Towing MPG- Gas Trucks

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Deleted member 9101

Guest
9.5 mpg while towing a camper is pretty common. A newer truck might not get better fuel economy, but it will pull it with less fuss.
 

Yroundrdn

Observer
My work truck is a 2016 F250 with the 6.2 liter. I average 9 mpg consistently and down around 6.5 mpg with a 5k dump trailer. Also, I have 315s and its 4x4.

Not sure how everyone else gets such high numbers.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
2011 6.2 4x4 w/ 35's

We are averaging 10MPG with this heap.
Thats North Idaho travel MPG.
I figure North Idaho MPG is something like 65% city 35% highway,
as we dont have real highways. ?

Empty and around town, same. 10MPG.
But I beat on it a bit when empty 'cause it sounds so good. :ROFLMAO:

48628221398_8bf0c3bd91_h.jpg
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
My work truck is a 2016 F250 with the 6.2 liter. I average 9 mpg consistently and down around 6.5 mpg with a 5k dump trailer. Also, I have 315s and its 4x4.

Not sure how everyone else gets such high numbers.

Well... Not running heavy, oversized, off road tires is a good start.
 

calicamper

Expedition Leader
I think most cases when you go from the highway hybrid M+S tires to the heavy luggy off road tire its a solid 2-3mpg highway mileage hit on most trucks. I switched back to a m+S hybrid tire after 5 yrs running a BFG off-road tire. I don’t have much interest going back to those loud heavy tires again.

I just bought a 2019 3.5 eco boost 10spd with 3.75 rear end.
Expedition. Only have about 250 miles on it. But short brutally bad usage for good mileage I’m seeing 15+mpg and it should improve during the first 10,000 miles or so. No towing yet. But my 4x6 trailer is tiny for this thing so I doubt it will matter. No highway use yet so looking forward to better numbers.

So far I like the 3.5 the 10spd is decent most of the time you don’t notice the 10spd but once in a while it seems to have trouble making up its mind for a split second but I don’t see anything else as good as the GM/Ford 10spd so who cares lol
 
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SheepnJeep

Active member
I get about 16-17-18 mpg depending on the wind and hills etc with our '73 F100. Pretty much gets 12-13 mpg towing a boat or something similar. The most I towed with the engine 'Stock' was 5,100# and I think the milage on a 300 mile trip was 11mpg. Now that I have added a better exhaust system, as well as a clutch fan it might do a little better. Still about the same mileage empty it seems. This is a 240 ci inline six cylinder. I would like to turbocharge it and add an overdrive unit. Actually we just towed a Grand Cherokee on a dolly (maybe 4,600#, some stuff in cherokee) and got 13.25 mpg on a 250 mile trip. I usually use GPS distances for my mileage calculations. So that is pretty okay I guess.

Interesting that most trucks still get about the same, albeit with much better manners!
 
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usmcgunrock

New member
I have a 7.3 excursion. Daily driven and occasionally tow. 33x11.5 tires, a leveling 2" lift, 3.73 with Hydra tunes and average 19-20 mpg mostly hills highway and town20190920_180808.jpg20190911_134818.jpg

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Frogprince

Observer
For hunting this year we took the 454 Suburban out to Colorado and back. Averaged unloaded about 13mpg and loaded around 11mpg with the trailer. There was one stretch we got 9.8mpg
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
So far I like the 3.5 the 10spd is decent most of the time you don’t notice the 10spd but once in a while it seems to have trouble making up its mind for a split second but I don’t see anything else as good as the GM/Ford 10spd so who cares lol

That "lost" sensation will eventually go away. The new 10 speed takes longer than the old 6 speed to learn your driving habits and adjust itself accordingly.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
We have a 2003 GMC Yukon with the 6.0 and average 13-14mpg empty and 8-9 towing our boat, we thought about updating to something newer with the 6+speed transmission options but they aren't seeing much better mpg towing, plus with only 145k miles it has a lot of miles left to go.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
I can give you some very current data on this as we just got back from a long weekend's camping trip with the new-to-me 2018 F-150.

I'm a data geek so I keep a record of every fuelup, both on paper (in a little notebook in the center console) and on my phone (with the Fuelly app.)

First off, here is the rig (at the top of Vail Pass, 10,650'):

Vail pass.jpg

Truck is a 2018 F-150, 3.5 EcoBoost V6, 3.31 rear end, 7000# payload package and towing package (but NOT the "max towing package" which I think included a 3.55 rear end.) 10 speed trans and 4x4 of course.

Topper is a Leer 100R. I had to obtain a weight slip to register the truck so I can tell you that the weight of the truck, with the topper on but NOTHING else, is 5480 lbs.

Trailer is a 2018 Forest River R-Pod 179 Hood River Edition. "Dry" weight of 2700 but my guess on loaded weight is ~3500. Trailer is winterized so no water on board (that would add an extra 250lbs or so.) It does have dual propane tanks and dual 6v batteries though.

Kayaks are flat-top and weigh ~60lbs each. We carry two.

Our route was from Littleton, CO (Denver suburb) to Rifle Gap State Park near Rifle, CO. Approx. 190 miles, pretty much all interstate. But the altitude went from about 5700' to Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,000' (the highest point on the Interstate highway system), then back down to Dillon (about 9,000') and then up to Vail Pass (10,650') and from there a gentle slope downwards all the way to Rifle Gap at about 5900'.

Weather was clear but VERY windy! And most of it was a headwind. As a result, MPG was pretty bad at 8.6 (28.4 gallons to go 245 miles.)

On the return trip, we had the wind in our favor and MPG was a more reasonable 11.8 (22.42 gallons for 264 miles.)

Fuel type was 91 octane premium.

It's my experience that wind will KILL your MPG when you are pulling a big slab-sided rig like this. We had a similar experience coming back from Texas last year with the Suburban (at one point, MPG was 7.2!)
 

Regcabguy

Oil eater.
I have a 7.3 excursion. Daily driven and occasionally tow. 33x11.5 tires, a leveling 2" lift, 3.73 with Hydra tunes and average 19-20 mpg mostly hills highway and townView attachment 541768View attachment 541769

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Hang onto it. My friend's 2000 F-250 extracab,auto 4wd 7.3 has never exceeded 16 and that's with 265's. He babies the heck of it. Empty with a Snugtop cab hi camper. Never tows.
 

usmcgunrock

New member
Hang onto it. My friend's 2000 F-250 extracab,auto 4wd 7.3 has never exceeded 16 and that's with 265's. He babies the heck of it. Empty with a Snugtop cab hi camper. Never tows.
When I got it, it originally averages about 11-12mpg. Started a lot of preventative and corrective maintenance. If you haven't tried it yet, use Hot Shot's stiction-eliminator oil and fuel system additive. Very noticeable difference within 10-15 minutes of running the engine and after 2nd fuel fill up

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jonathon

Active member
Towing with gas means single digits. Those that get better either drive slower than trucks or are towing low trailers with little wind resistance.
 

UHAULER

Explorer
Sounds like my towing numbers are about normal. I'm sure it would have done better with stock size 265/75/16 instead of 285/75/16 soft winter tires. Not going to put any money in this truck, going to eventually upgrade to something newer.
 

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