3/4 Ton Diesel Pickup MPG

Yeah, yeah I know, you don't get a 3/4 ton pickup for the mpg. Some F250 guys tell me they are getting 24MPG hwy. (with the 3:31)

What are THF drivers seeing with Ford, Ram and Chevy 3/4 ton trucks without a load or trailer? This would also be my daily driver.


Looking to drag an RV to the mountains and longer distances than I think my F150 EB is really capable of. It pulls the RV fine in our typical 5 hour trips but the hills in TX are minor.

How big of RV?

30ft @ 6000# loaded

Best I ever got in my 6.7 was about 20 unloaded. My 7.3 averages about 16.

I've have gotten 26 and routinely get 23+. Crew cab, short bed, 4wd, 3.31. My overall - never reset for the life of the vehicle which is about 130k - is 18.8 or 18.9.

If I keep my foot out of my Cummins I’ll get 21

With my RV in tow, 13-14

That's as good or better than my F150 EB gets. I'm hearing the 1/2 ton EB and F250 get about the same mpg pulling (10-12mpg). My EB routinely gets 18-19 combined, it'll get 20+ around 65mph no load on a good day.

You may get as low as 7mpg depending on wind and hills.

Is that with the 3:73?

tire size?

my 2015 my lifetime average is like 13. Seen as low as 8 towing and has high as 18 with steadt tail wind and traffic keeping me under 75

14.7 and it doesn't seem to matter much with what i am hauling.

I bought my 2500 w/ Cummins to pull our rv and fuel mileage wasn't a concern but I wanted pulling power. 13-14 with 34 ft RV and 3:73 in the rear.Never was concerned about empty mileage cuz it's going to use what it's going to use and like I said,I bought it to pull our RV.

*edit* that was a 2004.5 ram 2500 and long ago,My 2016 3500 dually w/ 3:73's pulling a 40+ ft RV doesnt get good milege but still bought it for the power.

I had an 01 F250 7.3 and with the Superchips economy tune I would consistently see 26 or 27 on the highway, that dropped down about a third when towing a large car hauler. The truck was modified with an aftermarket ball bearing Turbo, extensive cooling system modifications, a 5 inch turbo back exhaust, and a high-dollar torque converter.

Nitto Trail Grappler 295/70-18 since my factory tires wore out at like 60-65k I think. 3" lift.

Ram 2500 crew 4x4 and I typically get around 19 with mixed driving. Straight highway I'll get a touch over 20. I was getting better but changed to some more aggressive tires and that dropped the mileage a bit.

My daily driver. 2019 F 250 gets between 18.4 and 19.1 on road trips, 16 or so general driving. 10-11k trailer makes it 10 mpg. I have seen my 2013 F 350 at 7 mpg with a head wind and 17,000 lbs.

I didnt realize 10 speed was that big of a difference.

Have a 15 ram 2500 short bed. Haven’t pulled an RV very far but with a gooseneck horse trailer I get 12-13 pulling at or just above the speed limit. 15 for city driving, 18-20 for slow cruising.

2022 Silverado 2500 I’m getting 18-19 unloaded on the freeway. 14-15ish for short drives around town. Towing flat around 13 and towing in the mountains around 9-10. This is with a 7000lb travel trailer going 70-75. The incline and wind will kill MPG fast.

How many of y’all actually hand calculate the mileage vs just going off the lie-o-meter?

My 14 Cummins with 35’s deleted and a 100hp tune gets roughly 17.5-18.2 depending on where I gas up. Walmart gets the best, followed by Kroger, QT, and worst of them all is Bucees.

Worst I’ve seen towing was 9.8, that was cruise set at 80mph going across 287from Vernon to Amarillo with an 18 foot trailer and a SxS.

Oddly enough when I hand calculate it’s higher than the dash meter.

12.6 avg, 9 with a trailer

Just filled up.

362 miles driven.

22.8 gallons put in.

Avg is 15.87

Lie-o-meter says 18.2

There was quite a bit of towing in town on this tank.

My 2017 6.7 diesel, 3.55 rear end. 16 city/hwy combined. Foot off floor 65mph I would get 23 mpg. Towing 11-12 mpg. Airstream is roughly 8k.

Mine is a2015 chevy 2500hd 4 door 4x4 diesel. It gets 13 unloaded and 8 loaded. My son's chevy 6.0 gas gets the same.

21' F-250 Powerstroke

3:55 rear end, leveling kit, 35" tires and Front & Rear Replacement bumpers.

I'll get 17-18mpg on the Highway doing 70 and 14ish around town or putting around the pasture. I rarely drive 70 though its normally 75-80mpg when im on the highway. Best I've ever gotten was 21 MPG between Houston and New Orleans.

Towing around 11 MPG

I think your current truck will surprise you when you get to the mountains.

2018 ram Cummins 3500 srw with the aisin and 3.73 gears. Keep it under 70 and it will do low 20’s normal hwy 20 or a hair less. Towing the boat 14-15, gooseneck and tractor about 12.

2015 F350 with bumper bed and 37’s weighs right at 10k empty - 12mpg average, up to 16 highway empty

First tank in the 21 f350, bone stock 3.73’s, ran it to port aransas this weekend getting 19 highway. 48 gallon tank was nice to have, didn’t even have to fill up to make it back if I didn’t want to

My 2500hd highway driving gulf coast region no real elevation unless I go to smithville. No load. 34.5” nitto g2’s, 20”x9 rims. Towing my 18’ cat boat keeping it under 2k rpm gets me around 18-19 on the highway down to LLM.

I have a 2016 ram 2500 4wd 4 door 6.5ft bed 6.7 cummins. I routinely get 18-19mpg commuting to work. Can get 20 mpg highway empty.

I have a 12,500lbs fifth wheel empty. Just towed NRH to Broken Bow, OK which has mix of freeway/state highway/county roads. I got about 9MPG

It tows it great after I added sumo springs.

I have a 7500 lb empty bumper pull before this and got around 10.5 mpg towing.

I just saw this one, I cant bring myself to drive 65, I am sure I would get better MPG if i took it slower

So you’re claiming to average what empty? 24 mpg doing 80 mph?

Went from 14-16 to 22-24 after the delete

6-speed. It's a 2011. Also, sorry, I forgot to mention it's deleted.

Note the fuel gauge on full... filled up, reset, straight onto highway. Won't last long at that speed.

I don't know anyone who drives 65 on a Freeway or interstate anymore. I run down I-10 or I-37 doing 80 and I'm getting passed

I have a 2006 F250 with a bullet proofed 6.0. I get around 20 just running around. When I hook onto my 37 ft 5th wheel it drops to about 13.

I run 65 quite a bit. For the most part diving 80+ doesn’t save a lot of time on my normal drive. People will fly past we and I always roll up behind them at the next light where they floor it and take off and then roll up behind them again at the next one.

ahhhh, I need to delete my 15

you deleted a volkswagen jetta?

This^^^ Turbo engines are not as affected by elevation as naturally aspirated engines are. A few years ago I towed my boat up to far north Arkansas, and had zero issues towing up steep inclines at 80 mph, and still had plenty of room to go on the skinny pedal. Granted, the Ozarks are not the Rockies, but I was thoroughly impressed by a little bitty 2.7L ecoboost.

3/4 ton Cummins

Lol, the tallest peak in the Ozarks is 2600’ above sea level. We have similar elevation in the Texas Hill Country.

Had our trucks up over 11,000’. No issues with the diesels

Forced induction engines across the board will do better at elevation.

Only issue I ever have is tremendous turbo lag which equates to pouring black smoke, yet the fuel mileage increases quite a bit even with the trailer hooked up on switchbacks

We never noticed any bad turbo lag or belching black smoke on our Fords. On heavily tuned Cummins engines we did notice it.

I'm pretty sure that I pointed out the Ozarks are not the Rockies in my original post. And, I wasn't comparing a gas ecoboost to a diesel. I was pointing out that he might be surprised what his little ecoboost can do. Especially towing a 6000lb trailer, which is well below the tow rating for an F150. Even well below the tow rating for the small engine ecoboost.

Thanks, Unclebubba, we may give it a run and see what it does. Worse case is I get a new truck in another state.

I’m not heavily tuned, just 100hp and aftermarket turbo, but come to think of it my FIL’s f250 that’s tuned the same was barely smoking but didn’t see any gain in fuel mileage. But, my old tuned 6.4 power stroke smoked out the town of Crested Butte while sitting at a red light. That truck was heavily tuned with a 350hp tune and few other goodies.

29.9ft 8k

Towing trailer=avg 17-18mpg depending on winds. No trailer avg 20-22mpg depending how I get into it

22 RAM 6.7 cummins, 3.73