Real life MPG numbers wanted.

[tjmp111]

This is my set up. 96 F-250, 4.10 gears 5 speed, ATS turbo, and a chip, 9 foot camper, and a 22 foot BBF powered Thunderjet. This combo weighs in at 19,600lbs I pull the 4-5% grades at 65-67mph, I am not easy on the go button but I get around 11 and have seen 12 with this set up.

 

[redthies]

Look, I have your trucks cousin!

 

[DDW]

1999 Ford F350 Superduty, 7.3L turbo 2WD dually with Bigfoot 9.4 camper. Keep it around 62-65 on the highway, get around 14.5 - 15 mpg. No difference towing a light trailer.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Kevin,
If you get the 'right' 3/4 t. truck, you'll be o.k. with a small hard side. With only the loaded Lance 165s 8.5' camper on I get 14-15 mpg on the open road on my '01 Dodge 2nd gen. Cummins. I drive at about 62 mph most of the time on the interstates. The only engine mod is a short tube added to make the turbo kick in sooner. It helps with both the power and mpg, but makes the engine run hotter in the summertime. The '01-02 Dodge Cummins were plagued with lift pump failures, which I fixed by putting a different lift pump down on the frame rail (and off the engine block) making it a pusher instead of a sucker. I do have a low fuel pressure idiot light.

As with many Jeeps I've owned it's a work in progress. Here are the stats as a comparo:
3/4t. short bed Dodge 4x4. In this year Dodge, the only differences between a 3/4 t. and a 1 t. were two more tires on wider hubs and added 'Hips'; hub extensions on the front axle for the big off-set 1 t. wheels. We checked the part numbers at the dealer and almost all of them were the same: 3.4t/1t. The rear axle may be a different track width. I can't remember whether it's wider or narrower. I have the Dana 80 rear end with an added Power Lok LSD. NV5600 cast iron case 6 spd. manual trans. NV241H.D. transfer case (has a wider chain for snow plow use) 3.54:1 gears which put peak torque (1600 rpm) right at 55 mph. When I ordered the truck new, I specified the 'Camper Package' which came with a rear anti-sway bar and one thick secondary spring on top. Basically this rear spring set up was the same as a one ton. Subsequently I added another 2-leaf set of secondaries to the upper pack and it now is a defacto 1.25 t. load capacity truck.
Tires are 32.8" tall, all around with the fronts 285x75R16's on stock wheels, and the rear has 33x15.50-R16's on 12" wide, high load rated aluminum wheels which act as super singles. A warn 15000 pound winch and winch bumper with stock repellant cage.

I still like this set up as the truck with camper on weigh in just a bit over 10,000 pounds. When I'm towing my jeep on car trailer the GCVW jumps to 15,400 pounds and my mileage goes down....a little bit. But I drive slower with less stupid pedal when towing, so it's probably a wash.

regards, as always, jefe

 

[redthies]

In this year Dodge, the only differences between a 3/4 t. and a 1 t. were two more tires on wider hubs and added 'Hips'; hub extensions on the front axle for the big off-set 1 t. wheels. We checked the part numbers at the dealer and almost all of them were the same: 3.4t/1t.

It now is a defacto 1.25 t. load capacity truck.

I still like this set up as the truck with camper on weigh in just a bit over 10,000 pounds.

All this sounds true and reasonable, but I have to be the devils advocate and ask "what is the GVW Dodge gave your truck at the factory?" Every single 2nd gen 2500 I've owned or looked at has a max GVW of 8800 lbs. 3rd gen Dodge 3500 SRWs have a 9900 lb gvw. It's fine to add springs, bigger brakes, airbags etc, but what happens if you get in a fatal accident? Your door sticker still says what Dodge rates the truck at. Go over it and you are putting yourself in a potential bad situation.

My '97 F350 has a GVW of 9200 lbs, and I scaled the truck/camper today. Loaded for travel my combo weighs in at 11,600!! I have done a lot of things to make the truck work well, and it carries the load fine, and I figure most cops would be ok with a little over the gvw, but I am now seriously thinking dually.

 

[pete.wilson]

MPG

Hey

I have a 2002 F250 extended cab, 4x4, with a 7.3L turbo, AT, 8ft bed and a 94 pastime 850, 7ft long body w/ overhead bed which weighs about 1600lbs. and a handmade camper riser for the bed. A recent trip (MT) from Billings to Glendive to Fort Peck produced 13.7 mpg, coming home from Fort Peck to Glasgow to Billings with a 50+mph headwind a good part of the way produced 10.3 mpg. Most of the time I average about 12-13 mpg solidly. The 7.3L Turbo produces very good power with this truck/camper combo, its nice to be able to close the tailgate with the camper in place.

Pete

 

[IdaSHO]

I should update this since recent work and a good trip...

1996 F250
7.3 Powerstroke
Auto trans

Motor is stock, minus an aftermarket downpipe and "tymar" type intake
Trans is stock, minus a large trans cooler

Most important recent changes include a front KP Dana 60 swap, and a re-gear from 4:10s to 3:55s

Our holiday travels included about 2600 miles worth of driving. 6-8 hours of that on nasty un-plowed roads, and 4-5 hours of it included speeds or 75-80mph.

With the ugly camper on, I recorded an overall average of 16.4 MPG :ylsmoke: One particular stretch I recorded 17.6 MPG

That's a huge increase from before the gear swap. Before I was averaging between 14 and 15 mpg. And just to get 15mpg I had to limit my speeds to no more than 60mph.

BTW, this rig now has north of 250,000 miles

The heap...

 

[incognito]

hy,

from Canada to Florida and back 12 mpg hand calculated with a 2005 Dodge ram 5,9 auto, 3.73,.Bigfoot 1500 which sits 10 inches higher over the cab due to the service box( box and camper 4000 lbs). 12000 lbs total
speed, weight, height, width, and anything that creates wind resistance like a roof air conditioning are bad for mpg.
incognito

 

[ib14a69]

took a quick hour drive each way on I-5 from olympia to seattle and then back. With just the ram 3500 megacab dually 4x4 with my 990 arctic fox and got 16.3 mpgs. 3.73 gears and 33k on the truck

 

[topher800]

2011 Dodge 2500 crew cab, short bed, Laramie, 6.7L CTD, auto tranny, 4x4, 3.73 ratio (I believe). Stock rims and springs (no lift).
Hallmark Ute pop-up camper. 8.5' long(?), 2500lb dry.
Our full weight is 11,000lbs. 3500lb wet, people & gear payload.

Empty: 15mpg @75mph, 16 @ 70mph. And this is driving from Colorado to California, no stops, gas up and go.
Camper: Drop ~3 mpg with camper on. We get 12/12.5 mpg.
My wife reported 11mpg with camper doing 80mph. I asked her to stop doing that...for multiple reasons.

All mileage numbers are doing it by hand at the pump, no trip computers, which generally seems to be optimistic by about 1mpg.

Update 12/2015. Last year moved to 18" rims with LT285/75R18, Open Country AT2 @ 4080 lb rating. Get to run 10psi less all around. Also had odometer adjusted for move from 31" tires to 35" tires. No real change in mileage, perhaps 1/2 mpg better.

 

[Regcabguy]

2011 Dodge 2500 crew cab, short bed, Laramie, 6.7L CTD, auto tranny, 4x4, 3.73 ratio (I believe). Stock rims and springs (no lift).
Hallmark Ute pop-up camper. 8.5' long(?), 2500lb dry.
Our full weight is 11,000lbs. 3500lb wet, people & gear payload.

Empty: 15mpg @75mph, 16 @ 70mph. And this is driving from Colorado to California, no stops, gas up and go.
Camper: Drop ~3 mpg with camper on. We get 12/12.5 mpg.
My wife reported 11mpg with camper doing 80mph. I asked her to stop doing that...for multiple reasons.

All mileage numbers are doing it by hand at the pump, no trip computers, which generally seems to be optimistic by about 1mpg.

My truck's lighter and the camper's lighter. 9000# wet w/two occupants. My G-56's final drive equates to an auto with 4.10's. Tires are 34" tall.
I'm running a Smarty w/90 hp over.
This truck gets 13.5 mpg city/highway.15.5 mpg highway bombing at 70 mph. Hand calculated. Odometer and speedo are GPS corrected via ABS feature of the Smarty.
Removing the camper yields 3.5 mpg increase.
This truck's suspension was overwhelmed by the camper's weight unlike my '98.5 where it formerly resided.
I've got a combination Thuren,Lorenz,Carli and Hellwig which help the handling tremendously.
Camper rarely comes off.

 

[MT6bt]

1998 Dodge Ram 2500 HD 5.9 Cummins 12 valve. Minor mods include S&B CAI, DDP fuel plate, minor pump work, 3.5 downpipe to 4" exhaust. 285/75/18 toyo ATs, auto trans with 3.54 gears.

2000 Northern Lite 10-2000 12" basement model(their biggest model). 2360 dry weight. Probably around 3500 lbs when fully loaded. GVWR is 8800...dry weight of truck is about 7000. Something tells me I was a little overweight!

Never really went over 55 mph with it. Averaged about 13.5 mpg, but that was half city, half highway. I am very impressed with the 12 valve cummins. It is quite possibly the best diesel to ever be put in a full sized truck. The truck, however....meh...

 

[orangeTJ]

... 6.7L CTD,..... gas up and go...

Gas in a CTD?

 

[redthies]

I'll bring this thread back to life. Since my last posts here I've "upgraded" to a 2014 Dodge 3500 with 6.7, 68rfe, Thuren coils and 295/70-18s. I'm constantly at 11.5 mpg with a fairly heavy right foot according to the lie-o-meter. I don't really care enough to hand calculate it. Knowing I'm only getting 10 or so mpgs won't help. I tried slowing down once, but it didn't seem to help much.

I'm in the process of maybe trading for a 2017 Northern Lite 9'6". I would be 300-500 lbs lighter, 3" lower and 2" narrower and a fair bit "slipperier" through the air than the current Adventurer. I'd love a 1-2 mpg increase if I get the new camper, but frankly, Northern Lites are so awesome I'll be happy if it goes up at all, or if I get to camp in it for the rest of my life!

 

[lqdchkn]

2016 diesel Colorado CCSB 4x4 bone stock 25mpg city/traffic. Currently 3in lift removed front airdam wheels and tires now at 23MPG in same conditions. Was getting 33MPG freeway cruising at 60-65 on my last camping trip fully laden though.