HELP, Friend may trade for Duramax

[Cooker]

A frined of mine, or business associate rather, has a all stock, 2000, 4x4, QC, Dually, Auto, 4. 10's, SLT, with stock tires. On a recent trip to Florida pulling a 27ft. 5er (sorry don't know the weight) with the wife, two kids, and all gear, he "only" got 10-12 mpg. I don't know the speed he was traveling, and I know that would help a lot, but he didn't think this was very good. IMO I didn't think this was too bad. BTW The truck only has 15,000 miles on it, I know it's not really even broke in yet.

Half the problem is the Da*m dealer told him he should get 15mpg towing. We all know how intellignet the salesman are when it come to oue beloved Cummins.

Anyway to make a long story short, a few friends of his have a new GM junk Duramax and they are telling him how great it is. For all I know those a$$holes never drove a real diesel, or any other diesel for that matter, a day in their lives. Now he is thinking of the Duramax.

All I'm really asking are his numbers out of line. They seemed pretty good to me, and I can't imagine a V8 D-max piece of junk will get better MPG's than our Cummins.

Sorry for the length.

 

[Barry]

In all my years in leadership, the lesson I am still trying to learn is that: Folks are gonna do what they want to do regardless of what you want them to do OR what they should do. He is a grown man. He has not given the truck a chance to break-in. I'd say for a dually 4X4, he's in the ball park for only 15K miles. I would offer this observation. If he trades for a Dmax, I certainly would NOT help him make the payments... ... ..... mi dos centavos.

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2001 2500 QC, ETH/DEE,4:10s, LSD, EZ with elbow(26. 5PSI)Stage 1 injectors from Carl, Boost/Pyro Guages, 4" Turbo back, BD Brake,Mag-Hytec Cover, Kleen Wheels, Energy Release, 70 gal. fuel, 20K Reese. 31,000 Miles on 03/01/01(RV Dealer)

 

[K-Man]

His numbers are very reasonable considering his setup. A 4x4 Auto with 4. 10's isn't set up to get high fuel economy. I pull a 13K horse trailer (loaded) with my Y2K 3500QC. It's got a 6spd with 3. 54 gears and I get 12 mpg when we're loaded but that is running between 75 and 85 mph.

If you read the GM page the DMax isn't getting the fuel economy that we are, but of course most of them aren't broken in either. If he doesn't like the way his truck pulls, advise him to order another one that's setup differently.

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Puller: Y2K 3500 Quad Cab Cummins 6spd, All options except leather.

 

[Pete Peterson]

Cooker, with the frontal area of a 5'er and running from Mich. to Fla. he was prbably on the interstate most of the time, and with that kind of trailer running say, 70mph 12mpg is fairly good fuel milage. Plus the motor could loosen up a little more yet. Pete

 

[LSMITH]

I can almost see where your friend is coming from, almost. Get him to pull once with a manual trans and an engine that is broken in.

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99 2500 QC 4X4 AUTO SB 24V LARAMIE SLT 3. 5 LSD 285-75-16'S SPA Boost/EGT Everything but leather NRA Member Great Lakes TDR Member

 

[klenger]

To put things into perspective, I curently pull at 21 foot 4000 pound (loaded) Trailite travel trailer with my 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8, almost always in the mountains of Colorado. When towing, my milage is usually 9. 5 MPG. Empty, I get 16 to 18 MPG. I hope to see better numbers with the new truck. I also want to get a 5th wheel ... maybe next year.

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Ken Lenger
On Order - 2001. 5 2500 QC 4X4 SWB SLT, ETC/DDX 5 Speed, 3. 55 (no antispin), camper group, trailer folding mirrors, RBR CD/Radio, LT265/75R16E AT OWL tires, trailer tow group, Patroit Blue / Agate,
Replaces 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 which is for sale.
Trailite 21' Travel Trailer, ~4000 lbs loaded.

 

[ftb87]

Do you think that the winterized fuel + the engine needs to loosen up a little, could effect the fuel milage? Also, did he try a fuel additive like stanadyne?

Frank

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01 White, Quad Cab,Short Box ,Sport SLT+,5 speed 3. 54 Ltd-slip,4X4,line-x ,Nerf bars,fiberglass tonneau cover

 

[Ted Constantine]

Just heard that they might sstop production of the duramax for quality control reasons.

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2001. 5 2500, quad cab, 4X4, ETH/DEE, 4. 10 LSD, 255/85 BFG MT, Leer topper, Piaa driving 510's in bumper, Line-X, Stereo= JVC KD-MX3000, MBQuart 6. 5 components in front doors, 6. 5 coax in rear, JL Audio Stealth Box sub in center seat, Fosgate 400a4 and 250a2 amps, DynaMat everywhere

 

[Max Wedge]

I have the same truck as your friend, 2000 3500 4x4 4. 10 auto QC SLT with stock tires, heck everything is stock with 10,500 miles on it and I pull a 24' enclosed car trailor with a '64 Plymouth, tool boxes, spare parts, pit bike, fuel ect... wieghs in around 10,000 and I am getting 11-12 mpg here in the hills of SE Ohio--brother has '94 V-10 2500 STD cab 5 speed he gets 8-9 mpg pulling same load--my partner has Chevy 4 door 454 dually 2wd pulling a 26' enclosed trailor with a 2500# dragster and he gets 4-5 mpg--so your buddy is right there, nothing wrong with the truck--but let him trade for the "DiaperMax" and he will be back--a 4x4 Dually is NEVER going to be a fuel effiecent animal--I don't care whose engine is in it.



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Y2K 3500 4x4 SLT+ Leather Auto 4. 10 Black
'64 Plymouth 426 III
'79 Chrysler 300 T-Tops

 

[hammersley]

Klenger

Just for kicks - how did the jeep pull the trailer? A friend of mine had a Jeep V-8 and pulled a trailer that was about 6500# loaded. While it was rated to pull I think slightly more - it did so under great stress. For example going Cabbage Hill - which is indeed a killer - he could only top the hill at 33 mph in 2nd gear.

 

[danandamy]

#ad
Sometimes when people come up with these milage complaints, I wonder what the heck do they expect? A simple fact of life is that to get the power out you have to put fuel in there. For pulling machines, our Cummins do a very good job milage wise due to efficiency but the fact remains, when you pull, you are gonna have to put fuel in there to make it go, it won't run on air alone! If your associate thinks the D-Max is gonna run on a different concept, he's in for a big disappointment.

Daniel

 

[klenger]

Hammersley:

The Jeep Grand Cherokee does quite well pulling the trailer. We live in the Denver area and do most of our camping in Summit County Colodado (near Copper Mtn, Breckenridge, etc. ) so we have to cross the Continental divide at Eisenhower Tunnel at about 11,000 feet each direction. There are very few RV's that ever pass me on the climb, and I have passed many an empty Toyota Four Runner. When empty, the Cherokee will do about 85 if traffic stays out of my way. Your friends 6500 pound trailer is about right at the towing limit for the vehicle. The Cherokee also has a fairly short wheelbase if the trailer is very long. In Colorado, a good rule of thumb for towing capacity is to derate the capacity 2% for every 1000 feet of elevation. That works out to 20% reduction at 10,000 feet, which is slightly less than most of the passes here. The reason we are getting the new truck is because we want to get a bigger camper, and was advised against pulling a 26 foot trailer with the Jeep. I researched trucks and decided that the Dodge 2500 CTD would pull about anything that we would want to buy, and still be fuel effecient enough that I could afford to drive it every day to work. Using the above rule, my new truck should handle over 11,000 lbs. The CTD will perform better at altitude becasue the turbo can maintain power up to 10,000 feet (at least that's what I've heard).

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Ken Lenger
On Order - 2001. 5 2500 QC 4X4 SWB SLT, ETC/DDX 5 Speed, 3. 55 (no antispin), camper group, trailer folding mirrors, RBR CD/Radio, LT265/75R16E AT OWL tires, trailer tow group, Patroit Blue / Agate,
Replaces 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee V8 which is for sale.
Trailite 21' Travel Trailer, ~4000 lbs loaded.