Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[sixdogs]

I hear that. My friend has an F-450 with the same 6.7L Powerstroke that I have my F-250 and the difference in fuel economy is such that it is hard to believe they are using the same engine. Of course the gearing required to double the towing capacity plus the heavier truck are going to make a difference, but wow it really is quite a difference whether towing or empty.

Could I ask those approx. mileage numbers?

 

[zing]

Yeah, I looked at a dodge 6.7 with 4.10’s and steered away from it for the same reason. I have 3.73’s in this one. I’ve put about 6k miles on it since it I got it (has 70k on it now. Driving unloaded on long trips (3hrs to the farm) at approx 70-77 I’m getting 14.1 to 15.6 on average, but it’s been idling a lot. What are you getting out of yours? I hear that deleting them will gain 2-3 mpg, but I am waiting till the warranty is up (March) and I have some extra cash (summer hopefully) before I go down that road.

Could I ask those approx. mileage numbers?

Not sure on his mileage other than to say he complains about it a lot. For myself, my truck is a 2011 F-250 with no modifications to tire size, DEF system, computer, etc. Just the stock truck with 213,000 kms (132,000 miles) on it now. Every once in a while I reset the computer mileage and then take a bunch of pictures while driving so I can see if it is doing anything funky, and so I can go back to them later and compare over time on how well it is doing. I find the truck computer is pretty accurate when I compare it to manual calculations, although I see a lot of posts where people say theirs are not. Speedo is usually within a MPH or so of the GPS speed, so I presume it is pretty accurate too. For long trips I like to know how much it is costing me because I will often take someone else along (plus their horses) and share the cost so I calculate it from gas pumped and the odometer. Some examples under different conditions are:

1. Travelling on the country road on the way to my farm after i get off the highway is about a 45 minute trip. Elevation change is gradual, but there is one high spot where the snow lasts about 6 weeks longer than at sea level by my farm, so reasonable climb up and back down again. This sample of shots was taken last spring with the truck mostly empty, just a bit of cement and a couple of gas cans in the back. Avg = 25 1/2 MPG To be honest this seemed a bit better than usual. I am usually about 24 MPG on this trip so maybe I was unconsciously being light on the pedal because I knew I was checking it. You can ignore the TPMS light, I still had winter tires on and they don't have the sensors in them.
View attachment 537086 View attachment 537085 View attachment 537084 View attachment 537083 View attachment 537082 View attachment 537081

2. The next day going home travelling on the hwy from Truro to Halifax, not very hilly, avg speed 70-75 mph. Under an hour of driving. No weight in the truck. First shot just as I got on the highway and reset the computer, so the MPG number is off because it hadn't settled down yet. After that it is accurate for the trip though. Avg = 22 MPG
View attachment 537090 View attachment 537089 View attachment 537088 View attachment 537087

3. Travelling from Halifax to Montreal and back towing a 38 foot 4 horse gooseneck trailer. Cargo was 2 horses + 2 ponies, full water tower, tack for 3 people, 6 bags grain and beet pulp, 3 spare tires, 25l extra diesel jug, 5 passengers, luggage, etc. I would estimate the trailer was between 11,00 and 12,000 lbs. Only caveat was that about 130 kms was travel in the city without the trailer while there, so that was regular city driving. Shouldn't change the mileage for the whole trip significantly. Avg = 11 1/2 MPG

Milage
Total distance (km) = 2782
Total Fuel Used (l) = 574.02
L/100 km = 20.63
Miles/Gal = 11.4

 

[jeeptchr]

Not sure on his mileage other than to say he complains about it a lot. For myself, my truck is a 2011 F-250 with no modifications to tire size, DEF system, computer, etc. Just the stock truck with 213,000 kms (132,000 miles) on it now. Every once in a while I reset the computer mileage and then take a bunch of pictures while driving so I can see if it is doing anything funky, and so I can go back to them later and compare over time on how well it is doing. I find the truck computer is pretty accurate when I compare it to manual calculations, although I see a lot of posts where people say theirs are not. Speedo is usually within a MPH or so of the GPS speed, so I presume it is pretty accurate too. For long trips I like to know how much it is costing me because I will often take someone else along (plus their horses) and share the cost so I calculate it from gas pumped and the odometer. Some examples under different conditions are:

1. Travelling on the country road on the way to my farm after i get off the highway is about a 45 minute trip. Elevation change is gradual, but there is one high spot where the snow lasts about 6 weeks longer than at sea level by my farm, so reasonable climb up and back down again. This sample of shots was taken last spring with the truck mostly empty, just a bit of cement and a couple of gas cans in the back. Avg = 25 1/2 MPG To be honest this seemed a bit better than usual. I am usually about 24 MPG on this trip so maybe I was unconsciously being light on the pedal because I knew I was checking it. You can ignore the TPMS light, I still had winter tires on and they don't have the sensors in them.
View attachment 537086 View attachment 537085 View attachment 537084 View attachment 537083 View attachment 537082 View attachment 537081

2. The next day going home travelling on the hwy from Truro to Halifax, not very hilly, avg speed 70-75 mph. Under an hour of driving. No weight in the truck. First shot just as I got on the highway and reset the computer, so the MPG number is off because it hadn't settled down yet. After that it is accurate for the trip though. Avg = 22 MPG
View attachment 537090 View attachment 537089 View attachment 537088 View attachment 537087

3. Travelling from Halifax to Montreal and back towing a 38 foot 4 horse gooseneck trailer. Cargo was 2 horses + 2 ponies, full water tower, tack for 3 people, 6 bags grain and beet pulp, 3 spare tires, 25l extra diesel jug, 5 passengers, luggage, etc. I would estimate the trailer was between 11,00 and 12,000 lbs. Only caveat was that about 130 kms was travel in the city without the trailer while there, so that was regular city driving. Shouldn't change the mileage for the whole trip significantly. Avg = 11 1/2 MPG

Milage
Total distance (km) = 2782
Total Fuel Used (l) = 574.02
L/100 km = 20.63
Miles/Gal = 11.4

Huh, you made me go out and check my mileage, I ended up driving the truck today as the wife took my jeep. I haven't reset one of the trip meters since I got the truck. it shows an average of 12.9, over 5700 miles. that's with 3 3 hr plus pulls on it at different weights. The last reset was with an hr of hilly bumperhitch pulling hauling a tracked skidsteer at hwy speeds and then hauling loads between farms 3 miles and lots of Idle time at each place (probably 3-4 hrs worth at least) and then a total of probably 3+hrs driving to the bobcat and then a 3 hr run home unloaded on relatively flat ground. I reset the fuel econ average halfway home on Sat night, but I wanted to get home before the baby went to bed so I was running a bit faster than normal coming home. (not sure how it ended up with 25 timed hrs but... I drive pretty conservatively throttle wise, loaded or unloaded.

I know pulling my 12,300lb 39ft 5th wheel from St. Joseph MO to Branson MO and back at thanksgiving I got right at 10mpg on the dot both directions running 67-73.

I'm really impressed with your mileage. I'd be happy to get 18 occasionally. What gears do you have? are you using any additives?

 

[Redlands Okie]

The only 20’s my truck has ever seen is 20 dollar bills putting fuel into it. Been thinking about a new one in a year or two and the increase in possible fuel milage sure sounds interesting.

70 to 75 mph empty (1500 lbs of so in tool box) about 12.5 mpg to 13 mpg

Running 21,000 to 22,000 gross with loaded trailor at 70 mph or so about 10 mpg to 11 mpg. Almost ALL the mileage is at this range of use and mpg.

Great work truck and gets the job done. Not hooked onto anything even at much higher weights a few times that it not pull (or eventually stop, got to have good trailor brakes But not much to brag on the mpg.

2006 dodge, 4x4 , 1 ton dually, manual with 3.73 or some such rear end.

 

[goeduck]

Zing, do you only drive downhill

That is some dang good mileage.

 

[dragoneggs]

Zing, do you only drive downhill

That is some dang good mileage.

Aye, that is something to be happy about. Are you dealing with hills? Hills kills my truck mileage. Still like driving my 2006 F150 even though there are now $50K F150 with turbo, eco, whatever, and tow with better efficiencies that would also increase my status around town. But, then I will gotta baby it... vs tossing in whatever I want in my box whether it fits or not,

 

[terryknight]

Zing are you using imperial gallons?

 

[rd_macgregor]

Zing are you using imperial gallons?

That's what I suspected, but I checked his numbers and it looks he's using the correct conversions for miles and US gallons. Our RAM Ecodiesel behaves similarly. Fantastic mileage when used as a passenger car (about 9 l/100km), but it drops off to about 15 l/100km when towing a loaded 2-horse trailer...pushing past the speed limit quickly makes it even worse.

 

[jeeptchr]

The only 20痴 my truck has ever seen is 20 dollar bills putting fuel into it. Been thinking about a new one in a year or two and the increase in possible fuel milage sure sounds interesting.

70 to 75 mph empty (1500 lbs of so in tool box) about 12.5 mpg to 13 mpg

Running 21,000 to 22,000 gross with loaded trailor at 70 mph or so about 10 mpg to 11 mpg. Almost ALL the mileage is at this range of use and mpg.

Great work truck and gets the job done. Not hooked onto anything even at much higher weights a few times that it not pull (or eventually stop, got to have good trailor brakes But not much to brag on the mpg.

2006 dodge, 4x4 , 1 ton dually, manual with 3.73 or some such rear end.

Lol you are one of the few people that says their dodge doesn't get 20+mpg.
I had my cousin haul my 16k Mini-Ex up to my house from the farm 3 hr trip for payment of him using it for a while. He shows up in his 05 dodge dually to pull it up north. I asked him where his semi with detach was, His words were "it's a Dodge, it'll pull it" we head for my house and have a debacle of a trip with rain and loosing trailer wheel studs (whole story in itself) he says, .... we won't do that again, next time we'll use the semi. he fessed up that it was a pretty rough trip for the truck especially at lower speeds. As you said it'll pull anything, starting and stopping are the issues.

rd_macgregor and zing
I wondered on the imperical gallons also. but the numbers looked right. Gear ratio has a lot to do with it and tire size. that's why I was curious about those and the additives. Towing mileage looks right also. Some trucks just do better than others also with no reason why.

 

[zing]

Lol you are one of the few people that says their dodge doesn't get 20+mpg.
I had my cousin haul my 16k Mini-Ex up to my house from the farm 3 hr trip for payment of him using it for a while. He shows up in his 05 dodge dually to pull it up north. I asked him where his semi with detach was, His words were "it's a Dodge, it'll pull it" we head for my house and have a debacle of a trip with rain and loosing trailer wheel studs (whole story in itself) he says, .... we won't do that again, next time we'll use the semi. he fessed up that it was a pretty rough trip for the truck especially at lower speeds. As you said it'll pull anything, starting and stopping are the issues.

rd_macgregor and zing
I wondered on the imperical gallons also. but the numbers looked right. Gear ratio has a lot to do with it and tire size. that's why I was curious about those and the additives. Towing mileage looks right also. Some trucks just do better than others also with no reason why.

Yeah, I agree that little things can make a big difference, that is why I just take moment in time snapshots so I can see things like country road vs highway, empty vs towing, etc. Certainly city driving is way worse than that and that can really vary just because of traffic conditions and how fast I pull away from lights. I also find that if I am driving only in the city for 3 weeks or more, then when I first go out on the highway I can be as low as 17 MPG. Then after 1/2 hour or so it will be back up to 21 or 22 MPG, once it has cleared out the crap and starts to run more freely. With so much variability due to conditions I find it more useful to know what kind of mileage I get under various conditions instead of an overall average, because the overall average is not repeatable so I can't tell if it is getting better or worse or staying the same.

The tires are stock for the truck LT245 75 R17, but I don't know the axle ratio. I even crawled under to have a look at the tag on the rear axle pumpkin but it isn't legible. All I got out of that was a greasy hand. No additives, just regular diesel and DEF from the jug or bulk pump at a local truck stop. As for the conversion from my example 3, I just used this link. Convert Liters per 1 Kilometers to Miles Per Gallon (US)

BTW, our towing numbers are probably pretty close. Your truck is probably over 10% heavier, your trailer was 10% heavier, and RV's are usually higher and block more wind than horse trailers, so it makes sense that I would have 10% better mileage when you compare those two tows.