Towing MPG

drittal · Sep 10, 2016

Bigdaddy said:
Lol, I guess live and learn, I know that you are probably happy with the power.

You really only notice power difference on the big hills and passes. Getting up to speed and mostly flat land I don't really notice a big difference. Yes the Hemi shifts, but so does the Cummins. I've towed passes in 3rd and at 2500 rpm the cummins is just as noisy as a hemi turning 4k+.

Maybe the #1 thing I like is the extended range. The extra 2mpg makes a difference in rural MT. We can go 70-80 miles without a gas station. And even then some are in a town a mile or 2 off the highway with pimps from the 70's and not built to accommodate 60' of camper and truck. With the 6.4l I would start to get real antsy looking for a gas station around 180-200 miles (1/4 tank or so) and would often stop much sooner so I wouldn't have to deal with tiny town stations and higher prices. The bump in mileage gave me the range to make it from city to city out here.

In addition, my father in law sold his duramax a couple yrs back and had his aux tank just sitting in the garage. I was asking him about his setup for another thread and he told me I might as well just take it and use it until he needs it. An extra 51 gallons now means I can choose spacious and accommodating travel centers while planning my trip before even leaving the house.

A lot of people down play the role range has. Many state they need to stop and stretch or use the lavatory before they ever run low on fuel. This I understand is I travel with 2 small children. However, I find it much easier to hit a rest area along the way than it is to navigate off the highway to a gas station.

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tjfdesmo · Sep 10, 2016

tmletourneau said:
Around 11.2 MPG towing a 7x14 enclosed trailer with a 1200lb load 600 miles. About what I expected, the truck had no problem with it.

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What kind of speeds and terrain? I'll be happy as a clam if I can get that kind of mpg pulling my 7x14 "parachute".

drittal · Sep 10, 2016

tjfdesmo said:
What kind of speeds and terrain? I'll be happy as a clam if I can get that kind of mpg pulling my 7x14 "parachute".

Looks like he has a 1500 tjf

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Bigdaddy · Sep 10, 2016

drittal said:
You really only notice power difference on the big hills and passes. Getting up to speed and mostly flat land I don't really notice a big difference. Yes the Hemi shifts, but so does the Cummins. I've towed passes in 3rd and at 2500 rpm the cummins is just as noisy as a hemi turning 4k+.

Maybe the #1 thing I like is the extended range. The extra 2mpg makes a difference in rural MT. We can go 70-80 miles without a gas station. And even then some are in a town a mile or 2 off the highway with pimps from the 70's and not built to accommodate 60' of camper and truck. With the 6.4l I would start to get real antsy looking for a gas station around 180-200 miles (1/4 tank or so) and would often stop much sooner so I wouldn't have to deal with tiny town stations and higher prices. The bump in mileage gave me the range to make it from city to city out here.

In addition, my father in law sold his duramax a couple yrs back and had his aux tank just sitting in the garage. I was asking him about his setup for another thread and he told me I might as well just take it and use it until he needs it. An extra 51 gallons now means I can choose spacious and accommodating travel centers while planning my trip before even leaving the house.

A lot of people down play the role range has. Many state they need to stop and stretch or use the lavatory before they ever run low on fuel. This I understand is I travel with 2 small children. However, I find it much easier to hit a rest area along the way than it is to navigate off the highway to a gas station.

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Oh, okay I see, so do you regret trading in my 6.4L Hemi?

drittal · Sep 10, 2016

It has its pros and cons. Do I regret? Not at the moment. Would I not go back 6.4l if this 6.7l becomes a nightmare? Nope. It would have 4.10 though.

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tmletourneau · Sep 10, 2016

tjfdesmo said:
What kind of speeds and terrain? I'll be happy as a clam if I can get that kind of mpg pulling my 7x14 "parachute".

Half at around 65 and half at 75, mostly flat with some light rolling hills. As has been mentioned I have a '16 1500 Outdoorsman 4x4 with a 5.7 and 3.92's, it pulled well. Sorry if this thread is dedicated to HD's, if so I obviously missed it. [emoji1]

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OUMX117 · Sep 12, 2016

My 2013 1500 4x4 with 3.55s got 7.7mpg on a 1600mile round trip towing an 8.5'x28' enclosed trailer weighing in about 8800lbs. Truck handled the load with absolutely no issuse. towing speed was typically around 70mph. When we hit the passes in the mountains there were a couple stretches where we were down to around 35-40mph but the truck just kept on going. My truck has never been good on fuel no matter how its driven (I've literally tried everything and I've come to terms with it). I'll see 15 mpg on a good tank. Highway driving doesn't help as most of the highways around me are 70+.

Bigdaddy · Sep 12, 2016

drittal said:
It has its pros and cons. Do I regret? Not at the moment. Would I not go back 6.4l if this 6.7l becomes a nightmare? Nope. It would have 4.10 though.

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Interesting, now you got me to thinking I have to look into that one day.

drittal · Sep 12, 2016

How was your tow mileage?

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drittal · Sep 12, 2016

Bigdaddy said:
Interesting, now you got me to thinking I have to look into that one day.

Long MT winter may change my tune. As I've said, I've dealt with 3 check engine light a already and a failed upper radiator hose. I'm hoping things settle down, but winter with diesel has potential to be a pain. My work truck for last year has been a diesel and it hasn't skipped a beat in 30k. We use winter additives and even #1 sometimes. My hope is I have same experience with my personal truck now.

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thrashie · Sep 13, 2016

towing my 2011 keystone passport 290bh I was getting 12mpg
towing my 2016 tracer 3150bhd i'm getting 9mpg

that was with the 3.55 gears, I have since upgraded to 4.10 LSD but haven't towed yet, we'll see what happens then!

Bigdaddy · Sep 13, 2016

drittal said:
How was your tow mileage?

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Well coming to the camp site I got 11.6 mpg, the towing was a little over 100+ miles which use up about 1/4 tank, but I put about 50+ more miles on it before I gas up.

Hopefully tomorrow on the way home I can get a better true mileage, the trailer is about #9500 lbs with all of the stuff in it, it do tow it with no problem I can hardly tell it's back their.

Jackfate · Sep 13, 2016

drittal said:
Post 'em up! I won't badger you about evic mileages, in fact if you have a pic of your readout add it in.

So we took another trip to the Black Hills. 600 miles towing, the rest empty. Towing speeds were mostly 65, except in the BH, where speed limit drops to 50 in a lot of places. The rest of the miles were empty sight seeing.

2013 3500 CC 4x4 6.7l 3.42
12,000lb bumper pull TH.

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On a 3000 miler currently seeing what you have but a bit better if 58mph & depending on hills. Same 6.7 & 3:42 2000# in truck towing 8500#

Bigdaddy · Sep 14, 2016

Well after coming home and this is what I got as far as mileage, all the way back home I had about an 5% to 10% upgrade but it pull it with no problem but when I did it by hand I got 10.4 mpg and this is about little over 100+ miles.

Reeb · Sep 26, 2016

I don't know what I have for gears but I'm not the happiest with my mileage. I've looked at my diff to see if the sticker is still there and it's not. I'll have to figure it out from the recall webpage, or so I heard that's where you could find it.

2011 Outdoorsman 5.7 2500
I average about 11-12MPG(20L/100km) while city driving. And about 14MPG(17L/100km) while on the highway(60mph). When I'm loaded with a couple of sleds, gear and a buddy that drops to around 9-10MPG(25L/100Km) on the highway(depending on how many hills we have to climb, that number can climb to 8-9MPG or 27-28L/100Km). I'm towing....roughly under 4,000lbs if I can add up everything properly.

I'd really like to get better mileage. This truck will end up in the hands of the wife once our 3rd kid is born and I'll go back to the 12v as my daily driver. I'd really like to get better mileage out of it for her. I have a list of mods that I want to do with the emphasis on low end torque and fuel consumption. I know the price of mods and the recouping of money via MPG is a tricky slope but I plan on having this truck for another 10 years so I'd like to figure out a way to keep fuel costs down. It probably won't tow 4,000lbs when it becomes hers, but with me, her, the kids and all of our stuff on a roadtrip to see inlaws......we are probably loaded in around 1,500-2,000lbs. And that's without the boat or TT behind us. She's not happy about trying to get 3 kids in the backseat of the extended cab 12v so the Hemi will probably get towing duties yet again.

My question is, should I be focused on intakes, headers, exhaust, fan, t-stat, tuner, etc or should I be looking at a new gear ratio? She's given me the green light to spend roughly 3k on parts. Which means I get to do everything I want, performance wise and leave the gearing alone, or I can do the gearing and forget about performance stuff(Canada so prices differ from USA)

Looking at everyone's MPG and previous threads(I've gone back to 2011 threads) I'd gather I have no idea what I have for gears. I'm confused on gear ratios. If I understand it correctly a truck with 3.55 gears should get better mileage while empty than 4.10 gears. And the 4.10 will get better mileage while towing to capacity? So how can my mileage be worse than those running 4.10's while empty AND worse than those running 3.55's while fully loaded? Doesn't make sense to me....

And just to clarify, I haven't thrown any codes, nothing is mechanically wrong with the truck, stock tires, etc. Just some balljoints I need to replace in the near future.

Can you guys help me out? I'll update the post with my gear ratio once I figure it out of course.

avolnek · Sep 26, 2016

2015 Ram towing a 36' 5th wheel with an 18' bass boat tagged behind. EVIC read 11.4 but hand calculated was 10.6 miles per gallon. sorry for the **** poor photo quality...

Jerry1984 · Sep 26, 2016

Reeb said:
I don't know what I have for gears but I'm not the happiest with my mileage. I've looked at my diff to see if the sticker is still there and it's not. I'll have to figure it out from the recall webpage, or so I heard that's where you could find it.

2011 Outdoorsman 5.7 2500
I average about 11-12MPG(20L/100km) while city driving. And about 14MPG(17L/100km) while on the highway(60mph). When I'm loaded with a couple of sleds, gear and a buddy that drops to around 9-10MPG(25L/100Km) on the highway(depending on how many hills we have to climb, that number can climb to 8-9MPG or 27-28L/100Km). I'm towing....roughly under 4,000lbs if I can add up everything properly.

I'd really like to get better mileage. This truck will end up in the hands of the wife once our 3rd kid is born and I'll go back to the 12v as my daily driver. I'd really like to get better mileage out of it for her. I have a list of mods that I want to do with the emphasis on low end torque and fuel consumption. I know the price of mods and the recouping of money via MPG is a tricky slope but I plan on having this truck for another 10 years so I'd like to figure out a way to keep fuel costs down. It probably won't tow 4,000lbs when it becomes hers, but with me, her, the kids and all of our stuff on a roadtrip to see inlaws......we are probably loaded in around 1,500-2,000lbs. And that's without the boat or TT behind us. She's not happy about trying to get 3 kids in the backseat of the extended cab 12v so the Hemi will probably get towing duties yet again.

My question is, should I be focused on intakes, headers, exhaust, fan, t-stat, tuner, etc or should I be looking at a new gear ratio? She's given me the green light to spend roughly 3k on parts. Which means I get to do everything I want, performance wise and leave the gearing alone, or I can do the gearing and forget about performance stuff(Canada so prices differ from USA)

Looking at everyone's MPG and previous threads(I've gone back to 2011 threads) I'd gather I have no idea what I have for gears. I'm confused on gear ratios. If I understand it correctly a truck with 3.55 gears should get better mileage while empty than 4.10 gears. And the 4.10 will get better mileage while towing to capacity? So how can my mileage be worse than those running 4.10's while empty AND worse than those running 3.55's while fully loaded? Doesn't make sense to me....

And just to clarify, I haven't thrown any codes, nothing is mechanically wrong with the truck, stock tires, etc. Just some balljoints I need to replace in the near future.

Can you guys help me out? I'll update the post with my gear ratio once I figure it out of course.

The 5.7 hemi 3/4 ton trucks have never been known for getting good mileage. It's a lot of weight to push around. If you do any performance/mileage mods you will probably never gain the money back in fuel savings.

Bigdaddy · Sep 26, 2016

avolnek said:
2015 Ram towing a 36' 5th wheel with an 18' bass boat tagged behind. EVIC read 11.4 but hand calculated was 10.6 miles per gallon. sorry for the **** poor photo quality...

Sweet! How much do your 5'er weight?

Bigdaddy · Sep 26, 2016

Reeb said:
I don't know what I have for gears but I'm not the happiest with my mileage. I've looked at my diff to see if the sticker is still there and it's not. I'll have to figure it out from the recall webpage, or so I heard that's where you could find it.

2011 Outdoorsman 5.7 2500
I average about 11-12MPG(20L/100km) while city driving. And about 14MPG(17L/100km) while on the highway(60mph). When I'm loaded with a couple of sleds, gear and a buddy that drops to around 9-10MPG(25L/100Km) on the highway(depending on how many hills we have to climb, that number can climb to 8-9MPG or 27-28L/100Km). I'm towing....roughly under 4,000lbs if I can add up everything properly.

I'd really like to get better mileage. This truck will end up in the hands of the wife once our 3rd kid is born and I'll go back to the 12v as my daily driver. I'd really like to get better mileage out of it for her. I have a list of mods that I want to do with the emphasis on low end torque and fuel consumption. I know the price of mods and the recouping of money via MPG is a tricky slope but I plan on having this truck for another 10 years so I'd like to figure out a way to keep fuel costs down. It probably won't tow 4,000lbs when it becomes hers, but with me, her, the kids and all of our stuff on a roadtrip to see inlaws......we are probably loaded in around 1,500-2,000lbs. And that's without the boat or TT behind us. She's not happy about trying to get 3 kids in the backseat of the extended cab 12v so the Hemi will probably get towing duties yet again.

My question is, should I be focused on intakes, headers, exhaust, fan, t-stat, tuner, etc or should I be looking at a new gear ratio? She's given me the green light to spend roughly 3k on parts. Which means I get to do everything I want, performance wise and leave the gearing alone, or I can do the gearing and forget about performance stuff(Canada so prices differ from USA)

Looking at everyone's MPG and previous threads(I've gone back to 2011 threads) I'd gather I have no idea what I have for gears. I'm confused on gear ratios. If I understand it correctly a truck with 3.55 gears should get better mileage while empty than 4.10 gears. And the 4.10 will get better mileage while towing to capacity? So how can my mileage be worse than those running 4.10's while empty AND worse than those running 3.55's while fully loaded? Doesn't make sense to me....

And just to clarify, I haven't thrown any codes, nothing is mechanically wrong with the truck, stock tires, etc. Just some balljoints I need to replace in the near future.

Can you guys help me out? I'll update the post with my gear ratio once I figure it out of course.

Yeah I had a 2014 2500 5.7 with the 3.73 gears I would see 9-10 sometimes 11 in the city and about 15.5 on the highway but with what I have now I do get better mileage, I'm happy.

Reeb · Sep 26, 2016

I might have to bite the bullet and upgrade to the 6.4. My wife refuses to drive a diesel so.....
And she hates the idea of fitting 3 kids in an extended cab with no 3rd door. So maybe by this time next year I'll be searching for a half ton 8-speed.

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