MPG Thoughts

[Loren]

My brother claims around 20mpg with the horse trailer on his '05.

Rob,



Does your brother lie to you about other things too? Or maybe he just drives everywhere at 35 mph in fifth or sixth gear.



-- Loren

 

[HBarlow]

Rob,

Does your brother lie to you about other things too? Or maybe he just drives everywhere at 35 mph in fifth or sixth gear.

-- Loren

That one made me laugh. Your comment really sums up all of the wild stories each of us has heard over the years.

Some men are still driven by the ancient DNA coding in us that makes us all want to claim we can run faster, jump higher, throw a spear farther, and kill more beasts than the other guy.

I can't run fast, jump high, throw a spear very far, or kill anything unless I've got a shotgun in hand and I only use that to kill nuisance animals like skunks and raccoons. My Dodge doesn't get great fuel mileage either. Who cares?

 

[EricBu12]

Have just over 12K on my 09 6. 7. . . Totally stock except for the tires.

During the summer when I tow my 36' 5th wheel toy-Hauler, I put on the med. Duty truck tires. . Michelin XDE-MS 245/70R-19. 5" "F" rated 12 ply. I use the stock "E" tires in the winter to save the wear of the "F's". When they wear out, I will get a set of A/T tires. Ones that will roll well.

Right now with the "F"'s on, combined city and freeway, I get around 15. I use my auto like a manual, and I have also done some light coasting (neutral) on the slow city streets. . Long gradual slopes... . The transmission keeps the fluid pumped up based on speed, and when I put it back into drive, there is no jarring or jerks. very smooth.

Hoping the mileage will go up some when it breaks in more... . One thing I did do was when I fueled up, got on the freeway right away and held it just under 65. . reset the meter for the MPG, and it was just around 20. . any rise made it go down a little... This was a while ago might try that again soon and see if it does better now that I have towed with it a couple times.

The 19. 5" tires as they are stiffer and the 245 is larger diameter without being wider like a 285-16 would, rolls better empty as well as loaded. I get 8-9 with the new truck towing the 15K beast. not bad with all the emissions

 

[S.Morris]

If you lay that mesh tailgate down flat in the trailer

You will gain 1-2mpg. It is unreal how much drag the mesh creates.....

My son has 04. 5 auto drw 4x4, 97 drw 4x4 auto. and I have 04 drw 4x4 6spd. All 3 trucks run 12-14 season dependent pulling same 7x16 mobile service trailer app. 8k in weight. these mpg are avgs of idling,stop and go and hammer down hiwaybetween emergency road service calls.

It is actually remarkable how identical the mileages are.

Steve

 

[rscurtis]

Let's see your new Ford do this, or your new Dodge for that matter. This is from my latest trip to LI from Chambersburg PA. It includes some traffic in the Bronx and some local driving on LI. I was not assisted or hampered by tailwinds or headwinds. I cruise at 1850 RPM (65MPH), and slow to about 62 in the 55 MPH zones, which are less than 10% of the trip. The oil in the picture has 14,000 miles on it with a filter change 5K miles ago. I'll refill the truck tomorrow, that 25. 1 figure should math out to 23. 5-24 MPG. DTE is 217 miles and ET is 12 hours 42 minutes.

 

[TFucili]

Let's see your new Ford do this, or your new Dodge for that matter. This is from my latest trip to LI from Chambersburg PA. It includes some traffic in the Bronx and some local driving on LI. I was not assisted or hampered by tailwinds or headwinds. I cruise at 1850 RPM (65MPH), and slow to about 62 in the 55 MPH zones, which are less than 10% of the trip. The oil in the picture has 14,000 miles on it with a filter change 5K miles ago. I'll refill the truck tomorrow, that 25. 1 figure should math out to 23. 5-24 MPG. DTE is 217 miles and ET is 12 hours 42 minutes.

'03s do seem to do much better than the later common rail trucks. As for the Lie-O-Meter, mine read 18+ the whole time I was hand calculating 13.

 

[p-Bar]

Let's see your new Ford do this, or your new Dodge for that matter. This is from my latest trip to LI from Chambersburg PA. It includes some traffic in the Bronx and some local driving on LI. I was not assisted or hampered by tailwinds or headwinds. I cruise at 1850 RPM (65MPH), and slow to about 62 in the 55 MPH zones, which are less than 10% of the trip. The oil in the picture has 14,000 miles on it with a filter change 5K miles ago. I'll refill the truck tomorrow, that 25. 1 figure should math out to 23. 5-24 MPG. DTE is 217 miles and ET is 12 hours 42 minutes.

Ya agree with TFucili both the analog and digital give you a warm feeling, Obama uses the same ones but it's all about topping off and taking 20 minutes to do it which I bet most guys don't do. Still like to read the touchy feely good stories though.