Real world fuel economy figures—-2018 RAM 4500 Cab & Chassis

[gsbrockman]

Since fuelly.com does not support anything above a RAM 3500 truck, I kinda gave up tracking my fuel economy, fuel purchases, average mpg, etc. in regards to my 4500.

A friend of mine in Corydon, IN and I were having a conversation about it a few weeks ago, and he told me about an app called Road Trip HD.

Since White Lightning has a 74 gallon fuel capacity, I decided it would not be too terribly hard to recreate my previous fuel purchase history in regards to having to enter numerous receipts.

One of the best things I like is the fact I can add a note to each fuel purchase. For me, I always add the state the fuel was purchased in for IFTA tracking. I’ll bet that by the time I get my quarterly mileage log by state from my ELD provider (Trans Flo T7) that I can have my IFTA report ready in under :45 minutes or so.

In any event..... I’ll attach a few screen shots of the features of Road Trip HD.

Some of it is tough to digest ($20,279.00) but it is a great tool for me.

 

[TFucili]

Out of curiosity, how much deadhead is in there? That's a respectable number for pulling heavy, don't you think???

 

[gsbrockman]

Out of curiosity, how much deadhead is in there? That's a respectable number for pulling heavy, don't you think???

Towing miles are at 38,806 or about 52.2%
Bob tail miles are about 35,543
Lots of my deliveries are generally decent in weight and horrible in the aerodynamics department.
I’m not at 37,800 lbs all the time, but low 30k’s in the GCW is a fairly common practice as a rule.

 

[Wiredawg]

Good info. I'm seeing 9.6 mpg avg with 33,400 Lbs GCVW with my 5500 and 4.88s. Best tank has been 11.2 mpg. My duty cycle is 92% towing. When not RVing, I run it 60 miles round trip each week to eat Mexican food. On my former 2009 4500 with 4.44s, 70K mile average mpg was also 9.6. Best tank on it was 12.8 mpg. Cheers, Ron

 

[jelag]

I ran a 5500 for over 100K miles before we sold the truck.... it always ran a gross weight.... well within 750 lbs or so as we had to scale it all the time.... it had a box on the back that was above the cab by about 3 1/2 ft...

This truck averaged about 9 MPG during that life.... sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less....

 

[gsbrockman]

Well. I was able to realllllllly drag the fuel economy down fairly low this Thursday on a trip from Somerset, KY to Elkhart, IN and then Albion, IN......down to as low as 6.8 mpg according to the EVIC.

The fact that I was grossing 42,020 lbs probably had some effect on it.

Since we all like pictures, here’s a few.

Trailers include, from the bottom up:

• 35+10 hydra tail 37,500 GVWR (10,400 lbs)
• 30+10 hydra tail 30,000 GVWR (10,560 lbs)
• 4+16 Aardvark tilt 16,000 GVWR (4,060 lbs)

 

[TFucili]

Well, she's sho-nuff broke in now, Greg!

 

[gsbrockman]

Well, she's sho-nuff broke in now, Greg!

Two of the above trailers were going to Albion, IN for a show that Dexter Axle is sponsoring. There were four warranty axles on the trailer.

On more than one occasion, I have sometimes questioned the stated shipping weights found on the MSO’s of some trailers I have transported.

Here’s my simple, dumb ol’ truck driver math:
Total GCW was 42,020 lbs
Subtract truck weight of 10,860 lbs equals 31,160 lbs remaining weight
Subtract the 35+10 of 10,400 lbs equals 20,760 lbs remaining weight
Subtract the 30+10 of 10,560 lbs equals 10,200 lbs remaining weight
Subtract the 4+16 of 4,060 lbs equals 6,140 lbs remaining weight

After a round of questions with Dexter Axle, the four axles may have weighed 450 lbs each max....1,800 lbs total.

This leaves 4,340 mystery pounds between the two gooseneck hydra tails.

Also.....if you noticed, the stated weight of the 30+10 weighs 160 lbs more than the 35+10, but the 30+10 does have a deck on the neck.

Conversely......the 35+10 had hydraulic jacks and air ride suspension that the 30+10 does not have.....

 

[NIsaacs]

On more than one occasion, I have sometimes questioned the stated shipping weights found on the MSO’s of some trailers I have transported.
.

The way I always understood the new tare weight of trailers, it does not include any options.

I would think that bottom trailer would require a 3" ball??

 

[JR]

The way I always understood the new tare weight of trailers, it does not include any options.

I think you are right, extra options are not included in the tare as well as not deducted on the published payload that some manufacturers list.

 

[gsbrockman]

The way I always understood the new tare weight of trailers, it does not include any options.

I would think that bottom trailer would require a 3" ball??

Yeppppp.....3” gooseneck ball and heavier neck assembly.

 

[TFucili]

Dredging up older threads again. I have been keeping hand-written logs of fuel and mtc for the last few trucks, but am considering putting the smart phone(Android)to better use. Seems like more trouble than paper and pen. LOL Do any of these have parallel tracking of DEF usage?