Fuel usage of the diesels seems to be a topic of interest here, so I thought I'd post this- Drove from Kamiah Idaho to Helena, MT today towing a 27 foot camper that weighs about 6500 lbs as is. Can't remember the exact distance, and I am too free kin' tired to go out to the truck and look, but it was between 250 and 300 miles- Got 11.1 MPG according to the on board computer which checks out dead nuts on when I fuel up. Drove about 50 MPH over Lolo Pass and had bad cross winds from Missoula to Helena and drove 65 MPH on that portion.

2011 duramax towing a very similar trailer over 5,000 miles from the plains to the Rockies I get right at 10.something. That's towing fast. If I drop down to 55, MPG shoots up quite a little bit.

That travel trailer is a bit of a kite, eh?

how many miles on the truck now? Just guess - no need to go out to look!

I can't remember single wheels or dually?

Mine's an '11. Just blasted up to Fbx and back last weekend, mostly at 70 mph and mostly empty. Got ~ 18 mpg.

I know you were talking to Royce, but I have something like 55k on mine. The TT is like pulling a kite, weight just doesn't matter as much as surface area.

That was my point.

MPGs should improve for Royce as the motor gets broken in.

They should but I didn't see it on my truck. To tell you the truth, I think as the DPF ages and becomes filled with ash, regen frequency increases and mileage goes down.

That truck has a grand total of three thousand, two hundred miles on it-But will get a lot more on it this summer-

Haven't had it on a decent road trip, but it looks like it wants to get around 19-20 without the trailer. I have a cap and rack on it which probably costs me a little in mileage.

Here is a picture of the outfit- If you look closely you can see the rack on the topper- (I phone picture)

When I went to Arctic Man a few weeks ago I rode with a friend of mine. He's got a 07 Dodge Ram 3500 with the Cummins diesel motor in it.

He pulled a 28 foot travel trailer that weighed 7K+, had 2 long track Ski Doo Summits on the sled bed mounted on the bed of his truck with my Honda generator, a half dozen 5 gallon fuel cans (full). All up, I'd guess he was pulling close to 9k lbs and he was getting somewhere around 15-16 mpg.

I could not believe how good that thing was on fuel towing all that weight. He had no problem passing slower traffic either and I couldn't even tell he was towing anything. I've another friend with basically the same truck (04) and he gets 15-17 mpg pulling his enclosed trailer fully loaded with 4 sleds and fuel. He told me he gets 20-24 mpg empty.

I've always told myself I don't need a diesel but with that kind of mileage and power, I am considering buying a Ram 2500 in the not too distant future.

I suspect that Dodges get better fuel mileage than the Fords. In the town I live in, the same dealer sells Dodge that sells Chevy and he is a crook in my opinion, so Ford was my only choice if I wanted to buy locally.

Royce

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It was just an observation I made, I'm actually a big fan of the Ford pickups.

Good luck in your search for a new truck.

Hauled 5 horses in a steel gooseneck to Healy from Kenai and back a couple years ago. Truck was not fully broken in yet; don't recall miles at the time.

Weighed across cert. scales at 22,100 lbs; 12+ mpg.


FWIW.