1 ton diesel milage

I dreamin' of upgrading my ride...

I'd like to know real world mileage numbers on a diesel 4x4 one ton dually pickup truck. or anything with a similar weight.

I've had three fords in a row, after my '72 chevy PU rusted out in about 30 days. Any die hard ford guys made a change and are real happy?

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend
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"Karl Townsend" fired this volley in news:472b1fe0$0$68459$ snipped-for-privacy@auth.newsreader.octanews.com:

Karl, I have a good friend who's a free-lance mechanic/do-it-all. He recently bought a 1998 Dodge Ram dually, and did all the 'tricks' on it. Banks Turbo kit, oversized exhausts, some computer hacks with a third- party chip, and rear-end ratio set for his type of duty.

With 6500lb of trailer on the flats, he averages 16.5mpg. On the flats with no load, about 22mpg.

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

1996 Chevrolet, 6.5 diesel, box stock, crew cab, 4x4, automatic. On the highway at 65 mph I get a best of 16.9 mpg, around town it drops to just over 13.
Reply to
George

IIRC it will depend a good deal on the ratio at the rear end, or the overall available ratios, if you prefer. I was toying with an F450 at one point, and was advised in a diesel support forum that I'd be very unlikely to find an F450 that was not set up to be a fuel hog.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

Yea, I made that mistake with my current ride. 4.56 '93 F350 460cu.in. gas gets 8.5 in summer 7.0 in winter. I'll plan on a ratio in the high 3's and a standard tranny this time.

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

Depending on how much quality you require in a truck, and if you can wait a couple of years, Toyota is working on a HD diesel truck. I had a Chevy 6.5 turbo 3500 4x4 crew cab that got around 16 mpg ( when it was running ) in town and on the road at speeds below 75. Above 80 or so the mileage dropped to about 12 mpg.

YMMV

Reply to
Joe Blowe

Fords are set up so that every 10,000 miles when you are driving 65 mph, you can turn loose of all controls, and it will drive to the nearest Ford Service Center.

Steve, who's ducking and running

Reply to
SteveB

I have a Dodge 2500 Big Horn Heavy Duty Limited Edition model. 360 Cummins Turbo.

Right now, I'm at 26k, and people say they don't start getting the best mileage until 30k. Right now, it's just under 16 hwy. Gonna depend on the rear end mostly.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

I drive a 1997 7.3 litre turbodiesel F350 crew cab 4X4 with custom flat deck, 5 spd std, manual locking hubs, SRW. The exhaust is straight pipe, no cat or muffler and is reasonably quiet as the turbo eats up a fair bit of the noise. The truck weighs in at almost 8,000 lb without any payload. I can get 19 mpg, if I really take it easy on the pedal and with the front axle unlocked. With the front locked in and hard on the pedal, the fuel mileage drops to about 14 mpg. This truck accelerates as quick as most cars, which is incredible for the weight of the vehicle.

Reply to
Buy_Sell

Gonna depend on the rear end mostly.

Reply to
Buy_Sell

My 1/2 ton gets 25 Mpg in the mountains, and 30 Mpg down in the Valley. It is a Mercedes Turbo diesel wagon, rated at 1000Lbs cargo capacity with hydraulic suspension to keep it level. it works, I haul all kinds of heavy loads in it. I thought about getting another and shortening the roof to make an "El Camino Grande".

Reply to
Stupendous Man

OK, one obvious thing is a dually has 50% more tires on the road than a "singally'. The tire friction is a major component. If you doubt it, just feel a tire after a cruise on the highway.

As for rust, I had my current clunker treated with 3-rd party rustproofing, even though the dealer said I was wasting my money, etc. Well, it is practically 20 years old now, a 1989 model, and there is not one SPECK of rust on the body! That probably applies to vehicles you buy new, but I am a believer that this stuff works.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Chevys in the '70's did rust. I did a lot of "rust work" on my '76 Blazer. My '97 Chev pickup is now 10 years old, never been kept in a garage, is driven in salty metroland (though not a lot during winter) and it's still completely rust free.

Don't know anything about GM diesels, though. I've heard good things about Dodge + Cummins.

Reply to
Don Foreman

If it comes out looking like the one I saw online, Blech!

Exterior by tonka knockoff, interior by Barbie on acid.

Dunno where they are coming up with the styling cues, but they are managing to miss the mark for me.

No worries for them, though, as there are lots of kids out there with too much money and no taste.

Cheers Trevor Jones

Reply to
Trevor Jones

"Karl Townsend" wrote in news:472b1fe0$0$68459$ snipped-for-privacy@auth.newsreader.octanews.com:

I would _not_ get a used Ford with the 6.0L. Major problems with that motor. The new mill is to new for an opinion to be formed yet.

The Hummin Cummins in the Dodge is a hella motor, reliable as the sun,

300K is a breeze for the motor. (Cummins warrants the engine in any other application for 300K) My co-worker has a '98 4x4 2500 extra cab (5-speed) with the cummins. He's over 120K, has done absolutely _nothing_ to the engine other than oil and filters. Still runs like the day he bought it. He gets 19 around town and on the road unloaded, right at 17 when towing a ~30' 5-th wheel across the mountains. His maintenance on the truck so far is a battery replacement, front u-joint replacement, and the 5th gear shift fork broke, all of these items coming after 110K.

He has noticed of late, about a 1 mpg decrease in mileage since the new fuel formula was mandated.

Reply to
Anthony

"Karl Townsend" wrote in news:472b1fe0$0$68459$ snipped-for-privacy@auth.newsreader.octanews.com:

My '03.5 Dodge: 4WD, 4.10:1 differentials, 5.9L Cummins, auto tranny with

0.69:1 OD

Its mileage depends greatly upon both average speed and load carried - from

10 mpg towing 7+ tons @ 70 MPH to 25 mpg unloaded @ 55 MPH.

If you're going to be towing 7+ tons up 6% (or steeper) grades, get a manual tranny with a r-e-a-l-l-y low first gear.

BTDT - pulled that 7+ ton fifth-wheel up the 10%, 25 MPH Speed Limit, grade to Mount Rushmore and had to go to Low Range 4WD to do it.

As SteveB said, Cummins diesels don't get "broken in" until ~30,000 miles. As it is, my truck's fuel mileage is still improving.

Reply to
RAM³

I've got a 2000 F250 with the 7.3L, 6speed manual, 3.73 rear end. I've been keeping track of the millage since it was new. In summer it's

19-20 mpg, winter it falls off to 16-18 mpg. I attribute this to thinner winter diesel and the cold weather warmup features programmed in. Below 40f the idle kicks up and a butterfly valve closes in the exhaust to get the engine up to temp and keep it there in cold weather. The colder it is out, the more time that pesky valve stays closed. Engine wise it needed a crank sensor early on (about 30,000 miles) and a water pump at around 65,000. In the winter I plug in the block heater at night, it's on a timer to come on about three hours before I typically leave for work, it's still cold blooded but gives heat allot faster.

Paul

Reply to
Paul

On Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:28:30 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, Anthony quickly quoth:

I taslked with a guy in a Sacramento, CA dealership and he told me, frankly, that the newer Ford diesel was a problem child. Only one vehicle from that dealership from '03-06 didn't come back for repair. The rest did, or were towed in. He mentioned cutting up a larger block and redoing the crank for a smaller engine and it didn't quite work out.

I've been a Ford man since I was 9 but I'm moving into a Toyota pickemup at the end of the year. Ford has changed, unfortunately for the worse. You might as well buy a Chebby or a Mercedes as a Ford nowadays. (If you're truly masochistic. )

That's damned good mileage for a big, heavy rig like that. Is that the LOUD Cummins? Ford had a quiet diesel, then went to a loud one which sounded like it was falling apart. I never looked into it deep enough to find out which engines they were running.

The new diesel is going for $3.499/gal here this week.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Reply to
Stuart & Kathryn Fields

"Trevor Jones" wrote

A couple of years ago, IIRC, a Toyota came out out that everyone was raving about. It had large fender flares that looked like were held on with 1 1/2" head bolts. It looked like Clark Griswold's station wagon in Family Vacation.

Why anyone would want to use such things and call them "design" is beyond me. Looks like something unfinished. Someone didn't know how to do bodywork, so just bolted on some fenders. Yech.

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

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