Need Advice Immediately! MPG Towing Nightmare
03-12-2011, 10:18 PM
#17
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I tow a 38 ft 5er that weights 13500 empty. I have a 2011 DRW 3500 Mega Cab with 8500 mil and I get 9-10.5 towing at 62-65mph. Turn the tuner down. Save it for when you want to smoke the tires.
03-13-2011, 06:09 PM
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I agree. I got that range stock when mine was brand new with 10k behind it. Turn the tuner down until it is broke in anyway. At a 130k I did the deletes and my mileage went up a .5mpg when towing and almost 3 mpg unloaded. I have always drove it easy as I do not like fixing thing because of being hard on her but let that motor break in and then find the sweet spot with the tuner for mileage. Also I get better mileage by keeping her around 60 when towing with stock tire sizes. I am going up on tire sizes next tire buy as with the 4.10 rears on mine I would like to get her in the 65 mph range for that sweat spot. I am talking freeway towing by the way when commenting.
03-15-2011, 10:31 AM
#22
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No joke. I've towed flat trailers with weights similar to my TT and they mileage difference and towing resistance is very noticeable.
If you have more power, you are going to use it to accelerate, and pull hills that would normally take a little more effort and time. More HP=More fuel.
If you have more power, you are going to use it to accelerate, and pull hills that would normally take a little more effort and time. More HP=More fuel.
2 quick stories:
1)On flat gound at 60 my 18'TT at 5K lbs puts about the same load on the truck as a 15K lb dump trailer. Same streatch of road, same boost, same load, etc...
2) A buddy of mine had an 02 QC SB Auto Cummins. Towing his 30'ish 5er with an enclosed motorcycle trailer behind it would net him 10.5ish, his current 19' TT net's him the same. Probably half the weight and a LOT more wind resistance.
Thou I am not entirely sure you should be towing on HOTDAMN! I would be running Mild with normal turbo for towing, on the lowest setting above stock. 60hp right?
03-15-2011, 07:50 PM
#23
"Gomer Pyle"
Thread Starter
OK Fellas, sorry for the late reply but I just got home after traveling 4400 miles since last Thursday. By the way, thats with 3 drivers.
All of the below are results traveling with a 2011 Coachman 18' Travel Trailer having a dry weight of approx 4k lbs. I had another 1k lbs in it during the tow.
The route of travel was on reasonably flat ground. I did not travel in any mountains what-so-ever.
I started the trip with the Agressive Turbo Tuning loaded into the Mini Maxx. I tried both stock setting and Mild settings only. Mild actually netted a better mpg and it held steady at about 9.6 hand calculated.
I then loaded the Mild No Turbo Tuning and tried that. I did most of the hand calculations on the stock setting and it was almost identical to what I had above but came in at 10.1 mpg.
I pretty much went to empty on every tank, filled up at each stop, and did no city driving other than to get gas and to rest. 99% of the time I had the cruise set at 73mph in 70mph zones and 68mph in 65 mph zones.
As far as performance between the two tunes, on the Mild no turbo, it downshifted on even the slightest hill. With the Agggressive turbo tuning, it never down shifted once and pulled greatly. With the aggressive turbo tuning the highest EGT's I saw was about 1140deg. That was on MILD. Also on mild I say peak boost hit 33 on occassion but just momentarily. With the same tune but on the stock setting I saw about 200 degrees lower on EGT's but that was due to only seeing a max boost of 28.
I have 4:10 gears in my truck. I also ran the exhaust brake and Tow mode the entire time.
I guess my recommendation in similar scenarios would be to run the Aggressive Turbo Tuning. I was not beating on the truck, had ZERO torque converter shudder, and tried my very best to obtain good mpg's. I was extremely happy with this tune. The Non-Aggro pretty much sucks for towing in my book. It was 100% night and day difference. I cannot wait to do this again with my suncoast set-up, head studs, and nozzles.
Any other questions please let me know?? Also, thanks for all the replies/advise
All of the below are results traveling with a 2011 Coachman 18' Travel Trailer having a dry weight of approx 4k lbs. I had another 1k lbs in it during the tow.
The route of travel was on reasonably flat ground. I did not travel in any mountains what-so-ever.
I started the trip with the Agressive Turbo Tuning loaded into the Mini Maxx. I tried both stock setting and Mild settings only. Mild actually netted a better mpg and it held steady at about 9.6 hand calculated.
I then loaded the Mild No Turbo Tuning and tried that. I did most of the hand calculations on the stock setting and it was almost identical to what I had above but came in at 10.1 mpg.
I pretty much went to empty on every tank, filled up at each stop, and did no city driving other than to get gas and to rest. 99% of the time I had the cruise set at 73mph in 70mph zones and 68mph in 65 mph zones.
As far as performance between the two tunes, on the Mild no turbo, it downshifted on even the slightest hill. With the Agggressive turbo tuning, it never down shifted once and pulled greatly. With the aggressive turbo tuning the highest EGT's I saw was about 1140deg. That was on MILD. Also on mild I say peak boost hit 33 on occassion but just momentarily. With the same tune but on the stock setting I saw about 200 degrees lower on EGT's but that was due to only seeing a max boost of 28.
I have 4:10 gears in my truck. I also ran the exhaust brake and Tow mode the entire time.
I guess my recommendation in similar scenarios would be to run the Aggressive Turbo Tuning. I was not beating on the truck, had ZERO torque converter shudder, and tried my very best to obtain good mpg's. I was extremely happy with this tune. The Non-Aggro pretty much sucks for towing in my book. It was 100% night and day difference. I cannot wait to do this again with my suncoast set-up, head studs, and nozzles.
Any other questions please let me know?? Also, thanks for all the replies/advise
03-15-2011, 08:56 PM
#24
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If you have 4.10's, you're biggest enemy is the 73mph. Every engine has a sweet spot, but with towing that trailer using 4.10's at 73mph, I guarantee you that you're nowhere near the sweet spot. It should be somewhere around 1650-1750 rpm.
With 3.73's, I could watch my mpg's go through the floor between 65 and 70. 72 to 75 was even worse, on the order of 6 to 8 mpg less than at 65 empty. If you are looking for mpg towing, you're going to be in the 55-60 mph range with 4.10's.
My '02 with 4.10's only got 13 to 14 empty anyway, and that was in the days before dpf. Yes, the transmission o/d ratio has changed since '02, but it still is relevant.
With 3.73's, I could watch my mpg's go through the floor between 65 and 70. 72 to 75 was even worse, on the order of 6 to 8 mpg less than at 65 empty. If you are looking for mpg towing, you're going to be in the 55-60 mph range with 4.10's.
My '02 with 4.10's only got 13 to 14 empty anyway, and that was in the days before dpf. Yes, the transmission o/d ratio has changed since '02, but it still is relevant.
03-16-2011, 08:31 AM
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Chris
03-16-2011, 08:50 AM
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I would also agree with that....but still, a 5K lb load from a TT shouldn't create that much wind. I mean I haul 30K lb tractors and equipment that sticks up sometimes to 13'6"...or higher sometimes....and has multiple sharp corners, braces, etc, pretty much as bad as you can get aerodynamically, and I get roughly the same mileage as the guys pulling TT's??
Chris
Chris
03-16-2011, 08:52 AM
#29
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I know my 18' TT at 5K lbs puts as much of a load on the truck as a 15K lb dump trailer, on the flats. Not sure thru the hills. TT's are amazingly hard to pull, its why I laugh when 1/2 ton's pull them becuase "it's in my tow rating".
03-16-2011, 02:26 PM
#30
Chapter President
Interesting note in the testing here was how the mileage was slightly improved even though you had the truck downshift more. Lugging the engine down in higher gears doesn't give better mileage. Its more about what RPM the engine is most efficient and keeping it there for optimum economy.