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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 04:41 PM
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Towing mpg question

Hey y’all. Got a 02 7.3 and just did my gas mileage coming back from the coast. Mostly flat.

I am pulling a 10k lb travel trailer. My tires are close to 35” so that doesn’t help. Doing 65-75 the whole way


was getting about 9 mpg

what are y’all getting with a similar setup?
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 04:45 PM
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With my Cummins at 144 MPH towing 54,800 lbs. (with the mirrors flipped up) up 9% grades both ways into a 76 MPH headwind, I routinely see at least 43.887622 MPG. You 7.3L guys suffer with the mileage.


In all seriousness though, threads about fuel economy are kind of pointless. Some vehicles do ok, some don't.


 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 04:50 PM
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Hopefully you are talking fuel mileage..
First the skinny pedal determines the MPG as much as anything else.
Big tires, speed, lifts, and puling big flat boxes will cost in fuel consumption. Way too many variables to say that is good or bad. When I tow my bumper pull I rarely travel faster than 65 MPH usually around 60 MPH and get about 14 MPG on flat ground.
The best things you can do for the fuel rate of consumption is keep the boost and RPM's low and accelerate slowly and gentle. On the other side higher RPM's will help keep the EGT's lower so which do you want.
Every truck is different and every tow is different. 9 MPG is not horrible but you do have a truck for a reason......
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 06:22 PM
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You are at a mechanical disadvantage with the 35" unless you have changed the gears. Then have you corrected the speedo for the larger tires? You're counting less miles with the bigger tires.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 06:35 PM
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Good point Dan.

Icculus, is your speedo accurate?

I'm on stock tires with no lift, that same situation I get 10-12.

In my experience, speed and load height make the biggest difference.

If I slow down to 55 I can get 16 towing the same load.

Averaged 10mpg towing this (20k#) at 65-70 400 miles....


 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 06:46 PM
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I attained 12.3 MPG towing a 5th wheel 5,500 miles from GA to ID and back this summer. 65 MPH or slower, 265/75R16 tires, 3.73 gears, ZF6, stock 4x4 height and cruise control most of the time.

Some are luckier than others when looking at MPG and I am grateful to be in the lucky side.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 07:22 PM
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My 5th wheel is 13'4" tall, so I am yanking a bigger sail thru the air than a TT so won't post my mpg here

Same mpg principles hold true tho. #1 Lower your speed. It's been a few years since engineering classes but a professor once showed us that the power needed to move an object goes up ³ (cube) every time the speed of object is x2, due to wind, increased friction, and other variable. But mostly the wind is the biggest killer in our application

So if you need 30hp to tow your trailer 30mph you'd need 900hp to tow that same trailer 60mph on the same stretch of road same temperature blah blah blah

So towing @ 75mph vs 65 is a big difference thru the wind

As others have mentioned check into your speedometer calibration you might "gain" 1 mpg there

Also, avoid Love's. For some reason I always loose mpg on their fuel. Which sucks cause their truck stops are everywhere on interstates. Plus it usually (especially this summer) costs 20-30cents a gallon more than a small mom n pop type store off the road usually does. GasBuddy apps and the like can help you find better prices and better quality fuel
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 07:52 PM
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Originally Posted by Icculus
Hey y’all. Got a 02 7.3 and just did my gas mileage coming back from the coast. Mostly flat.

I am pulling a 10k lb travel trailer. My tires are close to 35” so that doesn’t help. Doing 65-75 the whole way


was getting about 9 mpg

what are y’all getting with a similar setup?
I run 35s and tow a fifth wheel. Before I switched to 4.30 gears, I was getting 9MPG.

With 4.30s I'm averaging 10.5 MPG towing the same trailer.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 08:37 PM
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Sounds about right for that weight and speed, is it a dually and what cab? Lift? I will say 75 MPH is pretty fast for a 10,000 lb trailer behind a pickup, hope you are using WD and anti-sway. Better yet Pro Pride or Hensley. With my 02 SRW 4X4 crew longbed no lift 275/18s towing 7K in the West 55-65 MPH I get around 12.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by cleatus12r
With my Cummins at 144 MPH towing 54,800 lbs. (with the mirrors flipped up) up 9% grades both ways into a 76 MPH headwind, I routinely see at least 43.887622 MPG.


.
You could easily push that to over 50 MPG with an 8" stack coming out of the bed.
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 09:09 PM
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Spurting drink out of nose.....
 
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Old Sep 12, 2021 | 09:37 PM
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Good point y’all. My speedometer is 5mph slow, and I didn’t calculate that in.

also I was booking it more than I should have. I’ll redo this next trip keeping my rpms down and proper mileage. Kinda been looking for some affordable smaller tires also.

happy to hear my mpgs are god awful though compared to others
 
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Old Sep 13, 2021 | 06:37 AM
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If you have FORScan or can get FORScan, you are able to adjust your speedometer.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...g-forscan.html

and

 
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Old Sep 13, 2021 | 07:33 AM
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We just came back from a 2,120 mile trip from MD to FL and tipped the scales at 17,751# combined with a full tank of fuel and the travel trailer listed below. For the trip overall we got 9.3 mpg hand calculated with the tires and mods in my sig running 70-75mph when not in traffic mostly on I-95. I am also running a modified by Cody version of the PHP +75hp towing tune. My best tank was 10.1mpg when traffic volume limited speeds to mostly 55-65mph and my worst tank was 8.6mpg which was in bumper to bumper traffic through DC to Richmond, VA.

I have not corrected my speedo for my tires, so the actual miles traveled is off by about 5%.
 
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Old Sep 13, 2021 | 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted by bigb56
You could easily push that to over 50 MPG with an 8" stack coming out of the bed.
Don't forget the 48x96 C sticker on the back glass on 42"s.

Full disclosure: I used to own a 04.5 CR Cummins..... and I loved the thing....
 
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