I have a 6,500 lb. TT. While towing it with my 94 1500 suburban(5.7 liter) I get 10.4 mpg on the flats and got 8.5 -9 mpg going through the Black Hills this past summer. What kind of towing mileage could I expect with a V10 and 3.73 gears with this same trailer? How about if I upgrade to a 9,000 lb trailer. We are looking at going to Alaska next summer and I am curious as to how far I will be able to go once we hit Alaska before I need to fill.
I would prefer a 4.10 or 4.30 rear end, but they seem to be extremely difficult to find.

 

I've heard that all mod motors don't care what gear you run as far as mileage goes. My 5.4 didn't change more than a couple of tenths in the swap from 3.73 to 4.56:1. The lower the gear the more torque you can put on the ground and the nicer it will pull a trailer. If I were towing, I would have preferred the v10 over my 5.4L and I would gear for around 2000rpms and 50-55mph (tires make a difference in gear selection.)

 

[quote=mrad;6907432..... What kind of towing mileage could I expect with a V10 and 3.73 gears .......I would prefer a 4.10 or 4.30 rear end, but they seem to be extremely difficult to find.[/quote]

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The obvious reason why you may have trouble finding 4.10's on the used market, is that so many EX's were delivered, like mine was, with 3.73's.

I personally think 3.73 is way too high for really heavy towing. But I am stuck with it. I find that with my over-drive locked out, I am still able to move right along towing 11,000 lb. loads. Sure, the diesel guys can laugh at me when they fly past me on long up-grades. If I had more money, I sure as heck would have bought a diesel X (at the time I bought mine, I would have had to pay a "premium" over what I paid for my V-10, of well over 5 grand-probably closer to TEN !

As for mileage, open ride no-load mileage at 67-70 mph runs around 15 mpg. Which is damn good for a seven thousand pound plus vehicle. Towing with my loads runs 7-8 mpg over-all average.

Bear in mind that on trips involving long up-grades, mileage can go down to 4 on the worst long grades; when the engine isnt working on trips involving long descents, even towing I have seen upwards of 12 mpg.

Also bear in mind that tow mileage is MUCH more suseptible to wind drag. With big air blocks like my "toy" trailer or when I tow my boat, mileage can VARY several mpg.

 

I traveled from West Virginia to Yellowstone to Grand Canyon to West Virginia, 5000 miles this summer towing a 24' TT with my X with a V10 and averaged 10 mpg. I saw as much as 12 on the flatlands and as little as 8 mpg in the mountains. Wind also played a big role with mileage pulling the TT. Mileage was not as good in the flatlands driving into a head wind. I would expect an average of 10 mpg.

 

I would be pleased if I can average 10 mpg. I would hope that a newer vehicle would not get worse mileage than my 94. My trailer is a low profile and donly sits about 2 feet higher than my burb. If these things can get 15 mpg unloaded on the freeway, I would be tickled pink.

 

mrad,

Here's my experiences...and BTW they are very similar to those that have responded already...however I have the benefit of towing with both 3.73's and 4.30's.

BTW...No V10 Ex ever got 4.10's stock. The 5.4L V8 got either 3.73's or 4.10's but V10's only came with 3.73's or 4.30's.

Regardless of gear choice...the KEY to successful towing and pulling grades without a downshift or two is DO NOT BABY THE V10...she LOVES and I repeat LOVES the RPM range of 3000 to 3200. If you can select a gear and speed to maintain the RPMs in that range...you will very likely NOT downshift. Try and 'baby' her for mpgs...and you WILL downshift...no questions asked. I've logged over 18,000 miles in three summers TOWING with my V10 Ex...so I've tried it all...driving for mpg's and slowing down if you will causes you to lose the power band even with 4.30's very easily...driving 65mph means much fewer downshifts even at altitudes approaching 8000'...

Okay...you asked a couple of questions. MPG's being one of them as well as gearing with a 6500# TT and a heavier 9000# TT. Well you are in luck in that I have towed a 7500# TT with 3.73's and now tow a 9000# TT with 4.30's.

Having towed our previous 7500# TT from Indiana to Wyoming thru the Black Hills, Big Horns and Rockies and back with 3.73's...it obviously CAN be done with 3.73's. The key that I found with that gear is to simply lock out OD and run in 3rd gear. At ~62-64mph you will turn ~2600rpms...the Ex pulls great at that rpm for most all hills...not mountains...hills.

Where I ran into some real thinking time with the 3.73's was when I was crossing the Big Horns and approaching 10,000'. I was doing great pulling 6% grades up the mountain...until I ran up behind a blue hair in a honda civic that couldn't maintain 40mph in that anemic vehicle...so my 50mph quickly sank to under 40mph and continued to slide backwards. The problem is that we only have a 4spd trans and one of those is OD...the other issue is that 1st and 2nd are spaced WAY far apart from each other. I found that if I ran up the rpms in 1st and let the tranny shift to 2nd...it would bog due to the weight, altitude and grade...so I had to be smarter than the auto trans...I manually shifted into 1st and held her there until just before the rev limiter (5200rpms) and then shifted into 2nd...and when it hit 2nd...it was in a good spot rpm wise to continue to gain speed and pull the hill. That civic, while frustrating at the time, helped me to figure out some capabilities of the Ex at altitude on a steep grade...

So the 3.73's have their limits with 7500#'s unless you are willing to experiment like I did...but to be honest...how many 10,000' climbs are you going to make and how many blue hairs in civics are going to shed your mometum?...but now you know how to regain it if it happens to you!

Okay...mpgs...I log each and every mile and track each and every gallon I pump. I go by AVERAGE mpgs and NOT one tank wonders. When I had 3.73's I pulled slightly over 7,000 miles that first summer. I AVERAGED 7.8mpgs in all those miles.

The funny thing about mpgs is that as others have pointed out...WIND plays a HUGE factor in what you get on a trip...fight a 30mph head wind...and I don't care what you are driving...if you are pulling a brick behind you...mpgs will TANK...remember too...my TT has slides...both did...so they are 11' tall to the top of the A/C unit...lower wind profile TT's WILL do better...

A couple of years ago I purchased our current 9000# TT. Given the experience I had in the Rockies with the 7500# TT and given the fact that I knew I would be headed back to the Rockies soon (which I did this past summer)...I knew I wanted deeper gearing so I swapped mine to 4.30's.

In the last two summers I have traveled around 11,000 miles including the Appalachians, Smokies, Sandia's, countless peaks in Utah and then Vail (10,600') and Loveland (11,200') in the Rockies...the V10 did great.

AVERAGE mpgs' actually went up slightly to 8.2mpgs. I suspect it is due to the fact that I can acutally run OD with the 4.30's where before I had to lock out OD and run 3rd. So my overall rpms are actually lower with the 4.30's and I have fewer downshifts.

That AVERAGE mpg also includes 1800 miles from this summer when I was fighting a fierce 30+ mph head/cross wind when towing to the grand canyon. Depending on the wander in the highway...it was a head or cross wind for 4 days...

I can tell you that I can almost set my fill ups by 8mpg...it is that consistent. Sure there are tanks lower and tanks higher...and you will know what you are getting based on tail or headwinds. I've had as high as 10+ and as low as 6...but speed, weather, wind, terrain ALL play a role...that is why I choose to report the AVERAGE I have recorded over 18,000 miles of towing and it is a solid 8mpg with both 3.73's and 4.30's. Notice that my 8mpg with 4.30's is with a TT that tips the scales at 1500# MORE!!!

If you are thinking about a 9000# TT and plan to travel to areas like the Rockies and southern Utah...I'd highly recommend 4.30's. The seemingly constant 8000' elevations with a normally aspirated engine zaps power to boot...you don't need to handicap her with improper gearing as well...

But if you don't plan on tackling those tall peaks in the west...3.73's with OD locked out should work well enough with 9000#'s.

I hope my long winded answer helps some.

If not let me know.

Joe.

 

Joe,
That was just what I was looking for. I am guessing that with my current trailer (6,000-6,500 wet) which is a low profile, I could expect a little better in the areas I mostly travel in MN. I think I also know what I could reasonable expect on the one trip we take each year that would put us in the mountains. Ideally I would like to find one with the 4.30's. However, my one concern with finding one with 4.30's is that it would have seen a lot of towing miles and may have more maintenance issues pop up.

 

i had a '98 suburban with a 5.7 it would get about 10- 11 mpg pulling my 30' fleetwood prowler ... i traded the burb for a 2001 v10 ex .... there's a lot of power difference, you'll like how the ex runs on the highway .... gas milage 8 - 10 mpg towing ... the suburban was a nice vehicle, very little problems but the ex is all about towing

 

I know this may sound like a really dumb thing, but a lot of it depends on how fast you're going. When I tow (not much weight 3-4K but a 7x16 enclosed, so its pretty tall) I see 7-8 going 70ish but if I knock the cruise down to 60ish, I can see 9-10mpg. Granted, some of TX where I drive is pretty hilly, so that hurts, but thats just my $.02

btw, I have a v10 with the 4.30's