3.73 vs 4.10 Advice Please!

[tgrfan2]

I don't understand the question?

Just wondering with all those mountain crossings if you had hand calculated your mileage yet. My friend on his maiden voyage into Ga mountains got 8. 4 as close as he could tell on 100 miles of towing.

 

[CUMMINZ]

I hand calc every towing trip. I average from 9. 5 to 10 mpg. My overhead usually shows about 8. 5 to 9. 5.



CUMMINZ

 

[SBeretz]

How much difference in mileage than with your old truck? Scotty

 

[CUMMINZ]

My 04. 5 started out I believe about 11mpg and ended up about 16 empty. 13 towing after about 20k.



My 06 DRW started out about 10 and 14 empty after about 19k. About 13. 5 towing. I was surely disappointed with the 06. It was my first dually. It performed very well with the EZ and cool blue hose and 5" exhaust. The best I got with it was about 18-19 at 60mph.



I am confident this 07. 5 will do better after 10k. The biggest difference in the 07. 5 is the 68rfe. After towing with it I would now pay 10k for it as an option.





CUMMINZ

 

[tgrfan2]

My 04. 5 started out I believe about 11mpg and ended up about 16 empty. 13 towing after about 20k.



My 06 DRW started out about 10 and 14 empty after about 19k. About 13. 5 towing. I was surely disappointed with the 06. It was my first dually. It performed very well with the EZ and cool blue hose and 5" exhaust. The best I got with it was about 18-19 at 60mph.



I am confident this 07. 5 will do better after 10k. The biggest difference in the 07. 5 is the 68rfe. After towing with it I would now pay 10k for it as an option.





CUMMINZ

No doubt the 68rfe seems to be just what Dodge has needed to compete for the average diesel buyer. $10K might be a little steep though with the good 47re and 48re upgrades out there. The 7. 5 seemed to have better low end response than my 06 too so I got the feeling while 6 speeds are nice it doesn't need all those gears like the Dmax and Ford probably do.

My 06 has 30K on it now. Unloaded it gets the same mileage the 2000 SO 4. 10 got. Loaded to 21K hauling a bobcat on flat land recently it only got 10. 0 at 70-75mph. I don't know if it would help much to slow down to 60mph since the bobcat doesn't seem to catch that much air. Besides that is why I like the 3. 73s. I don't have to slow down on "normal" hills. I just push OD off!

 

[CUMMINZ]

The conversions from 48re to GM autos are projected to be 10k. And they will get it. We thought long and hard about trading our 06 with 48re for the 07. 5. Even if we would have spent for the entire rebuild by ATS, Suncoast, etc. and got a complete bullet proof transmission we would still not got the performance of a close shifting 68rfe. More gears is exactly what all diesels need. From our pickups to a million dollar motor mansion. Anyone at any transmission shop will tell you more gears is better. It holds the powerplant in peak hp\tq ranges more continueous.



Take a stock 07. 5 with a 68rfe and spot beside a stock 07. 5 with a 48re (no such thing) and let them run a quarter mile and the 68 would blow it away. Now I know this is not about racing but it is about moving a load from point "A" to point "B".

 

[tgrfan2]

Well I'll have to argue that point a bit since I have "raced" several D/As loaded and empty. I would expect a guy trying to sell a $10K Allison to point out the extra gears as a benefit though!
Bang for the buck give me $6K for a 48re upgrade and the rest for EB, torque and HP on a CTD and no five, six, eight, or 10 speed stock truck would see me past the smoke!

 

[CUMMINZ]

Let me simplify things a little.



Take a stock 06 5. 9 with 4. 10 48re.

Take a stock 06 5. 9 with 4. 10 68rfe that some back yard dude has adapted to his 5. 9.



The Adapted truck will out pull, out tow, out run, out everthing better than 4 speed truck. It will out backup a 10% grade all day long. And do it cooler. That has been my only point.



TG, have you driven a 6. 7 with a 68rfe with 4. 10 yet grossin' 26k? If you haven't you don't know what you are talking about...

If I have said anything rude yet that was it.



CUMMINZ

 

[tgrfan2]

Let me simplify things a little.



Take a stock 06 5. 9 with 4. 10 48re.

Take a stock 06 5. 9 with 4. 10 68rfe that some back yard dude has adapted to his 5. 9.



The Adapted truck will out pull, out tow, out run, out everthing better than 4 speed truck. It will out backup a 10% grade all day long. And do it cooler. That has been my only point.



TG, have you driven a 6. 7 with a 68rfe with 4. 10 yet grossin' 26k? If you haven't you don't know what you are talking about...

If I have said anything rude yet that was it.



CUMMINZ

Unless you have driven said "adapted" truck you don't know what you are talking about either, do you? Once again as in the air bag issue you missed the "bang for the buck" issue. I guess you are trying to impress us with the "money is no object" thing.

I won't be rude either but I have driven and ridden in trucks with 4 speed automatics that will suck the doors off your 7. 5 as they go by. Take a ride down to Atlanta and try one! Just be careful which old 12V or 24V slip-o-matic you try to impress!:-laf

 

[SBeretz]

Thats good, seems like if the 6. 7 is towing, it seems to get pretty decent mileage, it is the guys who are running unleaded suffer. Good deal, sounds like your truck is working exactly how you want it to. Scotty