Towing Vehicles

[Flint River Pirate]

I am a Ford guy. I have been towing with F150s for many years. I started using the 3.5 Ecoboost in 2012 and I have owned 3 different trucks with that motor. I have been absolutely pleased with the power the motor delivers. Thousands of towing miles and it has been wonderful. The only complaint I have is gas mileage. The reason I am posting that is because I spoke to a guy at Walter B's on Friday who was towing a boat similar to mine with a Dodge ram with the eco-diesel. My average fuel economy was showing about 11 miles per gallon towing my boat and he claimed he was getting close to 19. Do any of you have any experience with that motor? I just don't see how that 3L V6 diesel could get 19 miles per gallon towing a 4000 pound boat.


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[SHOWBOAT]

I don't know a lot about diesels, but I think they usually get better gas mileage. It also cost .25/gallon more and the diesel option cost about $5k from the factory.

Those points aside, you should be doing better than 11. I get ~13 mpg towing a 22' Ranger or 14-15 mPG towing an 18' aluminum boat with my 5.0l.

[Steve Stinson]

I can't speak for the small Ram diesel. Real - world figures on the 2014 Ram 2500 with the large Cummins in it is about 17-19 towing a boat and 22-24 hwy depending on how you drive it. The truck will not hardly burn anything in the 55 - 60 mph range. You start going 65 - 80 mph the mileage starts going down both while towing and not towing. 80 feels like about 60 in any other truck. Plenty stable and plenty of power left in the pedal.

My truck is bone stock with no mods. A lot of folks gut the exhaust system and bypass the main computer board by installing a tuner box in these, but that voids all warranties from Ram.

I will say the exhaust system is a bit choked down and Ram has replaced both my catalytic converters under warranty. I have to add 2.5 gallons of diesel exhaust fluid about every 10 tanks of fuel. The exhaust fluid makes it where you can't cover the bicycle riders in soot anymore. Exhaust is clear and smells like ammonia based kitchen cleaner.

[bbb]

I drive 30,000 miles a year. I did the math on the Ford Ecoboost vs the Dodge EcoDiesel and it was about even when you take into account fuel cost, mpg and oil changes, DEF fluid.

Diesel gets better mpg. Diesel fuel costs more. Eco Diesel oil changes were sky high last I checked. (. >$100)

Too many unknowns as the Eco Diesel was new technology. There have been a lot of bugs to work out per the EcoDiesel forum.

[Flint River Pirate]

I don't know a lot about diesels, but I think they usually get better gas mileage. It also cost .25/gallon more and the diesel option cost about $5k from the factory.

Those points aside, you should be doing better than 11. I get ~13 mpg towing a 22' Ranger or 14-15 mPG towing an 18' aluminum boat with my 5.0l.

I probably do get better than 11 miles per gallon on average with my boat. To be fair, I did not reset the trip gauge and I had been hauling around an extremely heavy tractor. I was just amazed at his claim of fuel mileage. No complaints here, I am a huge ecoboost fan!


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[dombern34]

if you're going to get into a diesel I would go full size. those ecodiesel's are pretty much the same price anyways. just like boat prices, these trucks have gotten stupid on the sticker price. I would recommend deleing any DPF on which truck you go with. they run better and last longer when emissions free. meh, yeah you void the warranty but you won't be using that warranty under 60k miles anyways. it's pointless. the sooner you make your engine healthy the longer it's going to last. I have a 15 f250 and I've deleted and it's a whole different truck. if your boat weighs 4k, you wouldn't feel it back there until you go to stop.

[Flint River Pirate]

I have no plans to replace my F150. I was just intrigued by that little diesel V6. My truck pulls it like a champ


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[DAWG FAN]

A friend of mine has the 1/2 ton Dodge diesel. He has gotten as much as 29 mpg on a long road trip, not pulling anything, and averages around 24 mpg and he has a heavy foot. His boat weighs 2500# and he tells me he gets 18-20 mpg pulling it.

[Flint River Pirate]

A friend of mine has the 1/2 ton Dodge diesel. He has gotten as much as 29 mpg on a long road trip, not pulling anything, and averages around 24 mpg and he has a heavy foot. His boat weighs 2500# and he tells me he gets 18-20 mpg pulling it.

That's awesome!


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[UFBeef]

They don't make diesel motors like they used to, all the epa garbage they put on these motors makes them less efficient and reduces their true power capabilitiesa in reason the pre-Obummer year diesels, 5.9 Cummins, Powerstrokes command such a premium on the used mkt. I have a one ton with a 5.9 Cummins w about 225k miles.
That being said the motor in the 1/2 ton Rams is a Fiat diesel, the 3/4 - 1 tons all have Cummins, big difference. I think they will find, as is the case with Chrysler big diesels, the weak point of all these vehicles will be the tranny. Especially when you get a bunch of guys new to diesel motors who will attempt to start pulling loads much bigger than they should, because they have a diesel. At the end of the day it's still a half ton.

[doomtrpr_z71]

The half ton actually isn't a fiat, its a VM motori, they seem to do fine until you use them to do a good bit of towing and then they tend to have issues. They get great mileage but under load they seem to get cam gear slippage and that ends badly. My cousin's boyfriend had one to pull his bassboat with and he had a cam gear slip pulling an empty uhaul trailer to salt lake city and ended up with a new engine having to be installed under warranty.

[MudDucker]

I used to be nothing but Ford man and loved them, but when I went to get a new truck in 2007 that I wanted to be probably my last truck, Ford's prices were out of line and the dealer complained about lack of supply. I left there and called the owner of Prince Chevrolet and he wanted to put me in a Chevy. I bought a 2007 2500HD Classic with duramax engine and Allison transmission. I got a pretty basic truck otherwise and for a LOT less money than Ford dealer wanted. I still have that truck. It has 110,000 miles or so. I can put the tuner on it and get in the 20mpg range not towing and 16 or so towing. The big thing is to have a truck that will STOP with the load. Most anything will start a load rolling. I've pulled and stopped horse trailers, equipment trailers loaded to the gills and boats up to 42 feet. Quite frankly, I don't pay much attention to the fuel, I just fuel up and go when I can, which ain't near enough. I would drive this truck across country tomorrow if need be.

[onefishtwofish]

I agree Mud. I have an 01 F250. That 7.2 was the best motor Ford ever had. So many problems with the newer ones (especially the 6.0). Mine has 280K and I have no plans to get rid of it. If it dies on me tomorrow, I will look for another one. If I can't find one, I am going to look for an 05 or 06 Mega Cab. Sweet truck with a great engine, and before all the crazy regs.

I used to need a 3/4 ton, and still have a camper that requires it, but don't pull it anymore. Sold my tractor and big trailer as well and would have to think hard about just going gas.

[rocket]

I agree Mud. I have an 01 F250. That 7.2 was the best motor Ford ever had.

I think you mean 7.3
I don't ask anyone what they get for fuel milage anymore, because you never get the truth. If you tow, and I don't care what program you are running, you are going to use more fuel. I've had just about every diesel under the sun, and have pulled a crap load of trailers (heavy and light) for the past 25 years. When you hear someone say they pull substantial weight behind their truck, and "they can't even tell its back there" thats your first clue not to listen to that guy. When someone is running 35" mud tires on their 4x4 diesel and says they get 20+ mpg because of the program they are running, I call bullcrap on that too.
The only way to get better than decent mileage is to drive like a little old lady, and I for one can't do that.

[reelhandy]

I have a 2000 Ford Excursion with the 7.3 turbo. At 17 mpg not pulling anything, the truck gets better fuel economy than I'd expect for a vehicle that big and heavy. Put a chip in it and it really woke that big engine up, but you won't see me rolling coal and spinning wheels. I keep an eye on the Exhaust Gas and Transmission Temps and use the power when I need it. It's a beast and I love it.