12 Valve Mileage While Towing?

imelmo

Go away, I'm 'batin'!
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
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Now I know they're known for getting good mileage. My '94 still gets about 18mpg or more with me driving like a jack-ass. :hehe:

But I had no idea how well it would do towing. I went down to Davie, FL (about 20 miles from Miami) and picked up my 7000lb F250 with my 16' double axle utility trailer. I filled up before heading back (30 gallon tank) and only filled up once on the way back and still had a 1/4 tank of fuel when I got home to Slidell, LA (20 miles from New Orleans)! :eek:

That was an 850 mile trip, towing about 8800lbs, doing 75-78mph the entire way. It worked out to around 15mpg!

Is this typical towing mileage for a 12 valve? I was very pleasantly surprised! :D

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Well I have to deal with these things called hills/mountains. so i dont get as good as that, but seems about right. how far is slidell from pensacola?
 
Yup thats what we see and better sometimes with our trucks depending on the load.
 
^This^ I towed an 11k Gehl skidsteer backwards on a deckover from Harrisburg, pa to chicago, IL averaged 11mpg so I'd say your not to far off.
 
I hauled a 18-20k John deere model 55 combine with three row wide cornhead on a 27+7 dual tandem gooseneck behind my old 98 12v dually with a maxed out 215 pump, 300 marine injectors and a custom CDS hx50 2.8 billet wheel and a 17cm housing from about two hours south of Terre haute ind back to Bloomington il running up rt63 outta Terre to I74 then interstate all the way to Bloomington. I got 5.5-6 mpg running 75 mph at a cool 1400* Not to bad for a pulling truck. Lol
 
With my 98' 12 valve 4x4 QCLB I usually get 12.3 - 14.1 towing my 5200 lb Junker Drag Truck plus another 500 lbs in misc tools, tires, etc on a 2500 lb tandem axle bumper pull trailer. I usually tow that load between 65 & 75 MPH, although I have seen 80MPH a few times on the interstate where the speed limit is set at 80.

I'm not happy with that level of fuel economy for such a light load so I'm playing with injectors and timing to see if I can get a more efficient setup.
 
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I average about 12mpg when towing 14k around. Way better than the 6.0 I had before that was closer to 7mpg when loaded.
 
I average about 16 unloaded max, and 14ish towing. I need to adjust my timing for more mpg's, because the 4.10's dont help.
 
I pulled my duramax the charollet nc from Maryland with my 97 and was pulling a 30' gooseneck and my truck weight was 6300lb and got 16.5 both ways. Without a load it will get around 20 and I run the piss out of the old girl
 
All those are opposite of my truck lol unloaded I get about 11-13mpg. I drive my truck hard lol while towing my dads dually 9000 on our 27' gooseneck on about a 3-4 hour drive through the Colorado mountains I got 18mpg at 65-70
 
I average about 12mpg when towing 14k around. Way better than the 6.0 I had before that was closer to 7mpg when loaded.

WOW!!! Only 7 with the 6.0??

I get average unloaded 17mpg and 14.5-15 with a 30' camper trailer-I know it's not the same weight- but bed is loaded to the hilt with gear, 4x4 quad cab loaded with kids and slurpees!

All stock set-up with no chips or add ons. Still have original EGR set up too...and why I probably baby the truck more than you do.

I'm astounded at the difference in mileage when working an obviously higher weight.
 
My real world averages 19 empty, not babying it. Left home yesterday, west of Austin, TX, and now in Meridian Miss towing the 37' fiver loaded and happy with 11.5 mpg running 2k, 68mph.
 
Now how in the crap are yall doing this????? I get 12, empty. My truck is bone stock, 164,000 miles, bhaf. As far as i know the timing is at stock settings... How do I get anything above 15... I dont drive too crazy.
 
I averaged 17-20 with 4.10s a 5spd and LA traffic on a daily basis. Got 19.1 runnin down to yuma to pick up a shortblock. Made a few off road stops on the way down then hit glamis for a little on the way back. Then did 11.5 combined towing 8-9k with the bed of the truck full of firewood up yo johnson valley, unhooked and proceeded to off road the truck for a week before driving home with the same load behind.

Garrett

Probably getting paid at work to post this from my D1
 
If I go fast enough I can get it down to 11-12mpg and its only ~2k lbs and next to No wind resistance :eek: . I went closer to the speed limit on the way home :thumbsup:

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Now how in the crap are yall doing this????? I get 12, empty. My truck is bone stock, 164,000 miles, bhaf. As far as i know the timing is at stock settings... How do I get anything above 15... I dont drive too crazy.

up your timing to somewhere around 16-18, and run wal-mart 2stroke oil in your fuel. the 2stroke usually gets me 2mpg better. 4" exhaust helped by about 1mpg as well.
 
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