snowmiser68
Junior Member
Hey all. I promised to post an update after trailering with my new 2500 Hemi 6.4 (4.10 gears) and I'm finally back. I towed 2000 miles through the mountains of Montana, Idaho, and Utah and I was impressed with the performance. As I've said in previous posts, I upgraded from a 2001 7.3 Powerstroke and the power feels very comparable. I'm sure if I had a newer diesel, I might have been disappointed in the power comparison, but ignorance is bliss and this new Hemi stacks up nicely against older Diesel engines.
I handcalc'd my mileage using a gas app called Road Trip on my iPhone. I faithfully entered the odometer and gallons at each stop and then averaged them all after the trip. Pulling about 7500 pounds in a 26' enclosed trailer (not the most aerodynamic thing to haul), I averaged 9.54 miles per gallon. There's a lot of elevation changes on this trip so I was fine with that mileage. My old Ford averaged 10.5-11 on the same route, so it wasn't bad. With the difference in fuel prices from gas to diesel, I'm close to even.
I'm not sure that tow/haul made much of a difference at all. Granted this is not a heavy load, but I didn't see any changes to fuel mileage when I used tow/haul on a tank of gas, versus leaving it off on the next. Tow/haul does keep you lower in the gears a little longer, but that didn't seem to affect the fuel mileage.
I really love this truck. Keep in mind that I have the 4.10s, which gives me some more juice but undoubtedly impacts my fuel mileage some. After I unhooked the trailer and drove around, I felt like I was on a horse that had been turned loose! What a difference. That 410 horsepower is a monster that is chained down when trailering. There were times on stretches of flat highway when I averaged 20+ miles per gallon for over a hundred miles (disclaimer - obviously not trailering and you have to watch the mpg computer and lay off the gas pedal at times). I also couldn't get over how quiet and well insulated the cab is. One morning last week in NW Montana it was 19 degrees in the morning. The truck had been out in the driveway all night and the cab was really warm. We'll see when winter hits, but I think I hit the jackpot with this truck.
So, I think I'll be around 10-11 mpg trailering when the engine breaks in further (I'm at 5k miles now) and the highway should be around 17 mpg or so, based on the numbers I'm looking at now. In town driving seems to be 12-13 mpg. The engine is mean (this is my first Hemi) and sounds modified when you're passing someone. I haven't seen anything that wouldn't let me highly recommend this truck.
I handcalc'd my mileage using a gas app called Road Trip on my iPhone. I faithfully entered the odometer and gallons at each stop and then averaged them all after the trip. Pulling about 7500 pounds in a 26' enclosed trailer (not the most aerodynamic thing to haul), I averaged 9.54 miles per gallon. There's a lot of elevation changes on this trip so I was fine with that mileage. My old Ford averaged 10.5-11 on the same route, so it wasn't bad. With the difference in fuel prices from gas to diesel, I'm close to even.
I'm not sure that tow/haul made much of a difference at all. Granted this is not a heavy load, but I didn't see any changes to fuel mileage when I used tow/haul on a tank of gas, versus leaving it off on the next. Tow/haul does keep you lower in the gears a little longer, but that didn't seem to affect the fuel mileage.
I really love this truck. Keep in mind that I have the 4.10s, which gives me some more juice but undoubtedly impacts my fuel mileage some. After I unhooked the trailer and drove around, I felt like I was on a horse that had been turned loose! What a difference. That 410 horsepower is a monster that is chained down when trailering. There were times on stretches of flat highway when I averaged 20+ miles per gallon for over a hundred miles (disclaimer - obviously not trailering and you have to watch the mpg computer and lay off the gas pedal at times). I also couldn't get over how quiet and well insulated the cab is. One morning last week in NW Montana it was 19 degrees in the morning. The truck had been out in the driveway all night and the cab was really warm. We'll see when winter hits, but I think I hit the jackpot with this truck.
So, I think I'll be around 10-11 mpg trailering when the engine breaks in further (I'm at 5k miles now) and the highway should be around 17 mpg or so, based on the numbers I'm looking at now. In town driving seems to be 12-13 mpg. The engine is mean (this is my first Hemi) and sounds modified when you're passing someone. I haven't seen anything that wouldn't let me highly recommend this truck.
