HO vs non-HO MPG

[GPurcell01]

2021 Ram 3500 HO with almost 7k miles.
I am averaging mid 17's leveled on 37's. Stock I was up in the 18's


My father has a 2021 Ram 2500 SO with over 3k miles.
He averages 19.8 leveled on stock tires. No change with the leveling kit.


I do way more highway driving than he does and he has a heavier foot. His is in the city, mine isn't.

 

[gpattikjr]

Looks like a 2mpg difference unloaded with 3.73s.

 

[GBB]

2021 3500 DRW HO with 3.73…empty 15 if I’m lucky and 10~11 towing. 15,500 miles.

 

[MikeXM]

2020 3500 3.73 DRW HO
12.4 Total Average
15.4 Best Tank
9.9 Worse Tank while Towing

 

[gimmie11s]

Looks like a 2mpg difference unloaded with 3.73s.

More like 2mpg between HO and SO.

The 2 posters above (GBB and MikeXM) are getting just slightly worse mpg than my 4.10 DRW and they are both 3.73.

 

[gpattikjr]

More like 2mpg between HO and SO.

The 2 posters above (GBB and MikeXM) are getting just slightly worse mpg than my 4.10 DRW and they are both 3.73.

Yup. Thats what I'm referring to.

 

[jeffn]

2020 3500 3.73 DRW HO
12.4 Total Average
15.4 Best Tank
9.9 Worse Tank while Towing

strangely comforting to know my MPG is not an outlier. 15mpg not towing on a good tank, 10-12 towing. I did get 18mpg on one trip to SoCal down I-5 with cruise control set to 68 and going as light as possible on the throttle. 4.10 for me

 

[Dirtbiker70X]

2020 3500 4.11 DRW H.O.

Best tank 17.2
Worst tank towing (20k 5th wheel) 7.2
Typical towing (20k 5th wheel) 9.0
Average mixed driving hovers around 13.5 - 14

I drive like an old person most of the time (however I did find the speed limiter is set at 103!)

 

[MikeXM]

More like 2mpg between HO and SO.

The 2 posters above (GBB and MikeXM) are getting just slightly worse mpg than my 4.10 DRW and they are both 3.73.

Yep. To everyone who asks what to get with their dually I now say to get the 4.10. There is no difference in MPG like I first expected. I do use the truck as my DD. And no savings there.
It has to be said that I run larger tires than OEM though. That could be a contributing factor to the below than expected MPG.

 

[Nd79]

2021 3500 SRW SO 3.73

Here is our recent trip up the mountains and back. This is unloaded and pretty consistent with what I always get highway mpg unloaded. I don't really ever do much city unloaded driving. I also noticed a slight increase in mpg after about 15k miles. So this is what I've seen out of my truck.

City Towing (4-14k lbs) MPG - 11~0.5

Highway unloaded MPG - 20

 

[gimmie11s]

Yep. To everyone who asks what to get with their dually I now say to get the 4.10. There is no difference in MPG like I first expected. I do use the truck as my DD. And no savings there.
It has to be said that I run larger tires than OEM though. That could be a contributing factor to the below than expected MPG.

Yeah.. if youre going for a max effort tow mule (DRW, HO diesel, etc etc) just go to the 4.10s and call it done.

What size tire are you running?

 

[Patriot Motor Sports USA]

Oh I love this thread and all those who say "get over it" when I bitch about the horrible fuel mileage the 2021 3500 MegaCab Limited HO 4.10 truck gets compared to my previous 2020 2500 Laramie Longhorn.

Here's the "Get Over It" that is a crock... My "brand new" truck currently has >50K miles on it and it is six months old. In the past two weeks, I have driven from my Shop in Florence, SC to Eastern Long Island, NY to pick up a boat I delivered there last year. My new 3500 HO got a best of 10.75mpg pulling it to Redmond, Washington where my 2500 could hit an easy 12-13 mpg hauling the same boat. Sure the 2500 has 3.73 gears but I could pull the boat 75-80mph with the rated tires on the trailer with no issues and achieve 12-13mpg. With the 3500 HO, if I exceeded 70mph, my MPGs plummeted to 9mpg. I do not know what "empty driving" is but I think I have done it once before and the best I could see was 15mpg at 70-75mph... with a tease of 16mpg if there was a truck to draft behind. After my trip to Washington, I picked up a TinyHome in Portland, Oregon that I just dropped off in Portland, Maine earlier today. My BEST MPG was 11mph with a 50-65mph tail-wind from Wyoming to Nebraska but every other time I say between 6-7.5mpg the entire trip. My trip a year ago with the same design TinyHome netted a 10-11mpg fuel burn.

So, why is this so important...? Well if you add up the 7000 miles driven in the past two weeks, factoring an average of 11.5 mpg for the 2500 S.O. Cummins and a 2-way average of 8.5 mpg for my 3500 HO... we end up with roughly 610 gallons used by the 2500 and 824 gallons used by the 3500 HO, for a difference of 214 gallons of fuel wasted. At the Average Fuel Price of $3.75/gal we come up with $802.50 was the LOSS for this one round-trip to the West. To add to the insult, I have made TWO PacNW trips this month!! The FUEL LOSS ALONE is more than my Truck Payment!!

Now, let's factor in that right now, I am running full time, each week, exceeding 12,000 miles per month. Do you see where it is a REALLY BAD INVESTMENT to buy the HO if you do not need it in the long run? I bought the truck because I had the "opportunity" to get it a Dealer Cost with the HoldBack and struck a killer deal. I always wanted a MegaCab and heard the HO with the Aisin was the great combo.... maybe if you are towing 36K# and you never see more than 6mpg any day of the week. In my line of work, 15K is all I ever see or less... the Non-HO with the 68RFE ATS build would have been perfect with the 4.10 gears.

So what to do moving forward...? I am deleting the truck this week. Installing the Banks 4" intake and going to see what this truck can do working hard without the limitations of the BS installed upon it. If that doesn't help, I will pull the engine and install the non-HO pistons with head studs, re-tune it and get the power it should have at cruise.

Hope this long post helps those see the miles matter... even if you do not drive like I do, they matter in the long run.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Oh I love this thread and all those who say "get over it" when I bitch about the horrible fuel mileage the 2021 3500 MegaCab Limited HO 4.10 truck gets compared to my previous 2020 2500 Laramie Longhorn.

Here's the "Get Over It" that is a crock... My "brand new" truck currently has >50K miles on it and it is six months old. In the past two weeks, I have driven from my Shop in Florence, SC to Eastern Long Island, NY to pick up a boat I delivered there last year. My new 3500 HO got a best of 10.75mpg pulling it to Redmond, Washington where my 2500 could hit an easy 12-13 mpg hauling the same boat. Sure the 2500 has 3.73 gears but I could pull the boat 75-80mph with the rated tires on the trailer with no issues and achieve 12-13mpg. With the 3500 HO, if I exceeded 70mph, my MPGs plummeted to 9mpg. I do not know what "empty driving" is but I think I have done it once before and the best I could see was 15mpg at 70-75mph... with a tease of 16mpg if there was a truck to draft behind. After my trip to Washington, I picked up a TinyHome in Portland, Oregon that I just dropped off in Portland, Maine earlier today. My BEST MPG was 11mph with a 50-65mph tail-wind from Wyoming to Nebraska but every other time I say between 6-7.5mpg the entire trip. My trip a year ago with the same design TinyHome netted a 10-11mpg fuel burn.

So, why is this so important...? Well if you add up the 7000 miles driven in the past two weeks, factoring an average of 11.5 mpg for the 2500 S.O. Cummins and a 2-way average of 8.5 mpg for my 3500 HO... we end up with roughly 610 gallons used by the 2500 and 824 gallons used by the 3500 HO, for a difference of 214 gallons of fuel wasted. At the Average Fuel Price of $3.75/gal we come up with $802.50 was the LOSS for this one round-trip to the West. To add to the insult, I have made TWO PacNW trips this month!! The FUEL LOSS ALONE is more than my Truck Payment!!

Now, let's factor in that right now, I am running full time, each week, exceeding 12,000 miles per month. Do you see where it is a REALLY BAD INVESTMENT to buy the HO if you do not need it in the long run? I bought the truck because I had the "opportunity" to get it a Dealer Cost with the HoldBack and struck a killer deal. I always wanted a MegaCab and heard the HO with the Aisin was the great combo.... maybe if you are towing 36K# and you never see more than 6mpg any day of the week. In my line of work, 15K is all I ever see or less... the Non-HO with the 68RFE ATS build would have been perfect with the 4.10 gears.

So what to do moving forward...? I am deleting the truck this week. Installing the Banks 4" intake and going to see what this truck can do working hard without the limitations of the BS installed upon it. If that doesn't help, I will pull the engine and install the non-HO pistons with head studs, re-tune it and get the power it should have at cruise.

Hope this long post helps those see the miles matter... even if you do not drive like I do, they matter in the long run.

Cool story bro.

P.S. better get the SO cam as well.

Sent from my work avoidance device

 

[gimmie11s]

Pssssssssssssssssshh

I ordered mine with the "SO" cam for the awesome profile it provides allowing me to run unloaded without being in boost!

 

[MikeXM]

Yeah.. if youre going for a max effort tow mule (DRW, HO diesel, etc etc) just go to the 4.10s and call it done.

What size tire are you running?

Nitto Ridge Grappler 255/80R17. Larger diameter and not a "highway thread" either. So pretty sure they eat some good MPGs.

Purchase reasoning was that I need a dually for a 24K/4.2K 5th wheel. So, not going near the HO's 33K rating but too close to the SO's 24K rating.
In that scenario, the 3.73 made sense to me to save some fuel. Now, it seems like it didn't change anything MPG wise. So, yeah, if I would do it again, I'd get the 4.10 and call it a day.

 

[MEGA HO]

Nitto Ridge Grappler 255/80R17. Larger diameter and not a "highway thread" either. So pretty sure they eat some good MPGs.

Purchase reasoning was that I need a dually for a 24K/4.2K 5th wheel. So, not going near the HO's 33K rating but too close to the SO's 24K rating.
In that scenario, the 3.73 made sense to me to save some fuel. Now, it seems like it didn't change anything MPG wise. So, yeah, if I would do it again, I'd get the 4.10 and call it a day.

Unless something drastically changed in 21-22 MY, SO rating doesn't come close to 24k.

 

[MikeXM]

Unless something drastically changed in 21-22 MY, SO rating doesn't come close to 24k.

You are right.. 20K not 24K.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Pssssssssssssssssshh

I ordered mine with the "SO" cam for the awesome profile it provides allowing me to run unloaded without being in boost!

So much misinformation. So little concern for the facts.



Sent from my work avoidance device

 

[Patriot Motor Sports USA]

So much misinformation. So little concern for the facts.



Sent from my work avoidance device

I can create photos like that while rolling downhill after resetting my MPGs so my "Unicorn" can show 20+mpg while making no boost as well. LOL!! It is shocking the amount of Mis-Information on forums but such has been the case since AOL said, "You've Got Mail!"

 

[gimmie11s]

SO cam bruh, SO cam!!