Lwiddis
near Bishop, California
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Joined: 08/12/2016
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"3 trips, so average -going down to Vegas with ca 7000lb of stuff I was averaging 11 mpg. Going back empty, I averaged 9 mpg."
The mysteries of towing.
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, 300 watt solar-parallel & MPPT, Trojan T-125s. TALL flag pole. Prefer USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state & county camps. Bicyclist! 14 year Army vet-11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad
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specta
utah
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Joined: 06/18/2001
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Why is gas mileage soo hard to figure out??
I took a road trip with the camper on my truck from Utah to Oregon, down the CA coast, back over the Sierra's thru NV and back home.
I averaged 8.7 mpg and I'm sure I experienced just about every driving condition other than snow.
Kenny
2011 Chevy 2500 HD 6.0L 4wd
Regular cab. The best looking trucks.
1995 Lance 945 Onan QG 2500 LP
6580 lb truck 10540 fully loaded
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Kayteg1
California > Nevada
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Joined: 06/18/2015
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I use fuelly, what you can see in my signature and on the site I make notes about changing conditions. When about 90% of my mileage is with camper, few miles were empty and the site allows you to make % of city driving indication.
From 113 fillups, the worse was 9.4 mpg (with TC and boat) the best 16.23 when I drove from SF to LV empty (remember the winds?)
Than driving empty I kept 75 mph, instead usual 60 with camper.
The records also indicate that my mpg improved by like 5% once the truck passed 20,000 miles. Looks like this is when the engine finally broke-in.
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KD4UPL
Swoope, VA
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Joined: 03/16/2008
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It won't be much different than towing a trailer. A TC is a huge aerodynamic drag which decreases fuel efficiency. I used to get about 10 mpg with my Chevy diesel hauling my 11' TC. I get the exact same mileage using the same truck (with no camper) to pull 10,000 pounds of flatbed trailer and excavation equipment.
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deltabravo
Spokane, WA
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Joined: 09/08/2003
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Never makes sense to get all worked up about what kind of fuel mileage a given hauling / towing vehicle gets when it's doing its job of hauling or towing.
In the grand scheme of things, several MPGs difference doesn't make that big of a dent in the cost of fuel for a trip. If it does hurt that much (to a persons pocket book) they probably shouldn't be RVing in the first place.
Sorry to rain on the parade, but a friend told me this years ago, and I agree with it now.
My dually only gets about 10.5-11.5 hauling my 811 and a cargo trailer. It's a cost of having fun. I had a blast going to Colorado for a week this summer. It was about a 2500 mile trip. In the 11 years I've owned this truck, I've never been able to fuel up as cheaply as I did this summer. I'd run it down to 1/4 tank and still not spend over $58.00 to fill it.
Many previous trips, I'd hit the max limit of a given fuel stations "credit card limit" and have to run the card twice to fill up... which was upwards of $125.00 per fill up!
If my tow rig was also my daily driver, then I'd probably want something that got reasonable MPG as a daily driver.... but in my case, my truck is horrible on fuel as a daily driver.... it only gets 11.5-12, so I've always had a commuter car as my DD.
2009 Silverado 3500HD Dually, D/A, CCLB 4x4 (bought new 8/30/09)
2009 Arctic Fox 811 (bought new 11/9/09)
2018 Timber Ridge 24RLS (bought pre-owned 3/12/20)
2008 Haulmark 8.5x20 toy box trailer
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specta
utah
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Joined: 06/18/2001
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I don't drive to get the best gas mileage.
I drive to get there.
The gas mileage is what it is when I get back.
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bwlyon
64633
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Joined: 11/13/2018
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A good guesstimate is 8-10 mpg with a full size hard side camper slide in camper. Figure 12-15 mpg empty.
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specta
utah
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Joined: 06/18/2001
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deltabravo wrote: I've never been able to fuel up as cheaply as I did this summer.
Awesome isn't it. ![[emoticon]](https://forums.goodsamclub.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/biggrin.gif "biggrin")
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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specta wrote:Why is gas mileage soo hard to figure out??
It's IMPOSSIBLE to figure out when you don't own the truck yet.
I'm sure that's the case here. OP is trying to decide on what engine to get in his new truck based on MPG.
The reality is, the MPG I get will not be the same MPG as YOU get. Fuel economy can vary wildly from truck to truck even in the same model year even driven in the same conditions. What you haul, how you drive, and WHERE you drive, are all major factors. Someone with a light foot on flat ground will do much better than someone with a heavy foot in the mountains.
Putting 10-ply tires on half ton trucks since aught-four.
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Kayteg1
California > Nevada
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Joined: 06/18/2015
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deltabravo wrote:
In the grand scheme of things, several MPGs difference doesn't make that big of a dent in the cost of fuel for a trip. If it does hurt that much (to a persons pocket book) they probably shouldn't be RVing in the first place. .
"grand scheme" is not real life scheme.
Over the years I did own a lot of different RV.
Between bus conversion who on good day would make 5 mpg and was clumsy to drive, to Sprinter conversion who can make 25 mpg and zooms in traffic - the difference is HUGE.
I was always diesel fun for economical reasons. I always advise people who are shopping around to take piece of paper and pencil.
Estimate how many miles you plan to drive the truck before sale, estimate fuel cost for those years once for gas, once for diesel, summarize resale price difference and having numbers you can make educated decision.
When different MY will deliver different mpg, rule of thumb will make gasoline engine delivering 20-25% less mpg that comparable year diesel.
Obviously comparing 500 ft-lb gas engine with 1000 ft-lb diesel brings more to the table.
I have copy of receipt when in summer of 2017 I filled diesel for $1.99. That did not happen this summer.
![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/wXlAwy3.jpg)
* This post was
edited 09/17/20 10:00am by Kayteg1 *
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