Ramcam

What i do when its holding at higher RPMs for a while is let of the gas a bit and she usually slips into overdrive particularly when i crest a hill and it needs to shift up.

scoggins

doing about the same in an '07 3500 drw w 6spd
hauled cattle off of GA's state Cattleman's Convention 24' Gn loaded with 10-15k
hauled over 600 miles from friday @ 5pm 'til today @ 7pm

I am worn-out to say the least!!
average 7.2 mpg granted I was not letting grass grow on any wheels but it still sucks

I could be driving a single axle semi or a 5500 sieres C&C and get the same thing and do more.

Lost Lake

Well, coming up through Kentucky toward Wisconsin I had a good headwind and I finally bested my new low at 6.2mpg. And this was at 67 mph and pulling a 10,000lb trailer. I did learn a lot about the tranny...

The 48re will stay in third forever in a headwind at 65 mph with my tires and axle, or 2650 rpm's. It will shift out at 2700rpm's. So when I set the cruise at 67 mph (2700 rpm's in third) it will pull a hill and go into overdrive as soon as it hits 2700 rpm's.

Third gear with the 06 will get you around 5mpg pulling my camper.

trx450r

17 overhead 15 hand calculated pulling bobcat aproxx 10,000 pounds. 23,000 miles . It will get better.

roadgeneral

Nothing in your sig. What year is your truck? Tranny? Mods? We are talking about the newer CR trucks here.

trx450r

Sorry First day, 2006 3500 DRW, Green Racing Air Filter I took off My 04 2500, Straight pipe Cat back, Just added a superchip but these calculations are from before that.

belgianmagic

sounds like you need what I WANT... a torque converter lock switch

oh yea and 63 is the magick # for milage...over that and it gets worse and worse cheers

trx450r

6 Speed, First 5000 miles averaged 10 to 12 pulling and just kept getting better after that.

BigErksG2

i would look at a lockup switch.... cheap and IT WORKS! just watch out for leavin it on for 1-2 shifts cuz it will let u kno its there and then some. prolly not good for the tranny while towing

roadgeneral

I would say you have a "keeper". The mileage you say you are getting is way above average for these late model CR engines. You can tell by reading these mileage posts that your truck is definately the exception. I assume you have a 6-speed manual. You should consider yourself lucky........

trx450r

Hate to say it but tried the 6.0 Ford for a year before I bought this truck and the mileage was terrible , This is my 5th Dodge Cummins, 1996,1999 2500,1999 3500, 02 2500, then the junker and now the 06 , my 99 DRW 3500 was an auto with a TST Box and it averaged between 12 and 14 , had 125,000 on it when I sold it.. but this 06 keeps getting better and better, not sure about the supechip kinda scared since I have yet to install a pyro guage.

scoggins

Left Wed from Dublin, Ga with 11 head of 1100# heifers headed to Columbus Indiana (675 mile door to door) tried to keep speed-o-meter around 65-70mph averaged 8.2 mpg witih a darn good load
Left indiana went to North AL swaped to a 4 horse featherlite to bring 2 horses to Hattiesburg MS and milage went up consideriably

I am impressed with the amount of HP this 3rd gen has compared to my 2nd gen


I can't wait till straw season

anni2VADER

I have to admit, all this stuff im hearing about milage is shocking. the worst ive ever gotten towing my 35ft toy hauler loaded to the gills is 10.8 hand calulated. that was doin 70, with my 4.10s thats about 2300 rpms. what did they do different between 05 and 06? curious.

supersonictoys

I have pulled 15k behind the truck and had a 2k cabover on the truck since day one and now have 12,000 miles on the truck I get between 12 and 14 all the time , usually closer to the 14 but I have a stick which helps big time.

roadgeneral

IMO, the mileage suffers with the 48RE tranny. It just doesn't transfer the power to the ground like it should. The 6-speed manual is an asset when it comes to mileage. Maybe with a better valve-body and a torque converter with a double or triple disc would bring the 48RE automatic tranny up to snuff, but that's a lot of money to spend on a daily-driver with an occasional trip pulling a load. I like the driveablitity of the automatic tranny around town. I did over 40-yrs worth of gear-jammin' before I retired.

I think GM has the better automatic with the Allison. A DuraMax with a manual shift is very rare. DC needs to take note.