Posm

I know that I did not buy the best combo for mileage, but what should I expect. I have a 4 X 4 3500 SRW 4.10 rear end. I am sure that only the dually gets worse mileage. I am getting about 16.5 on the interstate at 72MPH and got a high of 23.6 MPG the other day going up the Natchez Trace. This is all hand calculations filling the tank brim full. I know a man with a TDI that gets nearly 60MPG. Why can't I at least get half of that!!! The Guy that sold me the bed cover promised better mileage than without it. I bet I did not pick up over 1 to 1.5MPG.

SuperGewl

Well to start off with you need to slow down ;D
Keep it down to about 65 and your milage will increase.
Some will tell you to put bigger tires on it make up for the 4.1 gear
If you are getting 16.5 on the highway only then you could do better but don't expect 60 or even 30 maybe 19 to 23mpg. It is a truck and NOT a car. The motor ways as much as the whole TDI car ;D

mstocktill

I have basically the same setup as you, minr is a 2500. I get the same mileage...until I slow down....and the other guy is right, the engine on these trucks weigh as much as the TDI. You will never get those high numbers as the VW's. Welcome to monster truckin'.

Posm

I know that capitol letters are used for yelling, but I did not know which font to use for sarcasim. I am more than elated with the mileage I am getting. Many people come to this and other boards and want to get 3200 pound car mileage with a 7500 pound TRUCK. When I can get 20MPG on the two lane roads I am happy. I remember when the only vehicle in the US that would get 20MPG was the VW Beatle.
I got rid of my Y2K 2500 in Aug with about 200,000 miles on it. It would get about 1 to 2 MPG less than this truck under the same driving conditions with an EZ and 3.54 rear end. I expect to pick up 1 MPG with this truck when I put the Edge timing and band width box on it.
I still contend that the rear end ratios do not make a 5% difference in MPG, but the speed that the truck is moving (wind resistance has a 2X factor) makes a HUGE difference. Wind resistance is the key. Yesterday I pulled a 6000 pound load at 70 MPH and the mileage fell to under 10MPG. The load is 11 feet tall, 7 feet wide and is basiclly square fronted.(A large round hay baler) I can haul a 4,000 puond trailer with a 10,000 lb low profile load and get better mileage.

cp

[quote author=Posm link=board=17;threadid=24042;start=0#msg226987 date=1071955411]
...
I still contend that the rear end ratios do not make a 5% difference in MPG, but the speed that the truck is moving (wind resistance has a 2X factor) makes a HUGE difference. Wind resistance is the key. Yesterday I pulled a 6000 pound load at 70 MPH and the mileage fell to under 10MPG. The load is 11 feet tall, 7 feet wide and is basiclly square fronted.(A large round hay baler) I can haul a 4,000 puond trailer with a 10,000 lb low profile load and get better mileage.
[/quote]

I'm glad I read the whole thread before I responded. Absolutely, wind resistance is a bigger factor than weight. The rolling resistance caused by weight does not change with speed. Aerodynamic drag quadruples if speed doubles.

If anybody has hauled hay, he knows that a 12 ton load of hay on a flatbed pulls harder than a 25 ton load of grain in a grain trailer.

johnktm

Maybe I should bring mine to the dealer to be checked. I have approx 3,000 mile on a 04 HO auto with 4.10's. Mostly local driving with some interstate. The best I have gotten so far is 14.1 that was with the first tank. I check this mileage by hand. I also fill up fuel myself. Any ideas.

Thanks.

johnktm

NO, I have been driving it very easy. Maybe too easy.

Geets

That's the problem, you haven't even come close to breaking her in with only 3,000 miles and driving her easy. There are a lot of threads out here on this forum that has covered so many different issues concerning mpg, I've given up. Unless your vehicle is broken in and you drive at the same rpm and same conditions and you fill up the exact amount every time, you will never be happy with your mileage. Believe me I've tried and I found out it's more important to enoy my ride when I want to than to worry about mpg since there is nothing I can do about it but slow down to get it better. ;D

vernl

My last truck had 4:10s and ran high RPM at highway speed..I got around 18 mpg based on all types of driving..that truck weighed 8800 lbs...my current truck has 3:73's and is loaded down with canopy and tools and weighs 9100lbs...so far I have been getting an average of 17 mpg is all round driving..likley could coax alot more out of it in slow hwy only driving but don't consider that to be representative mpg figures...for a truck..I dont see how I can honestly expect to do any better ..if it was a gas engine I would be down in the higher single digits and paying way more for a gallon of gas...my opinion..if your truck runs great..starts every day and does the job you want..getting mileage like mine is a bonus..when i want great mileage..I take one of my cars

belfert

[quote author=Posm link=board=17;threadid=24042;start=0#msg226927 date=1071944874]
is all hand calculations filling the tank brim full. I know a man with a TDI that gets nearly 60MPG. Why can't I at least get half of that!!! The Guy that sold me the bed cover promised [/quote]

I have a dually with 3.73s and I'm getting a lot worse than you. My best tank was 16.5. I only have about 2500 miles with no load, so I'm far from broken in.

My TDI only gets 38MPG around town, but I've not driven it on a long trip yet. I do have an auto which kills mileage.

The engine in a TDI is only 1/3 the HP of your Cummins, plus the Golf TDI weighs less than half what your 3500 does and has 1/2 the wind resistance. You shouldn't be suprised that you're getting 1/2 or less MPG over a TDI.

Brian Elfert

rossn2

AT 4000 miles, I'm getting 21 mpg on highway and 18-20 around town with 6 spd and manual trans, but I don't have a heavy foot either...You could try changing the drivetrain out to AMSOIL synthetics. They claim an up to 8 % increase in mileage. I'm going to switch over when I hit the 7500 mark..

Sittenbull2

You ain't gonna see nothing to good until you pull something with some weight and break that monster in I thought the samething, right at 22,000 miles with a auto. and just now seeing right at 17 to 18 mpg at 65 mph go over that and it drops, this motor wants to work thats what it is built for. I know some people get good right at the beginning and some don't, I started at 14 to 15 mpg. You also got to remember that winter fuel is here so that ain't gonna help none either. Friend of mine has a 2002 Ford 3500 7.3 2 wheeler DRW he gets maybe 14 to 15 mpg has 41,000 and some change on his and that is all he gets on mileage. I've even heard some people don't start getting better mileage until about 40 to 60,000 miles on them. Drive the pee out of it and get it broke in, and enjoy it some of them Ford's are stuck in the shop more than they are driven.

bulabula

Bad mileage with 4.10's? I just got back from a 1406 mile road trip to Detroit yesterday. On my last fillup, I ran just a little over 300 miles in a 4 hour period and put in 16.5 gallons to top her off when I got home. That translates to 18.2 mpg at a 75 mph average.

I did 18.1 over 440 miles on the way there on Thursday. That tank figure includes two days of city driving here in town before I departed Thursday night. The overhead readout plateaued on 19.7mpg @ 2250rpm. On Friday and Saturday in town, idling around etc, I averaged 16.8 mpg on that tank.

Still not in the league with VW TDI's or little Honda's, but it ain't bad! These are real numbers, not from the overhead.

kingofdodge7131

aight, heres what i saw the other day on the history channel. There was a show called Cars and the Future, went into the whole alternative fuels, They had an interview with a guy that had a 2003 4x4 dodge dually, Usin some biodiesel with mods to the truck with no loss of mileage and said he got 37 mpg with this..... had some web addys on the truck one was mpg101.com and the other was soybeanfuels.com or something like that. They never did get back to me though