Towing: 6 MPG @ 70 MPH

Yeah I never got the mpg calc either. Makes sense to do it a few times so you can see what you get at a few different speeds or different gears. But after that it's like, why does it matter? If I can make it to the (reasonable) destination on a tank at the speed I want, I'm good.

 

I guess if you want excellent mileage and amazing horsepower , torque and towing capacity , go electric .

 

Equating mileage to range, I'm sure you would have similar if not worse issues. And limited places to recharge, along with long charge times.

 

I think it might be your modifications OP 6mpg seems really low to me. Last week I helped a friend tow a piece of Farm equipment that was a decently weighted load. Trailer and equipment was 9245 pounds at the CAT Scale. Towed it 100 miles and hand calculated 9.6 mpg with my truck and that was with hitting numerous grades. I used a weight distributing hitch as well.

 

I don’t think weight is the issue between your scenario and his. I think the big difference is aerodynamics and drag.

 

Unless you have a hypertech to account for the larger tires and adjust for speed change wouldn't your odometer be off as well? Or are you not talking about going off odometer and truly hand calculating each trip?

 

It doesn't take a quantum mechanic to realize that changing gasoline into work is going to roughly double if you add 2X the weight to the engine load.

 

You're correct.
If you have larger tires and your speedo is off, so is your ODO.
For me, my tires are 6% taller than stock. (255/70/18 to 275/65/20)
So lets say I'm checking my mileage. Hypothetically:
If my odometer says I've traveled 250 miles since I last filled up, I multiply 250 x .06. That equals 15. So we add 15 to 250 and get an actual mileage of 265. I put 20 gallons in the tank.
If you don't factor in the 6% difference, you would see 12.5 MPG. If you do factor in the difference, you see 13.25 MPG.


Yes, that's a small difference but overall it can make a large difference especially if you're concerned about MPG.

 

Yeah I quit messing with it not long ago. Especially because I generally didn't experience much of a difference no matter what I did.
Drive in beast mode? 12 MPG.
Drive 70mph? 14 mpg.
Drive 80mph? 12 mpg.
Drive all city? 12 mpg.

 

Ok thats what I was thinking you meant by adding in the 6%. It's a truck, ain't much you can do to improve MPG's...

 

You are ripping and a tearing that might be something to do with it lol