which TOW vehicle gets best fuel mileage towing and empty?

[dave10a]

What is a dyno, and how would it help answer this question? My original post was to get real world calculated mpg from 3/4 and 1 ton tow vehicles towing 15K + to 18K+ although I opened it up for other input. Based on the responses so far, I am OK with my current mileage, but IF I were to upgrade my tow vehicle, real world calculated data would be useful. Unless there is a dyno.com web site out there like fuelly.com, we probably only have each others experiences to use for data.

OMG for those in Rio Linda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamometer. We used them to determine what mods did the best for power and economy to make sure the mods worked well in the real world that confirmed the dyno testing.

 

[porthole]

OMG for those in Rio Linda

Heartland "community" forum, not rv.net

 

[Miltp920]

Rio Linda??? Inside joke?

 

[swburbguy]

I have 2013 SILVERADO 3500 duramax and get 20 o the highway doing 63 empty

 

[dave10a]

Rio Linda??? Inside joke?

Not an inside joke but a Euthenisum to help people improve their knowledge. Rio Linda explained http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2007/11/30/rio_linda_explained_for_those_in_rio_linda

 

[MCTalley]

DocFather's 3500GMC DRWgets 17-18 empty average and F350 DRW gets 13.1-13.9.

Is there a reason the GMC gets more mpg empty than the Ford.

Why DocFather gets 17mpg with Duramax DRW and F350 DRW gets 13.1mpg?

Can we compare details between these two 1 ton DRW trucks?

Not sure whose F350 DRW gets 13 mpg empty. Ours consistently averages in the 16's and 17's empty for rural and around town driving. 18 on the highway at 70 mph. That's for a 2013 with 6.7L diesel. Our older 2002 with 7.3L diesel got approximately the same or slightly better mileage unloaded. With both trucks, I've seen an occasional 20-21 mpg run on the interstate at 60-65.

 

[Miltp920]

Scottyb posted (#47) a report for his F350 "empty " at 13.1 over 29,000 miles. I was going to ask scottyb if he really meant 13.1 towing, but I thought empty meant empty- no towing. Maybe 13.1 was towing an empty 5er? Scottyb? You would have to read the entire thread to see who has said what.

 

[Miltp920]

That is good mileage too. I am glad you say your 2002 F350 DRW got good or better than 2013. I think I could afford the 2002 easier than the 2013. I am thinking I misunderstood scottyb on his " empty" definition. We' ll have to wait for him to chime in. How much weight are you towing now and your mpg and mph towing. Also how well did you do towing with the 2002 / weight / mpg/mph?

Not sure whose F350 DRW gets 13 mpg empty. Ours consistently averages in the 16's and 17's empty for rural and around town driving. 18 on the highway at 70 mph. That's for a 2013 with 6.7L diesel. Our older 2002 with 7.3L diesel got approximately the same or slightly better mileage unloaded. With both trucks, I've seen an occasional 20-21 mpg run on the interstate at 60-65.

 

[MCTalley]

That is good mileage too. I am glad you say your 2002 F350 DRW got good or better than 2013. I think I could afford the 2002 easier than the 2013. I am thinking I misunderstood scottyb on his " empty" definition. We' ll have to wait for him to chime in. How much weight are you towing now and your mpg and mph towing. Also how well did you do towing with the 2002 / weight / mpg/mph?

Both trucks towing our same Big Country, which weighs right around 15,500 lb.

2013 - Typically about 10.5 average towing at 65 mph. I've seen 11 a couple times on level ground (i.e. I-10 across MS/LA). 16-17 empty rural/city mix, 18-20 empty 65-70 mph highway.

2002 - Typically about 9.5 average towing at 65 mph. I'd rarely see it climb into the 10.0 to 10.5 range, if ever. 17-ish empty rural/city, 18.5-20.5 empty 65-70 mph highway.

I think the biggest empty difference would be attributable to the extra fuel used to clean the DPF on the newer truck. I can watch the average MPG slowly tick down when it does an active regeneration.

For the difference in towing, the truck typically does passive regenerations (meaning that the DPF stays hot enough due to the extra load to not need to dump extra fuel out the exhaust to actively regenerate. That and the extra HP and Torque means I don't need as much throttle to maintain speed. Gearing plays a minor role, as well (both trucks had 3.73 rear ends, but the 2013 has a taller top gear).

By the way, these are all hand-calculated MPG. I use the app Gas Cubby to track all my fuel usage. The 2002's MPG gauge was fairly optimistic whereas the 2013's is pretty much accurate to within a couple percent.

 

[scottyb]

Scottyb posted (#47) a report for his F350 "empty " at 13.1 over 29,000 miles. I was going to ask scottyb if he really meant 13.1 towing, but I thought empty meant empty- no towing. Maybe 13.1 was towing an empty 5er? Scottyb? You would have to read the entire thread to see who has said what.

13.1 is with me and my dog, no 5th wheel. I'm starting to think it is just me because I keep hearing some pretty amazing numbers. My results were about the same with my 07 Chevy 3500 D/A. Maybe 1 MPG better, but it was a SRW and could account for that.

Here's what the results look like towing the 5th wheel. As I mentioned before, I set it up like a 2nd vehicle because I didn't want the numbers to skew each other. The variable with it is that there are a few empty miles upon arrival at a destination, associated with this. Not sure why it is not tracking cost because I did enter the prices.

 

[Miltp920]

Scottyb, Maybe it is a matter of mph.....

 

[TXBobcat]

Miltp920 - Actually gas mileage is not important whether your driving a gas or diesel vehicle. What is important is do you have enough fuel. You should get better mileage with diesel pulling a heavy load. Most diesel engines will get similar mileage when empty or pulling a load.

There are so many factors that take effect when figuring out your mileage, so in reality it is moot. I helped a couple sometime ago that ran out of gas on a trip he had made many times with no problem. This trip he was running into a high head wind and was about 10 miles short of his destination. So the real question should be do I have enough fuel to reach my destination.

Under normal conditions towing my trailer I get 9 to 10 mpg. Empty in town about 14mpg and on the highway at about 70mph I can get about 19mpg. However I have a 38gal OEM tank and a 45gal Aux tank.

FWIW
BC

 

[scottyb]

Scottyb, Maybe it is a matter of mph.....

I drive 65 max while towing and the speed limit when empty. I have a slightly heavy foot because I always need to get somewhere, and I drive a lot of miles to get around to all my jobs every day. I know living in the Texas Hill Country plays a small part in my mileage because I watch what the real time fuel monitor does on the drive to/from home. That's about 60 mi / day R/T, of curvy hilly roads.

 

[Bohemian]

A dyno is great. Given one truck with two different mods or setups running the same gamut of tests it will tell you the difference in controlled non-real world circumstances. Some of those differences will hopefully carry over into the real world. If you take the full variety of trucks in all their variations to the dyno and run them on the same test gamut you will observe a meaningful set of differences. Then put them in the mud pulling a large load or on the highway pulling a large load in moderate winds on a rainy day and you may get similar differences, or not at all. Tools are great. Dynos are great tools

 

[Miltp920]

Yeah, so far I have not gone cross country, and usually take similar roads, hwy, so I know where the fueling stations are. But, I will be looking for an auxiliary tank in my future. Are they expensive? Recommendations?

Miltp920 - Actually gas mileage is not important whether your driving a gas or diesel vehicle. What is important is do you have enough fuel. You should get better mileage with diesel pulling a heavy load. Most diesel engines will get similar mileage when empty or pulling a load.

There are so many factors that take effect when figuring out your mileage, so in reality it is moot. I helped a couple sometime ago that ran out of gas on a trip he had made many times with no problem. This trip he was running into a high head wind and was about 10 miles short of his destination. So the real question should be do I have enough fuel to reach my destination.

Under normal conditions towing my trailer I get 9 to 10 mpg. Empty in town about 14mpg and on the highway at about 70mph I can get about 19mpg. However I have a 38gal OEM tank and a 45gal Aux tank.

FWIW
BC

 

[Birchwood]

07 GMC 2WD 3500 dually duramax allison all factory zero add ons 11.5 mpg CDN Towing,18.0 mpg CDN Highway.Head wind is a huge factor with towing dropping to 9 mpg or less

 

[TXBobcat]

Do you have a short bed or long bed.
Do a search for one of the threads about aux tanks. You might contact Classy Chassis. They install one from American Tank that automatically controls the fuel between tanks.

FWIW
BC

 

[Jim.Allison]

My rig listed below, gets consistantly 17 city/hiway and is now getting 22 consistently on the highway empty with AC running. As far as running loaded, there are so many variables its hard to say the range. With my 5th wheel on, I get 13 at 65. Sometimes as low as 11 depending on the hills. I have the 3:73 diff, and 4x4. I ALWAYS calculate my milage and only use my onboard milage readings as reference only. It is never correct. It comes closest to being accurate on long trips but it is always over ambitious.

 

[JanAndBill]

That's kind of like asking who has the prettiest wife or smartest kid, everyone is a little prejudice on their own. That said I've found city driving (not towing) to be in the 14-16 range. The amount of stop and go, idle time, foot pressure, etc., seems to have a quick effect on mileage. Frankly, I've never used my truck for a road trip without the trailer, so I have no information there. Hooked to a trailer you are at the mercy of the terrain and wind, but if my "average" stays in the 10.0-11.0 range I'm happy.

 

[whp4262]

Just made a trip from Fort Worth, TX. to Phoenix, AZ. with my 2013 Duramax 3500 pulling a Cyclone 3914 and a Goldwing in the garage. Overall average was 8.3 mpg at 65 mph hand calculated.


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