johnny1509

Test drove a Ram 2500 Quad cab Long Bed 4X4 yesterday.....I wanted to see what mileage I could get. The truck had 345 miles on it. On the open highway, the Overhead read 17.9 with the cruise control set at 67. At 55, it was reading 19.2. I don't think that was too bad for a truck pumping out 600 lbs of torque, automatic and 4X4. Plus it had a 4.10:1 rear end. I wish I could have towed something with it though. I put about 35 miles on it and was impressed. I took it up to 80 and didn't notice the vibrations......

AK RAM

Well.....did you buy it?

I have multiple folks at work that purchased 600s here recently (within the last month and a half) and all of them are getting great mileage and absolutely no complaints about vibes or anything. I guess the trick is to check production dates on the inside door tag and try not to purchase one of the early builds.

johnny1509

I wish I was in a position to buy another Ram. I have a 2003 Ram 3500 Quad Cab SRW Long Bed with the Cummins 555 and 48RE in it and love it. I just wanted to see if I found the mileage problem to be real or if it is just a bunch of "Strokers" on here trying to bad mouth the Cummins. But with so many peole complaining on here, I think it was a legitimate problem that may have been solved.

bulabula

Hey Johnny, that mileage sounds like my truck.

Next time you take one for a spin, we should hook the boat up and see what she does (the truck!). We could take the boat out, but the dealer might get worried after you didnt return for the day...

NJMurvin

Mine was built in March 04 (engine and truck), has the vibe and sub-par mileage (barely 13 - if I baby it - combined 80/20 city/hwy). Oddly, it does pretty well on the hwy (17+) at 1900rpm ~ 69mph.

Neil

sbutter

Now how does one convince a dealer that there is a problem with earlier builds?

NJMurvin

Getting the dealer to admit there's a problem with the truck that's causing poor MPGs is going to be next to impossible unless it's really, really bad. They're just going to blame your driving habits (much the same as many posters here do).

Regarding the vibrations, I don't think that's such an early build issue. Some of those complaining have later builds (also depends on what you consider "early build").

Neil

stevenknapp

It's hard to baby this truck, espically around town in traffic, and with the 48RE. The stall speed on the 48RE is up around 2100RPM, which is above the "magic" keep it under 2k for good MPG. Plus the truck is heavy and the motor is powerful.

Sure I can drive nice, and get 15-16 in town, but that's not the Chicago way. Agressive drivers, don't want to leave space, give people an edge to pull out in front of me.

Even outside of traffic....right pedal down, truck go. It's fun gosh darn it.

sbutter

Maybe next summer I'll take a road trip to Chicago (far south side) to see the reletives and see what kind of fuel economy I get in that kind of traffic and intersection spacing.

Until then, I guess I'll keep an eye out for a TSB and just enjoy driving it as I have been.

Nine Ball

I purchased my 600 dually 2wd about 2 weeks ago (2100 miles now) and it has been averaging 17.6 mpg on the highway at 70 mph. I'm very pleased with everything so far.

WyRam

I had a QC Auto with 3.73s for awhole day today.I'm sweet on the Allison but the 48RE worked good and it run like a raped ape!

Dodgezilla

Well, it seems that the only people getting bad mileage while towing are the ones who are getting bad mileage while not towing. If that truck was getting that kind of mileage than I'm sure it's fine. And you have got to love those overhead readouts too. They got them working right finally! One problem with them though is that you may become obsessed with looking at it and trying to make the numbers go up. I had to put mine back on the temp readout because of that. The worst thing is that my company pays for my fuel so it really doesn't even matter to me.........

Dieseljunkie

I think thats exactly what it is... mine was built 03/04.. and it seems to get great mileage
Scott

TON4FUN

The way I see it there is no use in getting rid of it for the same truck if your getting 13 or 14 MPG right now. By the time you flip your truck for another the money you lose will be more than on what you would have spent on those extra fuelings you had to do to equal what you would have gotten with a truck that do have better gas mileage.

stevenknapp

Maybe next summer I'll take a road trip to Chicago (far south side) to see the reletives and see what kind of fuel economy I get in that kind of traffic and intersection spacing.

Sorry, my point wasn't to be an @$$ but instead just to point out that not only does how you drive affect mileage, but that our definitions of "City" might vary as well. Rush hour in Ames, IA vs my drive home are very different beasts.