My 2006 ram 3500 single wheel 4x4 long bed gets around 20 MPG out on the road empty, it will get 14 MPG pulling my 24 ft. Pace Shadow weighing 8600 lbs on the axles, it will avaerge bewteen 14 and 16 MPG empty in town with some short highway driving. I own a 36 Ft fifth wheel travel trailer with three slide outs, it weighs 11,800 on the two trailer axles and puts around 1500 lbs more on the truck, some on the front axle but most of it on the rear axle. The truck rides and feels better pulling the fifth wheel than it does pulling the car trailer The best mileage I got towing the fifth wheel from central Oregon to central Arkansas three years ago was right at 12 MPG, the worst mileage was from the eastern border of Okolhoma(SP?) on I 40 to the middle of the Texas panhandle into a direct head wind, it got a little above 8 MPG on that run at 65 to 70 MPH I had a 1998 1/2 24 valve automatic short wheel base 3/4 ton extended cab two wheel drive, it got excellent mileage until Mopar did a "emissions " recall to reflash the computer, it sucked after that I ended up having a freind, who worked at Cummins Pacific, install a industrial 230 HP program into my onboard computer, that made it better but not as good as it was originally BTW, I owned three different car hauling trucks before switching to the CTD, 1973 1 ton crew cab Ford 390 with a C6 and 4.10 gears , 1957 1 ton Dodge with a 318 and a four speed, 4.10 gears and the first one was a 1955 Dodge 1 1/2 ton with a four speed and a two speed rear end with 9.50x20 inch tires, it orignally had a 254 C.I. Dodge 6 cylinder flathead truck motor in it and later I put a 1957 392 New Yorher passenger car hemi motor in it. None of the gas trucks ever got more than 10 MPG going to and from the races, never

I have found a lot of the mpg is in the trans. Also with a mechanical injection pump if you can fuel hard at a low rpm to spool the turbo you're into power quickly and don't need to keep your foot in it (poor mpg) personally I go crazy driving my father's duramax or newer common rail Cummins, even though both have 150hp tunes they feel sluggish down low compared to mine or my brother's 12v trucks. We both run some pretty built autos and nice converters both with 3.54 gears and 4x4 trucks. They're fun when the cars are down or 4wd drifting in winter lol

Ive had a 1998 12v, 5 speed. Hauled a$$. Only got 15 empty, but boy would it push you back in the seat when grabbing gears. Then a 2000 auto v10, emty 11, with 7 k I got 9 with no power. Now have a 99 with 250k, 5 speed. Doesnt have the power the 12v had, but gets average of 19 empty and 14 with 7k. This is with 354 gears and 35 bfg tire.

I have a 2006 Mega Cab dualie. 4 WD It gets 16-18 highway and once keeping the speed below 65, I squeaked out 20. Around town 13. With a 28 foot trailer loaded on the highway 10. Pulls like it has no load behind it. My 97 4x4 ext. cab would get 22-23 highway,17 in town. Towing with a 24 foot trailer on highway 15. Only problem was it was a dog on hills. It was stock.

I've been looking and looking, I just can't find a cummings. anyone know what it is exactly?

Hi Jim,

I have an 05 dually 2wd automatic with 3.73 gears ; all stock with a K&N cold air kit and a MBRP straight-thru muffler.

Empty it gets 21.5mpg hwy and pulling the 26ft enclosed it averages 14.5-15 mpg cruising at 65mph.


Ron

I would only buy an 06 and older 5.9 and only a manual trans if I was to buy another diesel truck.

Sheldon

Mine (4x4, quad cab, sb) will get 16-18 in town (depending on my foot ) and almost 13 towing a 9500 lb. 5th wheel camper (hand figured although the computer is very close). These figures are at 1900 RPMs- right at 70 mph. A while back my mileage dropped severely but came back. Not sure if I had gotten a couple of bad tanks of fuel or what.

Quote:

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I've been looking and looking, I just can't find a cummings. anyone know what it is exactly?

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I drove my Cummins over to Cumming, GA a while back.

Tim

I don't drive my 04 QC 2wd 305/555 long bed much, so rarely check mileage. But last week I did a 700 mile round trip to Oregon, twice. Both times I got near identical mileage, 19.5 empty, and 16.4 flat towing a 3800 vehicle. This was going over some pretty steep mountain passes, and cruise control not working.
I was by no means babying it, although I-5 in northern California is crawling with CHP's. So, with a speed limit of 55 towing, I rarely went much over 63 mph in that 50 mile section. The rest of the time I was mostly doing 65-70.

You guys with your stock cummins' are leaving A LOT of mpg and horsepower at the pump. I had a 95 2500 4x4. Twin turbos, 435 injectors, lazer cut delivery valves 4000 govenor kit and a lot of pump work plus a really good tranny. I averaged 23-24 on the freeway and 16 towing. That was at 600 RWHP. Now I have a 07 6.7 auto 2wd 3500. I have deleted the EGR and DPF all the way to the turbo. Added a free flowing 4" exhaust, AIRAID intake system and a H&S mini maxx programmer. It gets 24 on the freeway at 65 and 15 towing at 65. Its close to 500 RWHP.
This is my old 95. click it.. VVV




My 07

I've had thoughts of pumping mine up a bit with a Smarty, but dread the thought of possibly killing the 48RE automatic. Performance is all about how much you want to spend, and personally I don't need a whole lot more power than my stock 305/555 common rail puts out. I'm usually passing half the vehicles up steep grades with my camper on or pulling a trailer.

In all most every case with a cummins HP equals MPG. My 95 started at 18 mpg stock. My 07 was 16 mpg hwy. Now low 20s.

I have an 07 5.9 2500 long bed. It's getting ready to turn over 150K. Excellent truck however it's a 4X4 with 3.73s so I get hand calculated an average of about 17 around town and empty on the fwy about 20. Goes down in the winter due to winter blend fuel. towing my 24' car trailer full I average about 13-14. In Cali on flat roads that goes to 15 average. Being retired military I'm very anal about maintenance so I'm sure that's what has kept this truck going without any major problems.

My 01 is a quad cab, shortbed with 5 speed... I get right around 19mpg and that's all local short trips and I like to get moving fast, not easy on the pedal When stock I got about 17.5, since added 100hp injectors, edge comp(stays on level 5), 4" exhaust and cai. I also run heavy 33" mud style tires. When towing a lot, which the usual haul is up a long steep hill that's a few miles long to take in scrap car, I avg about 17.5 those weeks. Conservatively my truck is 350/850 to the wheels, sure makes a fun driving truck too

Some of the mileage claims depends on the driver right foot.
I have an 05 CTD quad cab short bed 4x..
I drive it, 22 hwy 17 city
My daughter 20 hwy 15 city
I refuse to let my wife drive it...she would tear the whole right side off it..

'01 24v Cummins, auto, 3.54 gear, 35" tall tires, 4x4, quad cab short bed.
4" straight pipe exhaust, BHAF, and a small 60 hp Superchips programmer.

Mine gets around 20-21 mpg combined city/highway (mostly highway). Don't do much city driving w/ it and I've honestly never even bothered to check the mileage when towing. I check it by hand, although the dash/overhead readout is always real close as far as the average mpg.

lose the egr valve & cooler, and the particulate filter (catalytic convertor).aftermarket companies sell egr removal kits. gain hp/torque and mileage.also need to program pcm computer so the light stays out.