MPG on 3rd Gen towing more than 7500 lbs

[JOHNFAK]

What MPG to you 3rd Gener's get on the CR - must tow more than 7500 lbs And be HAND CALCULATED !

[Wild and Free]

I picked 12-14 although it varies greatly with conditions,habits,fuel quality and most importantly is what setting the Smarty Jr is on, ect.............. With 75 mph speed limits here I usually see 12 ish but have seen better and worse. Worst I have seen and it was only 1 time in 30++ mph crosswinds for 300 miles was 8.5. same conditions on return trip and even bucking the wind more head on was 12. So I think I got a bad load of fuel.That is the only time I have ever seen less than 11 on my 05 in 3 years of towing.

[dorkweed]

My old work trailer only went about 5,000lbs. loaded. That said, I drove it to KY a few times to do some work, and got about 15mpg doing 65mph. That said also, when I went to KY to pick my puppy up, I towed my old work trailer......empty.......down with to give to my bud, because he wanted a ten year old used up crappy cargo trailer!!!! Anyhow, driving down with essentially no wind, I only got 13.1mpg. I think it was a bad tank of fuel, because rather than feel the truck "go" when I'd push the go pedal, I'd hear the turbo whine, and watch the EGT's go up with very little "OOMF". Does that make sense??? Coming home without the trailer, truck drove fine, and in fact I got over 20mpg's on that tank coming home. The empty trailer weighed maybe 2,000lbs. but it's got 12" of extra height vs. the standard cargo trailer on the same dimensions. That still doesn't account for the crappy mileage though.

[JOHNFAK]

Hey - yeah I was curious if you guys got much better mileage. One guy on road said he used to get 18 - but thinking that might have been from his lie-o-meter.I seem to be in 11-13 range - and was almost considering a new turbo or meth_water injection seems I might be wasting my $$

[AABEAR]

I an pulling a 38 foot fifth wheel when fully loaded I run 23.000LB + we went to TX last winter and stayed there all winter are round trip for all the mileage was 14.1. When we left home the mileage from ruining around here was 21.8 when we left TX from ruining empty all winter the mileage was 21.1. I do not run over 62mp and do not run in wind or rain.I run 1oz of out board oil per gal and the sumer mix of Howes Diesel Treat. I have used the out board oil from the day I had to go to the 15 ppm fuel I an still ruining the stock fuel pump I also run the Valvoline P B classic oil. I have only 3 changes of that oil left.

--- Update to the previous post...

I an pulling a 38 foot fifth wheel when fully loaded I run 23.000LB + we went to TX last winter and stayed there all winter are round trip for all the mileage was 14.1. When we left home the mileage from ruining around here was 21.8 when we left TX from ruining empty all winter the mileage was 21.1. I do not run over 62mp and do not run in wind or rain.I run 1oz of out board oil per gal and the sumer mix of Howes Diesel Treat. I have used the out board oil from the day I had to go to the 15 ppm fuel I an still ruining the stock fuel pump I also run the Valvoline P B classic oil. I have only 3 changes of that oil left.

[Mopar1973Man]

I'm going to toss my in here... In all my years of driving my truck and towing everything from flatbed trailers with vehicles (pickup trucks, backhoe, firewood, etc) I've never recorded a MPG lower than 14.3 MPG even in all the miles I've got fuel logs of...

[AH64ID]

I said 12-14, assuming a dump trailer or small enclosed.. If your talking a TT, and driving 50-65 then 11-13, and over 65 or 70 then 9-11.

[JOHNFAK]

I said 12-14, assuming a dump trailer or small enclosed.. If your talking a TT, and driving 50-65 then 11-13, and over 65 or 70 then 9-11.

yeah - spoken with a bunch of people and the consensus seems to be once your rolling - speed and wind resistance have more to do mpg than weight. eg from CF "Just to throw my 2 cents in on the MPG thing I can guarantee you that once you're on the highway it's all about the wind resistance..weight doesn't seem to matter. I went from a 7500lb 5'er to a 9000lb 5'er and got BETTER mileage (about 1mpg) because the newer one was a lot more aerodynamc. " So - I guess towing my 5th wheel with that wind resistance and getting 11-13 is ok I was was always wondering how these guys towing 5000lb more than me got same mileage - sounds like its more to do with that big parachute rather than the weight on open hwy

[AH64ID]

Yep, that statement is 100% accurate, which is why it kills me to see 1/2 ton's and mini's towing these light TT's.. It doesn't matter what the barn door weighs, its the fact that your towing a barn door that is hard on the truck. I have noticed my truck makes less boost at 55 towing a 15K dump trailer than my 5K TT. I also have a friend that had a 35' 5er and towed his enclosed motorcycle trailer behind the 5er, he got the same mileage with that as he does with his 19' bumper pull TT.

[retirednak]

I guess its the training wheels on my truck that makes my mileage so bad. I used to get around 10 mpg pulling 9K trailer at 55-65 mph. Running without a trailer I felt lucky to see 15 mpg. This was when I was running with either Edge Mileage Max or EZ Edge. Once I got the Smarty POD,nearly had a heart attack when I got close to 18 mpg. That was at 55 mph,damn it hard driving at those speeds!:banghead: I usually see 15-16 mpg running back and forth to town and a trip to Anchorage once a month at 65-70 mpg. I bought the truck in hopes of getting great mileage compared to my last gas pot,boy was I wrong. I'll never go back to gas again,just wish I could get better mileage. My wife tells me I drive like an old man and to put my foot into it. Until fuel prices drop below the $3.68 level,its gonna be grandpa time for quite a while. Hopefully my new trans next month will make a small difference. I wish I never sold my second gen truck,but rust was a big issue and couldn't find a clean one.

[flagmanruss]

I used to get decent mileage towing my all alum gooseneck horse trailer... loaded with 2 horses, hay & camp gear for 2 weeks. Narrow front... body same width as truck. Drove easily.But last summer's run with the new-to-me 28' Tahoe toy hauler... extra high, square front... had me pulling 9-10 numbers. Normally I can feather the gas & even coast a bit down hill... NOPE. If I was off the fuel, I lost speed even down a steep grade. I tried to run 60-65. If I bogged down on the hills, sometimes got sucked down to 55 or even 50. Towing this rig is work... for me & the truck. I have hand calculated & my overhead is right on for my stock truck (soon to change). My tires give me a very close speedometer reading... wife complains that I'm speeding compared to her Subaru (remember the class action for their inaccurate low readings). Guys who count on 10% windage on speedometer could end up conversing with Smokey the bear. Russ

[dorkweed]

I used to get decent mileage towing my all alum gooseneck horse trailer... loaded with 2 horses, hay & camp gear for 2 weeks. Narrow front... body same width as truck. Drove easily. But last summer's run with the new-to-me 28' Tahoe toy hauler... extra high, square front... had me pulling 9-10 numbers. Normally I can feather the gas & even coast a bit down hill... NOPE. If I was off the fuel, I lost speed even down a steep grade. I tried to run 60-65. If I bogged down on the hills, sometimes got sucked down to 55 or even 50. Towing this rig is work... for me & the truck. I have hand calculated & my overhead is right on for my stock truck (soon to change). My tires give me a very close speedometer reading... wife complains that I'm speeding compared to her Subaru (remember the class action for their inaccurate low readings). Guys who count on 10% windage on speedometer could end up conversing with Smokey the bear. Russ

[Wild and Free]

I will let you know what my 05 does on this trip. Has approximately 12K lb's combined trailer with my 02 pickup on it and about another 1K lbs of stuff in the box of the 05 tow rig, Headed out for about a 500 mile trip the next couple days. Smarty JR loaded up on towing setting #2 and will be running around 65-70 mph. Speed limit is 75 but with a big load on a bumper trailer like this I take it a bit easier. Temps will be in the teens to 20's. pretty much flat ground and will report on wind conditions when I getr back. Total weight rolling down the road on this I would approximate it at 20K lbs.I am headed to a pickup Pull in Valley City ND tomorrow night then to a concert my wife wants to see in Fargo the next night. Ryan Bingham a new up and coming country singer.

[Wild and Free]

Well its not looking to be a good MPG trip as I have a 30 mph crosswind and single digit temps hovering around 0* Getting ready to hit the road in a bit.:banghead:

[JOHNFAK]

Well its not looking to be a good MPG trip as I have a 30 mph crosswind and single digit temps hovering around 0* Getting ready to hit the road in a bit.:banghead:

good luck on the pull:thumb1:

[Wild and Free]

Well I did 10MPG 260.8 miles and 26.2 gallons going out to fargo at 0*f and 30 mph crosswind running between 65-70 then driving around fargo one full day on that tank as well. Haven't filled up to see what return trip yielded but it is better for sure at light breeze and 15*f with cruise set at 70. going to guess return to be about 12 mpg.

[Wild and Free]

Well I filled it up yesterday and it did 11.2 And it had about 40 miles on it with no trailer. So not as good as expected but not suprising with the cold temps. Think I could have done better with smarty jr on level 3 instead of 2. Made pretty much the same trip a few years ago and it did 8 going and 12 coming. so overall around 10 mpg with a heavy bumper trailer is expected. Gooseneck would probably do better.

[JOHNFAK]

Any reason not to run the smart/juice/quad on full levels whilst in CRUISE only ?? eg 65 + OD ON and cruise control set.I mean - its just EGT control right ......... so as long as your not heavy on peddle .... or lugging up a hill .... then get the most timing out of it in higher levels ??

[scram06]

Hello to all. New here and have a 2006 Ram 3500 5.9 AT. I just sold a 24 foot 5th wheel camper that weighed about 5000 lbs. We took a round trip last year of about 1100 miles and I averaged 12 mpg but sometimes towed at 70mph. Yea, I know 70 is rediculous but out in the left lane I just like to get around things. We just bought a 29 foot 5th wheel that is about 8500 lbs empty. I really didn't want that much extra weight because of the mpg. Haven't taken a trip with it yet but it is much more aerodynamic than the 24 foot. After reading some of your posts I'm thinking the weight might not destroy the MPG as much as I thought it would.Question: any of you ever installed an exhaust brake on your diesel? If so how bad was it because I'm planning on doing it myself.

[flagmanruss]

I can't address the exhaust brake because I don't run one but others do & apparently like them. I will say that aerodynamics are everything on a Travel Trailer. Fifth wheels / goosenecks (enclosed body) are inherently better aerodynamics than tag-a-long. My flat front TT gets horrible (9) mpg at highway speed. Weight does count but a well balanced trailer with good bearings should not be excessive drag. I have a thread here where we were discussing trailer tires & especially capacity & rolling resistance. I think the most critical thing is to run the trailer tires at maximum pressure.