Well guys I finally reached my goal of over 20 mpg! I went on a drive from southern Washington to Northern and back which netted me 20.33 mpg @ 65 mph. I also did a mix of city driving as well. This is with a corrected speedometer and I actually lose ~1 mile over a 550 mile course. I believe this increase has come mainly from the weather heating up and from possibly using S15 D-2 diesel as opposed to B20. I had the timing set on the quad @ 18* at 65mph. Rpms are around 1780 with 3.54 rear and 295/70R17 tires. I also swapped the steel rims out with 3rd gen alloys which reduced some of the rotating mass. Soon I will be switching to 245/70R17 tires and I hope to see another increase in mpg!

Congrats...its been a long time since I've seen 20 mpg.  

I did this on 1-22-20, with all my hauling junk and a loader bucket both ways, old one down and new one back.

 

First time in ages I drove my truck empty, 389 miles round trip, 20.3 gallons for 19.16 mpg on winter fuel, nice! Lots of hills, including 10 miles of Salt River Canyon (twice) but because of that, the road is slow.

 

 

I'm going to be doing a long haul trip at some point to Azionia to drop off a load of belongings for a person which was left behind in Idaho. I have not decided if I'm going to take just the truck and drive straight through or take the RV and mellow when I get there. Last trip with the RV to Boise. Roughly 16 MPG with combo of towing and city driving. I'm actually seeing a flat ground average of about 12 to 13 MPG towing the 31' Jayco Eagle. 

 

 

 That's pretty good for towing. What is the weight of the jayco fully loaded?

RV typically weighs in right at about 8,000 pound loaded with water, supplies and two people without of gear. The GCWR is roughly closes to 17,000 pounds typically. 

Edited May 11, 20204 yr by Mopar1973Man

 I have what may be a dumb question but I'll ask anyway. 

 I have the '01 3500 dually quad cab long bed 4x4 and a 1989 29' jayco weighing roughly 7000-7500lbs in rolling order. Will I still require the weight distributing hitch that I used when towing with a half ton truck? Obviously I would have to reconfigure it for the heavier truck though.

Weight distribution hitch is a nice way to go. I would re-use that and re configure for the heavier truck. I had no problem towing into Parma, ID and the returned back up US-95 and headed home. My trailer with the water tank in the full rear of the trailer adds a bit of fun to travel being that water movement. Best to be completely full or near empty. Half tank is the worst.

I agree, I try to either have a full water tank or empty it before I leave the campsite to head home. We haven't traveled with it very far yet due to not trusting a half ton truck with such a heavy trailer. They are not suited for that kind of weight. Now with the 3500 we can venture to where ever we like.

Use the weight distribution hitch.  Even though you have a heavy duty truck, the tongue weight for a 7,000 lb trailer should be about 10-15% of the trailer weight.  That equates to about 700-1000 lbs of weight on the hitch ball.  This weight acts a lever (using the rear axle as a fulcrum) and unweights the front axle a few hundred pounds which affects steering and handling - even on a heavy duty truck.

 

My travel trailer only weighs 4,000 lbs when loaded and I still use a weight distribution hitch.  I've experimented towing with it and without.  Night and day difference.

 

- John

As a side note:  Weight equalization hitches also assist on better braking -- even pressure maintained on axles & tires (contols trailer nose dive and tow vehicle nose lift).

 

Joe

I've towed both ways with a WD hitch and without. On heavy loads like hay hauling or hauling a tractor its not going do much with that trailer tongue when its more closer to 3,000 pounds. Even with my RV at 8,500 GVWR that is 15% on the tongue is roughly 1,275 pounds on the hitch.  I will say with a WD hitch is much nicer towing. Without isn't impossible but you can feel a difference.

 

 

I had a bumper pull maybe 9.5k lbs dry.... no WD hitch... not nice at all.. got shut of that pronto, now have a 5th wheel..... wow what a difference, no sway, no yaw nowt' all good and eager to be able to use it again on this lockdown crap