First decent road trip for my Cummins.

[Marveltone]

Last fall, as maybe a few on this forum may remember, I bought an '05 Dodge Ram 2500 CTD for my various truck duties. Throughout the fall, winter and spring, I have hauled firewood and tractor and boat all over the county, and while generally impressed with the power put out by the 5.9 Cummins, I haven't really had a chance to let it stretch its legs with a decent load for more than an hour at a time.

Enter Paul. Paul is my oldest son. He just graduated from high school and joined a band. They have been working hard all Summer and somehow managed to get signed to play at Sonshine. Sonshine is a major Christian music festival in Willmar, Mn. We live in Warroad... the opposite end of the state. I eagerly awaited this trip as a chance to pull out 24ft, 6000 lbs. camper for a 520 mile round trip.

For reference, last time I pulled this camper, I had a 1994 GMC 1500 Suburban w/5.7l engine. I averaged 6.5 mpg with that configuration, struggled in headwinds and dreaded any little hill that presented itself before me, so was hoping to do much better. I wasn't disappointed.

I averaged 60 mph for most of the trip and even pulled 65 for a couple hours of interstate each way, so I wasn't necessarily poking along, but I wasn't in any races either. Just making good time. My Dodge has the automatic, so I put it in tow mode and took off. I immediately noticed that the Dodge never even hinted at downshifting out of overdrive, whether we were bucking a headwind or going up hill. The turbo would just spool up and the cruise control would keep it within one mph from where I had it set, no exceptions. Another thing I noticed was I could actually pass slower motorists with relative ease. Even so, I tried keeping a light touch on the peddle, as I don't have a transmission gauge yet and I don't want to wreck the tranny by doing stupid stunts.

My wife commented on the extremely smooth ride, once we had a decent load on the truck. For the record, we use an equalizer hitch, so we can transfer some weight to the front axle for handling purposes, but I doubt this truck really needed much help in that regard, as everything looked pretty level when it was first hooked up. At any rate, I cranked a little pressure on the equalizer just to be sure.

MPG? Wow! What a difference! The old Suburban got 6.5 mpg, the Cummins got 11. Even with the higher price of diesel, we were definitely money ahead for the trip, as well as a much higher level of confidence in the ability of our tow rig to get us there without undue stress or overheating due to running too close to the rated limits of operation.

Now I'm looking for an excuse to go out again!

Joe

 

[Fordman1981]

Good looking truck I've never had a Cummings Dodge my Dad had one shortly a 97 it pulled well but was not very happy with the auto trans of those years 4 speeds just wasn't enough in my opinion. 11 mpg with that load seems real good like i said Good luck and congrats on your truck:thumbsup:

 

[sandman2234]

My Dad also bought one, but opted for the manual transmisson. His is a basic truck with the frills being a/c and power brakes, lol. It is extended cab so he has some room to throw his junk, maybe a change of clothes, dry socks, rubber boots, etc. His is a 2001 and as of the last time I talked to him, it had just under 40K for mileage and has never been over 70mph (ever!)He bought the truck when his 1/2 ton put him in harms way due to not enough braking power pulling a stock trailer. His is the 2500, not the 3500 like yours but still an amazing truck.
What rear end gear ratio did you have in your old Chevy? My 91 pulls a camper fine but the 2001 with a taller gear is scared to death when it comes to hooking up a trailer. Definitely not even close to the same truck, lol.
David from jax

 

[Dmace]

Nice truck!

I would have expected a little more mpg's pulling a small camper. What do you average empty? Maybe it's time for a new air filter and exhaust. :thumbsup:

I can average 9-10 mpg pulling my 27ft travel trailer loaded to about 5500-6000lbs with a bed full of firewood and 4 people in the truck. That's with a 4x4 HEMI 3.73 rear and stock besides a K&N filter.

 

[Marveltone]

Sandman, my old Chevy had 4.10 gears, so it was never really meant to tow anything other than small utility trailers. I"m afraid my camper and a ful load of people overloaded the poor thing!

Dmace, my truck gets between 15 and 17 mpg empty, depending on how I'm driving. Typical winter stop and go with lots of warm-up time will be 11.5. My immediate thoughts on my current mileage tend to be that most people exaggerate, or inflate their economy a bit, or they go by the rather optimistic computer generated figures on the overhead console. Maybe I'm totally wrong on this and I'm not getting the mileage I should.

I did change the air filter (NAPA Gold) before the trip and noticed that a previous owner had carved a big 6"X6" hole in the bottom of the air box (I'm guessing to help it breath more?), so it shouldn't be starving at that end too much, but the exhaust is totally stock, as is the rest of the truck. I don't feel the need for any more power or added expenses on something I already paid $20,000 for. Would a K&N filter really make that much of a difference? Would the considerable cost of a new exhaust really pay? I'm a blue-collar wage earner who has to justify every dollar.

For what it's worth, I'm running Mobil Delvac 15-40 oil, tires are Michelin M+S rated highway tread, and we had about 1000lbs of people and gear added to the weight of the camper, but that's still only a combined payload of 7000 lbs.

My brother, who owns an '03 Cummins said I should expect 12 mpg while towing my rig. Should I be concerned about one mpg? Seems like a lot of nit-picking to me. :confused2:

 

[oliver1555]

The K&N filter will make a lot of difference - in the amount of dirt that gets into your engine. The stock filter box is good for around 400 horses. I'd plug the hole in the bottom of the box so it draws outside air, which will be cooler than the air from under the hood. Do some research on K&N and you will see they make a very good addition to any trash can. Dodge will void a warranty if a Cummins powered pickup comes in with oil consumption problems and a K&N filter.

 

[Marveltone]

The K&N filter will make a lot of difference - in the amount of dirt that gets into your engine. The stock filter box is good for around 400 horses. I'd plug the hole in the bottom of the box so it draws outside air, which will be cooler than the air from under the hood. Do some research on K&N and you will see they make a very good addition to any trash can. Dodge will void a warranty if a Cummins powered pickup comes in with oil consumption problems and a K&N filter.

Thanks! More dirt? Point noted! :thumbsup: I'll pull out the pop-rivet gun and put a patch over the hole. I was wondering if it was doing any good or just making things worse.

Joe

 

[om21braz]

Dmace, my truck gets between 15 and 17 mpg empty, depending on how I'm driving. Typical winter stop and go with lots of warm-up time will be 11.5. My immediate thoughts on my current mileage tend to be that most people exaggerate, or inflate their economy a bit, or they go by the rather optimistic computer generated figures on the overhead console. Maybe I'm totally wrong on this and I'm not getting the mileage I should.

I once had a 05' as yours except it was a longbed/manual trans. It typically got 17-18 empty summer-time. Subtract 2-3mpg in cold weather. Never pulled something with the drag of a camper behind it to know what that would do - pulling approx. 4000-5000 lbs. on a landscape trailer would put it the 14-15mpg range. Truck was completely stock with a 4.10 rearend. Best mileage ever with it was between 20-21mpg on a beach trip with nothing in tow. Hand calculated was almost always 1.5mpg less than what the computer display was showing.
That said, I'd say you're in the ballpark fuel-mileage wise with most trucks of that type/year.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Nothing like a diesel for pulling. That said, it seems like your truck is on the low end of the MPG game. My 6.0L Ford would have easily did 14 mpg with that load. And my 08 Titan gas truck got nearly 10mpg pulling a 9,680# boat home in May from Tennessee, about 460 miles door to door.

It just may be your particular truck. Diesels are like that. Some will do better than other for whatever reason. Also, diesel fuel is not nearly as regulated as gas. My neighbor has a 07 Dmax and has taken 3 trips across the country and back pulling a 35' 5th wheel. He gets 11mpg average but on these 8,000 to 9,000 mile trips he will get into a tank where it falls off considerably, like 8mpg.

Chris

 

[schmism]

(nother data pt)

My 5.4L (gas) E350 gets 10mpg pulling 8000lbs (the loaded 20' equipment trailer) at 65mph on flat IL I-55.