I need some input from qzilla, or anyone who has towed a heavy rig with the Quad Max Milage, on which program to use.

I am getting ready to go on a 1500 mile round trip towing a 10,000 lb fifth wheel. I will be going from northern Calif to southern Utah across Nevada. It is mostly mountain and high desert driving from 4,000 to 6,000 ft. I will be cruising at 60 to 65 max and 1600 to 1700 rpm's.The only times I should get above 1700 is when the tranny is shifting and when I have to pull some of the summits in 3rd. I drive conservatively to get mpg's. I never put my foot into it unless I have to.

I only make this trip once per year so this is my best chance to get a good milage test while towing with the max. I have a good baseline while running stock from last year to compare with.

So which program should I use? The "City MPG" because it is supposed to be good at lower rpm's or the "Standard MPG"? Which one will give me the best mpg on this trip?

 

Towing that wieght I'd go standard. If your getting 1700 rpms or just above pulling summits wow thats amazing I'll pulling 2400rpm 3rd gear at 60 mpg up 6% hear in AZ and mpgs are last thing I'm worried about lol.
I do better on my standard pulling mpgs and power on pl2 40 hp and thats pulling 8000lbs here.

 

Actually, when I have to down shift to 3rd gear I am reviving way above 1700. I'm not sure what the rpm's are then but 2400 sounds about right. On a 6 percent grade I have to use 3rd gear but most times I will also slow it down to 50 to 55 mph. Many of the summits accross Nevada are long 3-5% grades.

I know I'm getting crappy mileage while pulling the grades, but it all goes into the average. The downhill sides make me smile. There are something like 12 to 14 summits between my house and Cedar City. Last year I averaged 9.36 mpg going and a little better coming back. I just checked my records for the trip to, but didn't look closely at the return trip. I will do that before I leave.

 

Qzilla are you out there? 2 PM's sent.

 

Come on guys. There was 31 pages of posts on the max millage when it first came out and now there is only one of you that has towed with it? Nobody has tired the "highway" versus the "mpg" programs on the max milage??

I've called Quadzilla with this question and got 2 diiferent opinions. How about some real world input from someone who has done it.

I promise I will post the results of my trip.

 

I think I have used what your talking about if your talking about the 2 diff MPG tunes, one is for city(it's the same but kicks in earlier in RPMs and might cause additional engine noise on some 04.5+ models, didn't on mine 03). I liked them both and use the city tune as my #1 on my race box. If you don't mind the engine noise, if you even have it, use the city tune since they are basically the same.

 

I tow a 15K trailer with two jeeps on it and saw a consistent .5-1 MPG gain using the Max Mileage setting.

I have the full XZT with monitor and either kept it on stock or level 1(max mileage).

I get anywhere from 8.5 to 12 depending on many factors. I kept the speed to about 70 all the time which turns about 1850 RPMs in my case.

Average over my last trip from Houston to Moab, UT was 10. I got as high as 12 as I think one tank was nearly all downhill and cuising on flats.

Put it on the max mileage setting and it will get you better mileage when you are not into it for the hills.

Thanks,

AJy

 

Sorry I forgot to answer your question. I have not updated mine so I believe I still have the highway original tune.

Thanks,

Jay

 

Anyone else with towing time on the max milage?

 

I towed with my Desert Fox trailer (12K fully loaded) to the Oregon Coast and got slightly better mileage and performance from the Highway tune versus City. I use the City tune for my daily driving and commute to work though. See a solid 1-1.5 mpg increase everytime I switch to the city tune for commuting.

 

Mega, just curioous,. If I understand your set up, when you upgraded from the max milage to the X2 XZT you got to keep the max milage programs like the "CITY MPG" plus you got the new ones that come with the XZT??

Well I guess I am going to start with the Hwy program and run that on the way to Utah while towing. Then switch to the CITY MPG program and compare the off road hunting and fishing miles I put on the cummins (not towing) with last years records. Lots of slow speed driving involved there. Then I will leave it on the CITY MPG for the tow home.

I'll be gone about 6-7 weeks (somebodys got to do it) so I should be reporting my results by late September. Every tank will be hand calculated and I know the the milage factor I have to crank in because of my slighly larger than stock tires. I'm hoping I can give a good revieiw. I hope better than I'm seeing so far while running empty. I have a half tank on the Hwy program with no change and a half tank with the City program with .503 less mpg than stock. But I will be the first to say that is not enough mileage to get an accurate result. By the time I get back I'll have plenty of miles on the max.

 

OH, I forgot to thank all you guys for your input. I hope I can return the favor.

 

no problem thats what buds are for

 

Well folks, I am back from my trip and ready to report my results with the Max Milage module as promised. Let me preface my report with some info on the driving conditions. On both the 750 mile trip towing to Utah and returning to California there was no wind which was exactly the same conditions as my round trip last year running totaly stock. The terrain and my driving style is described in my first post. Again my speed was 60 to 65 mph except when I was pulling the summits where I usually dropped down to 50 to 55 mph. All calculations are by hand. The computer isn't even close.

TOWING MY 10,000 lb Fifth Wheel:
On the trip to Utah I used the "HWY MPG" program which is the standard program on the Max Milage Module. I got 10.352 MPG which is .983 MPG better than last years 9.369. So an approximately 1 MPG improvement is a 10% increase in MPG.

On the return trip I switched to the "CITY MPG" program and averaged 10.745 MPG which was a .74 MPG improvement over last years 10.005 MPG. That is a 7.4% improvement in MPG.


NON TOWING:
While we were in Utah we had to make an unplanned trip to southern California, 454 miles each way. Using the HWY MPG program on the trip to So Cal I got 20.536 MPG driving 64 to 67 miles per hour. That was driving my wife nuts as the speed limit on much of that route is 70 to 75 and we were being passed by big rigs and motorhomes. My best pervious non towing mpg's under similar conditions and speeds was 19.896 MPG. So the improvement was .64 MPG better than stock. That is only a 3.2 percent improvement.

On the return trip the milage went down about 1 MPG, but I had a lot crosswinds that surely affected the results, so I am not using that result.

I also put about 700 miles driving around the mountain on the City MPG program . Some of the driving was slow off road stuff and some on hwy but I really don't feel like I have a good "stock' baseline to compare with because the roads and speeds are so inconsistant. I'll just say that the milage ranged from 13 to 16 MPG which is pretty much what i was seeing last year when totaly stock.

So bottom line for me is I will keep this Module because it gives me a 10% improvement on "HWY MPG" when I am towing 10,000 lbs. I tow a lot so it will pay for itself quickly.

However, I was very disapointed in the non towing result of 3.2% as opposed to the advertized 8-12% improvement. If I didn't tow a trailer, I would be sending it back for a refund. Also as noted in my earlier posts, I don't feel I got great customer service in that I got 2 opposite answers to my inquirys about which mod to use when towing when I called Quadzilla and I never did get a response from qzilla on this forum. I have seen that some of you have gotten quick response from qzilla which was one of the reasons I decided to go with their product. But it didn't happen for me.

 

Great write up! Thanks for the input. Hopefully Q-zilla has a reasonable excuse for the lack of customer service. Like vacation or something. HA HA.
I will look into this Max mileage tuner as my next upgrade. Like the idea of not adding too much power to a stock 48re.