did you make sure to retorque the lug nuts, as per specifications, for the first several hundred miles of travel? As for balancing, don't know of any manufacturer that balances trailer tires....as to the OP, we weigh 28,000 pounds gross, and the Kodiak gets about 10.5 towing at 55 mph...
 

jnbhobe

Well-known member
Been getting 10 to 11 mpg towing at 65-70 on fairly level to rolling terrain, in the mountains drops to 9 mpg. Just changed to 4.30 gears from 3.73's. We'll see how that works going to Branson next week. Pulling a BH 3370, 7,000 lb. axels, GY 614 tires, with 06 F-350 6.0, CC, SB,33in 275-70-18 LR-E tires, MBRP turbo back exhaust, gross weight 23,000 lbs. JON :cool: :cool: :cool:
 

davebennington

Senior Member
We have a 2006 3500 Dodge Cummins, automatic, with 4.10 gears and pull a Landmark/Golden Gate. Our gross weight is 24800. No mods and our mpg is between 11 and 13 while towing. The mpg got better after 40,000 miles on the truck.

Dave
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
We get 10-11 towing at 60mph give or take a couple of miles and depending on the terrain. We did tow following Kakampers at 55mph and got 11.5. Just goes to show how much money and fuel you can save by going a little slower and getting to your destination 15 - 30 minutes later. We weigh in right around 26,500 lbs. All of this with the vehicles shown in the signature.
 

jayc

Texas-South Chapter Leaders
While coming to Colorado, we got 11.1-hand figured-coming up from Texxas. I expect 12 or better going back.
 

TXBobcat

Fulltime
I love this question. The miles per gallon is very dependent on a lot of things. If your on a flat highway, no wind, and driving at the peak torque speed, you get one average. If your going up and down the mountains in Montana, Wyoming or Colorado your going to get a real low average. I got 99mpg going down the mountain... :D

I was going south on I-15 and into a strong head wind for the entire distance and got about 7 mpg. I was pulling up the grade on I-90 at mile marker 241 in Montana and I got about 5mpg. Got down to 30mph on an 8% grade for about 2 or 3 miles.

I met a lady in Buffalo Wyo that was stopped on the side of the road. I stopped and asked if she was having problems. She said they ran out of gas and her husband was walking down the road to get some gas. We picked him up and helped him get some gas and he said he normally did well but ran into a very strong head wind.

I have a 45gal aux tank in the bed and a 38 gal OEM under the bed. I normally concider my fuel mileage is about 10 gal on a normal basis. My BH is about 13k on the axles.

FWIW
BC
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
2006 F-450 w/ 6.0 PSD 4:30 gears
No mods
2010 Landmark, weight 16,500lbs, GCVW 26,200lbs
Towing from south TX to WA at speeds between 70 and 55(darn California towing laws) for just over 3,000 miles we averaged 9.05MPG The best tank was 10.74 and the worst tank was 7.59.
 
Last edited:

DMitch

Well-known member
I average 9.0-10.3 depending on terrain and wind, with the truck and trailer in my signature. No mods to the truck, it's just as it came from the factory.

It is refreshing to see some honesty in the numbers being quoted. I was on another diesel site the other day and they were quoting 13-16 towing. I thought WOW, what the heck is wrong with my truck?

Dan
 

DMAX154

Active Member
I average 9.0-10.3 depending on terrain and wind, with the truck and trailer in my signature. No mods to the truck, it's just as it came from the factory.

It is refreshing to see some honesty in the numbers being quoted. I was on another diesel site the other day and they were quoting 13-16 towing. I thought WOW, what the heck is wrong with my truck?

Dan


Yeah I have felt the same way. That is why I asked this question here. Being that most of our trailers are probally within 2500 lbs of each others. An we all are pulling the same "no so areodynamic" trailers.
 

ricatic

Well-known member
04 F250 CC SB 4WD with 3.73 differentials pulling a 09 3055 RL. The rig weighs 20300 pounds ready to go. I have towed it for 3960 miles now and it has averaged 11.9 mpg.

Ricatic
 

Two Hands

Well-known member
We have a 2007 Big Horn 3055RL towed by a 2007 Chevrolet Crewcab 2500HD 6.6 Turbo Duramax Diesel. Last year we took a New England fall colors trip which put 11,500 miles on the truck and 7,500 miles on the Big Horn. We averaged about 11 mpg. This summer we went to Alaska and put just over 8,000 miles on the truck and maybe 7,500 on the Big Horn and again averaged about 11 per gallon.
 

slmayor

Founding California Northern Chapter Leader
BH 3370 loaded to the top, 05 6.0 F350 DRW, CC. 4:30 gears, totally stock. Total weights 22K Last trip up I-5 thru the Oregon mountains to the coast 9.9 to 10.3. Generally do not tow over 65. We've gotten as high as 13 on a flat stretch of I-70 between Sacramento and Oroville.
 
Top