Expected MPG: 6.4/3.73

[Rockcrawlindude]

6,300 lb trailer 35”s pulled 1 hour across town.

 

[MEGA HO]

...
That really had me scratching my head. A week later, long after dropping the trailer and doing a bunch more driving I clicked over the the “lifetime” trip B and it was now reading 13.8

So, it is an ongoing reading and at some point old data falls off (50mile? 100mile?)

This. My GM work truck with 6.0 even had an option to select the mileage over which to calculate the MPG, I may not remember it right but I think it was something like 50, 100 and 200 kms, 100 kms was the default setting I believe.

 

[Redfour5]

Just Did around a 700 mile trip to Canada pulling a 28 foot around 6700 lb travel trailer, lots of mountains. I have the 3.73 gearing and now 5800 total miles on the meter. The lyometer is right at 8.4 to 8.6 mpg in mountainous driving. Around 45 to 50% of my mileage is towing. The rest is transfer station, light off roading on Nat Forest roads, occasional runs to get heavy stuff. I live in the mountains and seldom do any on the flat mileage runs under 3500 feet. I usually get 15 to 17 mpg WITHOUT the trailer mix of highway local driving. The truck HATES city driving for good mpg, best mileage is around 60 to 65 mph steady flat runs hitting 17 and change mpg's. It is really too much of a beast to be a daily driver imho. I was fine with 1500's as a daily driver, but this thing crosses lines...literally in parking lots and in other ways, turns on a football field, no dimes. It likes the open road. I have a Jeep Renegade as a daily driver. I has been a pleasant surprise...

I've had my 2500 since early March and the engine gets better over time. The rpms love 2600 to about 3300 rpm driving/towing and it purrs in that range on cruise control 65 mph to 70 mph mostly flat runs towing. It will kick up to 4500 occasionally in cruise and hold speed on most hills in tow/haul and go to 5000 plus rpms if I step on it. Under some circumstances like a long steep uphill, i'll get a roar with the 6.4 that appears to be the cooling fan. I did hear that on the TFL Trucks video run up the Ike on a fully loaded 6.4 with 3.73 gearing. The engine is still evolving and getting smoother over time I am noticing, seems like mileage is slightly improving also. I actually expected worse mileage than I'm getting and am very surprised how well it competes with the 1500's mpg wise. Overall its not as good, but is surprisingly closer than I certainly expected. I've done some exact tracking of mileage earlier and it was within .4 of the lyometer on the bad side. As I get more mileage on the truck I'll check again here on a trip.

Having come off a 2021 1500 with the 5.7 and a 3.21 (It wasn't up to the new trailer even though within specs) AND a 2015 5.7 with 3.92, I can say that the towing mileage is virtually identical for all three trucks with the edge going to the 2500 with the 6.4 towing the same trailer. With the 1500's, on the 2021, the 8 speed transmission basically compensated for the different gearing (3.21) but tows approximately the same with the tranny working harder with the 3.21 and a bit less so in the 3.92 gears. A surpisingly similar tow. I'd give the edge to the 3.92 gearing on a 1500 towing as I occasionally would see 9 mpg with that set up, but not for long on the lyometer and with a smaller 22 foot trailer at 5500 lbs. Not with this 28 foot trailer at 6700 lbs.

 

[Redfour5]

I just went to Fuelly.com You can join for free and put your gas mileage in from fill ups. In looking/scanning on the 6.4 Hemi, it appears that MOST people with 6.4's in 2500's gen 4.5 with the 8 speed ZF transmission are hitting between 12 and 13 mpg average overall. Of interest is that the 8 speed ZF appears to give about one mpg better mileage than the previous transmission based upon years of trucks reported knowing that gen 4.5 was the first with the 8 speed.

So, just an observation from a bored retiree on a rainy day in Montana. Someone else might want to drill down more than my cursory scan if they felt like it.

 

[RAM Stag]

I just went to Fuelly.com You can join for free and put your gas mileage in from fill ups. In looking/scanning on the 6.4 Hemi, it appears that MOST people with 6.4's in 2500's gen 4.5 with the 8 speed ZF transmission are hitting between 12 and 13 mpg average overall. Of interest is that the 8 speed ZF appears to give about one mpg better mileage than the previous transmission based upon years of trucks reported knowing that gen 4.5 was the first with the 8 speed.

So, just an observation from a bored retiree on a rainy day in Montana. Someone else might want to drill down more than my cursory scan if they felt like it.

I am getting about 15 - 16 mpg everyday driving, with the 6-speed tranny (I think). Bought the truck used and can't look op my VIN on the RAM website to see what tranny, gears, etc. it has. About 18 - 19 on long highway stretches.

 

[LateToTheParty]

I am getting about 15 - 16 mpg everyday driving, with the 6-speed tranny (I think). Bought the truck used and can't look op my VIN on the RAM website to see what tranny, gears, etc. it has. About 18 - 19 on long highway stretches.

You should absolutely be able to look up your build sheet as well as your window sticker with the VIN. It doesn't matter that it was used. I just looked up both for my old 2016 and both displayed as expected.

 

[dieselscout80]

You should absolutely be able to look up your build sheet as well as your window sticker with the VIN. It doesn't matter that it was used. I just looked up both for my old 2016 and both displayed as expected.

I think i only goes back 5 years IIRC.

 

[RAM Stag]

You should absolutely be able to look up your build sheet as well as your window sticker with the VIN. It doesn't matter that it was used. I just looked up both for my old 2016 and both displayed as expected.

Yeah but it just tells me the info isn't available.

 

[RAM Stag]

Yeah but it just tells me the info isn't available.

I will give it another shot. Would love to have that info for sure.

 

[dieselscout80]

I will give it another shot. Would love to have that info for sure.

When I was truck shopping last fall / spring I found a 2018 Ram that would not come up on either the Ram VIN Window sticker or Build sheet websites. I never come figure it out. The CarFax report displayed the Window sticker though.

 

[TinGoatTravelers]

I’m getting over 28 MPG in mine!!!*


*had just filled and went several miles downhill, not towing, wind at my back…you can see (bottom left) average over 5K miles is 11.2…

 

[Gondul]

Another trip up to WI and back to Flori-duh.
Just me, the wife and luggage (and several cases of beer on the way back)

80mph when I could barring traffic or up hills.
1 tank worth of gas driving around and seeing the sites...

Total of 3,093.4 miles
Total of 50:21:47 hrs.

Lie-o-meter claims 15.5 mpg
Hand Calculated is 14.6 mpg

 

[raven_dt]

500 mile round trip, towing our 9.6k TT, I24 up to I75 (Pigeon Forge) and back: 8.2mpg hand calc. This includes the run over Monteagle 6% grade ~4 miles.

 

[Gondul]

Drove out to pick up our travel trailer.

One way distance of about 3,000 miles (I'll correct/update later)
Drove at 80 pretty much as often as I could (except where it was 80 and I did 85)

Just me in the truck and some odd/ends I brought from home that I had on hand so as not buy duplicate...let's be generous and say another 200# of stuff.
Trip meter and Avg fuel use was reset at every fill up.
Cruise control was used during long flat stretches of road as even with the update, the CC is rather aggressive when I slow down.

Lie-ometer average MPG was 15.04 for 13 fill ups.
Fuelly average MPG was 14.39 for 13 fill ups.
Average difference of .65 between computer and actual calculation

Now the fun part will be driving back home... lol

 

[Grateful Dad]

Spring break trip last week, Atlanta area to Florida Gulf Coast and back pulling our 5v’r:

7.4 Atlanta to Montgomery
7.6 Montgomery to Navarre
11.3 week there (short trips & traffic)
7.5 Navarre to Montgomery
6.4 Montgomery to Newnan

On the Interstate/open road the truck consistently averages 7.5 mpg with my driving style and our 5v’r. The 6.4 mpg leg was in a sustained 10 mph headwind with gust strong enough to make the hood flutter enough to hold my attention, we were chasing the tail end of the storms that moved thru South/Middle Georgia, same one that ran thru Augusta during the Masters. The Hemi was working but I could go as fast as I wanted, just came at the expense of poor fuel economy.

 

[Redfour5]

Looking at a 2020 6.4 4wd CC short bed with 3.73 (open). What should I expect in *typical* driving? Towing a 6K travel trailer? thx

After reading the thread, some jibes with my results. I do mostly mountainous driving as a difference. I'd say driving in town to home (7 miles) I'm in the 13 range 50% highway/50% in town without the trailer. The truck engine loves driving down the highway at speed steady... It does not like in town driving at all and mpg drops like a rock. I have around a 7K 28 foot travel trailer. Unloaded, driving a hundred miles highway driving in the mountains, I hit between 15 and 16 regularly. I NEVER saw anything better than maybe 12 going down hill with a tail wind towing... On average towing usually in the 65 to 70 mph range, I'm hitting 9 at best doing any hills 7.5 to 8.5 mpg. We have 80 mph on the highways. Of interest is how close the mpg towing is to my old 5.7 Hemis (1500's). I had both a 3.92 (2015) and a 3.21 (2021). The mpg towing is surprisingly close to the 6.4 Hemi. That was a pleasant surprise. I drive with 87 octane pretty much. I've done both the liometer and calculated with some 10ths of a gallon difference usually the liometer getting better... Except for town driving (the truck is NOT my daily driver) I almost always have at least one small pass I have to go over, so 10 miles up and down).

All things considered, I'd say I have been pleasantly surprised by the mileage compared to my expectations when buying... I put 8500 miles on mine first year as it is primarily my tow beast and I use it for transfer stations duty and Home depot runs for...stuff. As an aside, the best tow mileage I ever got was with the 1500's towing a pop up camper at around 1900 lbs loaded. It was the same width and exactly the same height as the 1500 in back so effectively an extension of the bed about 15 feet behind. I used to get 20 mpg, better than without the trailer very often even in the mountains. It was a strange but pleasant experience.

 

[gimmie11s]

Spring break trip last week, Atlanta area to Florida Gulf Coast and back pulling our 5v’r:

7.4 Atlanta to Montgomery
7.6 Montgomery to Navarre
11.3 week there (short trips & traffic)
7.5 Navarre to Montgomery
6.4 Montgomery to Newnan

On the Interstate/open road the truck consistently averages 7.5 mpg with my driving style and our 5v’r. The 6.4 mpg leg was in a sustained 10 mph headwind with gust strong enough to make the hood flutter enough to hold my attention, we were chasing the tail end of the storms that moved thru South/Middle Georgia, same one that ran thru Augusta during the Masters. The Hemi was working but I could go as fast as I wanted, just came at the expense of poor fuel economy.

Towing certainly makes these trucks, regardless of engine, less than efficient.

How big/heavy is the fifth wheel?

 

[Grateful Dad]

Towing certainly makes these trucks, regardless of engine, less than efficient.

How big/heavy is the fifth wheel?

34’, this trip probably 9,700 lbs (I didn’t scale it this time but I’ve scaled it enough to feel pretty confidant in my estimate). 5v’r is 12.5’ high iirc.

 

[Sam 15]

I will give it another shot. Would love to have that info for sure.

Try this site for equipment listing. Just put in your vin

FCA RAM

fcacommunity.force.com

 

[Gondul]

So back home...

Trailer mileage shows 2, 996.2
Trip meter shows 2,998.6

Lie-ometer was on average .5mpg lower than Fuelly on per fill up and daily calculations.
Over the 8 day period driving back from Oregon, the difference between the two dropped to just under a 2% difference.

About mid 6 for the western states and mountains.
Mid 7 through the plains until I hit 30+ mph head winds which dropped it down to a solid 6.
Then down I24 & I75 it was pretty much 7.5

Having 3 five gallon cans of gas proved to be useful twice when we got to either a gas station were we simply could not get into or it was just stupid packed.