56 replies to this topic

[Addie]

Just did a few small trips. 99 ford 7.3 diesel 2wd stick shift. No camper 21 mpg. With grandby fully loaded on truck and pulling mountain pass got 18 mpg. I'm very happy with he setup and mileage. Think it might do a little better if i spent less % of miles in the mountains .

AFE Premium Air filter, larger exhaust and chipping it will also really increase your fuel mileage. Love my PSD. I average 18-20 mpg in the mountain's of Colorado- lowest elevation is 6300ft, so far all I have is the cold air intake upgrade.

[setter_guy]

This winter I bought a 2005 Dodge diesel 4wd with 6 speed manual tranny. I drove 5000 miles from Idaho to Baja and back this spring with a fully loaded Hawk and pulling a utility trailer loaded with a 15ft boat and outboard, camping, diving and fishing gear. I averaged a little over 18 mpg. The truck is stock with only suspension upgrades. I keep the rpms right around 2000 which translates to 65-70mph. On Mex 1 I probably averaged 60mph. Pretty happy with this setup. I can get 21-22 mpg with the truck unloaded and it hauls a loaded four-slot horse trailer like a dream.

I sold a 2006 Tundra that got about 11 mpg with just the camper. Loved the Tundra just not the mileage.

[krj]

I hear ya on the Tundra, love the truck but not the mileage!
Montana to Baja this fall and averaged a little over 12mpg on my '03 Tundra with '88 Grandby. Just did 300 miles this past weekend with the same setup, but cruise set at 62mph; that bumped me up to 14.6mpg.

[K7MDL]

Just did a 500 mile round trip all lowland and without a MC trailer this time. 2005 Dodge 2500 long box with Grandby, 5.7 hemi, stock tires, loaded up with 1 person and 400lbs combined motorcycle and hitch carrier,

On my return trip frokm Hood River, OR to Seattle I got 14.5mpg indicated, 14.0mpg actual, averaging around 63mph. I experimented a bit with avg of 69mph and lost 1mpg. Elevations seal level to couple hundred feet the whole trip so fairly flat. This 14mpg figure was daytime with a 30 minute freeway stop and go in the middle of nowhere for unseen reasons.

When there was no wind driving at night down I-5 from Seattle, I was in the 15-16mpg area down to Vancouver WA. In the morning however the Columbia River wind tunnel east of Portland killed the great mileage numbers and ended up with 13, dropped like a rock into that headwind in I-84. This shows that like a large camper, It is the wind more than the weight that kills mileage. We do regular long trips in a diesel with a huge Bigfoot camper and tow 16 foot enclosed trailer. The trailer comes along practically for free. The camper blocks all the wind. I sometimes think about fabricating front and side fiberglas cowlings and wonder how much that would help (vs the cost and effort). Would fasten to the camper front and also to the front jackstand brackets, 3 pieces total. I do about 8K miles per year.

[pods8]

Does your 2005 have the MDS hemi? Are you 2x4 or 4x4?

You're getting a bit higher than I'm getting on my 2003 1500 5.7 hemi 4x4, however I do travel a bit faster (usually moving about 5-7 over). I seem to be in the 12.5range when I'm going 70-75mph. I've been 13.5-14mpg when doing more 50-60zone stuff but it's often with mountains. Climbing over snoqualmie pass and heading out east on 90 I'll drop below 12 but I take the pass at 70-75mph still usually.

Think we're going to do some non-remote camping at Ocean City SP next weekend with the little one so I'll have to see what numbers I pull off since that is mostly all flat.

[K7MDL]

Does your 2005 have the MDS hemi? Are you 2x4 or 4x4?

You're getting a bit higher than I'm getting on my 2003 1500 5.7 hemi 4x4, however I do travel a bit faster (usually moving about 5-7 over). I seem to be in the 12.5range when I'm going 70-75mph. I've been 13.5-14mpg when doing more 50-60zone stuff but it's often with mountains. Climbing over snoqualmie pass and heading out east on 90 I'll drop below 12 but I take the pass at 70-75mph still usually.

Think we're going to do some non-remote camping at Ocean City SP next weekend with the little one so I'll have to see what numbers I pull off since that is mostly all flat.

I do not have MDS system, it did not come out until later. Towing the MC trailer and 2 bikes, 2 people Seattle to Odessa over Snoqualmie, I got about 13 or so. I also had the 4 jacks bolted on that trip. I took them off this trip, plus just the hitch carrier and one bike. This trip I installed Timbrens with thd spacer and I have the stock ride height back, and it is slightly better in the sharp turns.

I am very likely to head out to Ocean Shores Beach areas this weekend for the annual June VHF+ ham radio contest. Then head up the Olympic coast and up to a ridge with a forest lookout at 3000 ft, 10 miles or so west of Lake Crescant.

[pods8]

Hmmm, I'm going to be watching my mpg's this trip...

Cool, have fun. We're rolling next weekend 17-19 otherwise I'd say keep an eye out.

[UglyScout]

Just finished a 700 mile trip in my new to me 2002 Chevy 2500HD 4wd Crew Cab long bed duramax and my 1993 Grandby (think huge and probably close to 9000 pounds when loaded up). Hand calculated and checking mileage against my GPS, I got 16.9 mpg cruising at posted speeds or above. I'm sure if I backed off the throttle and didn't try and run the passes at 70 I could get a little better mileage.

I also understand that a modest tune from one of the plug in tuners should get me a mile per gallon or two -- maybe someday down the road.

[DonM]

Just returned from Alaska and Inuvik NWT, about 4200 miles and averaged 16.2 mpg (US) in an Eagle on a Mazda B4000 4wd with over 35% of that mileage on dirt, gravel and wet clay. Limited slip really helped in the clay, better mileage than my old Tacoma. The difference between 50 and 60 mph made a difference of 2 mpg. Ranged from 18mpg down to below 15mpg off road.

[highz]

Welcome to the forum!

Your B4000 has the Cologne V6? I think your truck is very similar to my Ranger, and I get similar mileage with the Eagle.

Hope you'll consider posting a trip report (with pics - we love 'em). Sounds epic!