I have a 2004 1/2 Dodge Dually, it has 145K on it and it's getting ready to need a transmission, auto. It gets around 14-16 MPH unloaded and 8-10 towing my 40ft gooseneck car trailer. I will probably only get 18-12k for my truck and the the new one will be around 60k for a Laramie. What kinda mileage and power are you guys seeing? Is it worth the change or should I just upgrade the transmission and converter? I'm really tired of 10MPH towing.

I personally, would just do the transmission and TC. I don't think that the newer trucks are going to get any better mileage. They do have good power, but I'm sure you could get close with modifications to your 04. For the amount of money you would spend on a new truck, you could buy many mods for your truck, and fuel for many years.

Yeah that must suck. Would take forever to get anywhere!

Seriously though, keep your truck. The new ones don't do any better when towing. And even if they did, the extra money you would have to kick in to buy it would fix your transmission and buy you years worth of extra fuel to make up the difference.

A good quality rebuild with some upgrades to the trans, a little tweeking of the engine, and you'll be happy! Plus it will be much easier on the wallet!

I forgot to mention it already has a cold air system, the Edge with attitude, and 5" exhaust and still only gets 8-10 MPH towing. I thought it would get more. Total truck, trailer, gear, and car only weighs 17.500lbs. It's an aluminum trailer.

what gears do you have?

373's

The new ones have 3.42's

looking at your address the truck isn't rusted away. I would build a good tranny and Tc and then some good mods. the new trucks from whom I talk to they don't get good mileage.good luck

I'm not sure why your mileage isn't better than that, but the 10mph towing doesn't compute either.

I had an early 04 with the 305 555 instead of the 325 600 you have and got MUCH better mileage towing! All I had on mine was a Bully Dog Triple Dog but the truck had 4.10 gears. Got 18-20 around town and 12-14 towing my 32' LQ trailer that weighed 11,200 lbs. You are probably towing more like 16K lbs? With my 2005 dually towing a 44' fiver I would get around the same mileage you do. The people I know that have new diesels get worse mileage than the 05 did, but comfort, power. and stopping and worlds apart!

One thing might be, I live in Utah so the speed limit is 80, and I drive the speed limit. It souds like the new trucks not only cost a small fortune but don't get any better mileage.

Gearing might help you a little but it takes a lot of HP to pull an enclosed trailer @ 80mph, especially through hills. The benefit of the newer trucks is you don't need to tune them to get the same power as your current ride, but I wouldn't expect a mpg improvement.

If you want better fuel economy the easiest and cheapest solution is to slow down.

That truck would be much happier at 70 as far as fuel mileage! We have a 99 rot box with 4.10s that drinks fuel above 65! empty!

With my 04 I did a test on a long trip running one tank at 55, one at 65, and one at 75 and the mileage difference was telling! At 75 I got 18.3 MPG, 65 20.0 even, and 55 22.5!

I have a new 6.7L auto with the 68RFE. I swapped out the 3.42's at about 1k in lieu of 4.10's. Empty with the 3.42's (srw truck) I averaged 21-22 driving 70 hand calc. Going to 4.10's dropped me empty about 2mpg maybe a touch more at the same speed.

Loaded I picked up about 1mpg though so I was happy to see that. (Trailer weight of 12-18k mostly city/country mix). There is very little to NO noticable difference between the two when driving. It was not like I felt like I was driving a different truck when I did it.

Remember all the new 68RFE or AISIN are 6 speeds, with the AISIN having a deeper first so you dont need the gearing like with the 4/5speeds of the past. I've got just shy of 40k on my truck now and absolutely love it. Im debating doing EGR/DPF delete but why mess with something that i'snt broke and has great power anyway.

I have not heard mileage numbers like that from my friends with new diesels, so that is encouraging! Their numbers are around 4 mpg less then yours.

Yeah with the 4.10's I'm pretty common high teens twenty empty. But I don't beat the crap out of it either.

Loaded with anything above maybe 8-10k and its 10-11mpg depending on type of driving. I've had as bad as 9 in the hilly areas of PA. I also plow with an 8ft western wide out and that kills it.

All three ram/ford/Chevy get so close it's negligible. No one brand is pulling down great grand numbers above anyone else. I've seen my cummins numbers seem pretty close to what I've seen on some forums, and my buddy with a new dmax gets pretty much same.

I live in Salt Lake City so......mountains are the norm. I'm not about to slow down either. I've tried slowing to 70 just to see the difference, and it's negligible. It acts like it's between gears at that speed.

It seems counter intuitive to buy a new truck to get a few more MPG if any. I mean unless you just want a new truck because you aren't going to save any money. For what it's worth I'm not getting rid of my 12 valve for a new pig.