3/4 ton fuel economy?

[IdaSHO]

Not sure how common it is, by my 2011 XLT has rubber floors

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Too many variables to have an honest mpg number except specifically for your rig. I'm suspect of anyone with a Gen II, H.O. 5.9L Cummins to get better than an empty 20 mpg. My all time best was 19.8 mpg, hand calculated. (505TQ/ 245HP/ 6 speed manual/ 3.55 gears/SB/XCab) This drops to 13-14 with my small Lance Camper on board. The general bottom line is: the 2500 or 250, 4WD, diesel will get the best mpg when it's in it's original state with tiny factory sized tires/wheels and no add ons. If you add a 'wire' you can eek out a little better mph with the lowest hp setting, and it's a slug, but that is window dressing, as the mpg drops like a rock when you change the timing, add bigger injectors or increase the fuel rate, and are followed by a billowing trail of black smoke, and it runs hot. Another observation is that a diesel, at least the Cummins, gets better mpg the slower you go, even hours at or near idle, because the torque keeps pulling all the way down to zip. On trips both ways on the Mojave Road, we drove for 4 days, at about 15-20 mph using what looked like less than a half tank of fuel. The needle slowed way down as we slowed down for the road surface. This does not happen with a gas engine. With the camper on, wind resistance had something to do with it. The real question is how long do you want to keep the 2500/250? If in it for the short haul, a gas engine will pay for itself with no 'diesel penalty' which has now grown to over $12000 for the oil burner. If you want to keep the truck for as long as you are on this earth, a diesel will finally pay for itself after maybe 250K miles or so. In the same vein, if you have a penchant for periodically trading up or down or sideways with your 'project' rigs, go for the gasser. I"m in it for the long haul and bought my 2001.5 Dodge Ram/Cummins H.O., new when they did a big upgrade on the drivetrain figuring the truck with a Cummins and much sturdier manual trans and Dana 80, 35 spline rear end might just outlive me. So far, so good @ 164K miles.

 

[Explorerinil]

Just got back from the timber ground, I pullled my 20ft trailer with a kobota tractor and finish mower. My truck has a topper and a decked system loaded with tools. I had one other person with with and a bunch of equipment in the bed of the truck. With the cruse set at 60, and several miles of gravel roads at 45 mph and one mile long mud road which I barely made it through... I averaged 15.9 mpg hand calculated.

 

[Dalko43]

I'm suspect of anyone with a Gen II, H.O. 5.9L Cummins to get better than an empty 20 mpg. My all time best was 19.8 mpg, hand calculated.

Nah bud....it's well known that the venerable 5.9L Cummins will easily get 25-27 mpg on the highway. If you run some unicorn farts through the fuel system, people have been known to get 30 mpg with that ole' workhorse. Ask anyone over at cumminsforum.com; they'll back up what I'm saying...

Just got back from the timber ground, I pullled my 20ft trailer with a kobota tractor and finish mower. My truck has a topper and a decked system loaded with tools. I had one other person with with and a bunch of equipment in the bed of the truck. With the cruse set at 60, and several miles of gravel roads at 45 mph and one mile long mud road which I barely made it through... I averaged 15.9 mpg hand calculated.

That's pretty decent, all things considered.

 

[Explorerinil]

Nah bud....it's well known that the venerable 5.9L Cummins will easily get 25-27 mpg on the highway. If you run some unicorn farts through the fuel system, people have been known to get 30 mpg with that ole' workhorse. Ask anyone over at cumminsforum.com; they'll back up what I'm saying...




That's pretty decent, all things considered.

Yes I agree and feel that is real good fuel economy given the truck

 

[jonathon]

I wondered if xl's could still have manual windows. Must be a special order thing.

Yup, GSA special order.

 

[1stDeuce]

Oh, this looks like a fun thread!! I'll toss in my numbers too... All hand calculated at each fillup.

'06 GMC 2500 Duramax/Allison CCSB with ARB bumper and 255/80R17's ST Maxx's. (Showing 260k miles/~9000 hours) Predator "65hp Econono or Towing tune gets me 1-1.5mpg in normal driving. With the topper on, and running long distances without stops, I can just touch 21mpg empty if I set the cruise at 65-67. Most of the time, I get about 18.5mpg running around empty, but that's still running longer distances, not "around town". With the truck camper on the back, still at 65mph, I get about 15.5mpg, but a strong headwind can drop that to 14. If I flat tow the Jeep behind with the camper, I get about 14.5mpg. (I think it doesn't add much drag, since the camper blocks most of the windage...
Before we moved up onto our Colorado property, we were making lots of trips between Farmington NN and Mancos CO towing 11-12k worth of gooseneck/tractor/equipment. Farmington is ~5500', Mancos about 7k, and two mild passes that get to near 9k along the way. I routinely saw 13mpg running 62-65.

'02 GMC 2500 6.0L/4L80E with dump bed, 265 AT/3's. On the few trips I've taken with it, I got about 15mpg empty. 62-67mph driving across Colorado. A normal tank, which includes many trips to town (20mi round trip) and some low speed work around the homestead, I typically see 11-12.

FWIW, my 4.0L Jeep gets 17.4 or 17.5MPG quite often when I calculate mileage. It does a lot of around town, and a little running around our development. I have seen better than 19mpg running from Denver to Grand Junction, screaming at 3-4k rpms up the passes, and running 65... I can only assume it's because it can't burn a lot of fuel when there's only so much air... And then the downhill kicks in and just about zero's it out...

YMMV.

 

[S4railroader]

I have a 2015 Ram 2500 6.7L Cummins. I don't hand calculate all the time, mostly on long trips. It's about 340miles to my parents place and I have averaged between 22-26mpg there and back my last 3 trips. Taking the interstate (70-75mph) drops me into the 21-23 range and taking state and US highways (55-65mph) brings me up to about 24-26mpg
Overall I average about 18-20mpg just depends on how much city driving I do.

 

[SoTxAg06]

This was form my 2010 Chevy 2500HD crew cab with the 6.0. The truck has 285’s, and front and rear replacement bumpers. This was a mix of stop and go, and highway.