surfnturf

Hey guys, I found this forum after watching some diesel videos on streetfire.net, quite impressive! Anyways, my family has owned 2 Dodge trucks in the past, 1 1995 Ram 2500 2WD Club Cab with 360/Auto and now a 2002 Ram 1500 4WD Crew Cab with 360/Auto. We've loved our Dodges, but lately the gas prices coupled with the very poor mileage using the 360 V-8 have been pushing us towards getting a diesel. I do have a few concerns though, and hopefully you guys could help me out. We use the trucks to haul race gear (I am a Go-Kart racer) all over the west and as far east as Colorado. Because these are long trips we usually drive very fast, 85mph average cruise speed. This, with a 5000+lb truck and 360 is giving us 10.8 miles per gallon on average. With a 24 gallon tank we are stopping every 3 hours to fill up at seventy bucks a pop. A few of our friends use diesel Fords and Chevys to get their stuff to the races and claim to return upwards of 17mpg, even though they are also 4x4s. Anyways, here's my question, can we run a Cummins with a fully loaded bed all day at 85mph and it'll maintain and not get 10mpg like the 360? The 34 gallon tank is also a boon because it means we'll have to stop much less, which means much better trip time. I've driven the truck we're considering buying ( 06 silver Crew Cab 2500 4x4 short bed, Cummins/auto with every option but nav, leather and the stupid electronic transfer case (real men use a lever!)) and it seems to drive real well and has good power compared to the 360. Is there anything I should look out for/buy/not buy as far as the new truck goes? There is a huge sale at the local dealership and they only want $38k out the door for it, so I am eager to get it, but want opinions from experts first. Thanks a lot guys, sorry I wrote a book there!

-Matt

TexasCTD

Welcome to DTR! You won't be sorry with your choice if you go with the truck you described. The truck can pull it at any speed you want to go all day long, but the mileage would be better at a slower speed. Ideally around 65 or 70 with about 2000 or less rpms. It may take a few thousand miles to get it broke in.......but the mileage should be close to what the Powerjokes and Duramax's are actually getting. I suspect they are fudging their actual numbers to say they are getting 17 at that speed pulling a load. 12-13 would be more like it depending on how heavy the load is.

Make sure the truck has the FLIP OUT TOW MIRRORS!! If you plan to run it hard I would have some gauges installed too.

8mpg

I just want to say I paid $31k for my truck (06 quad cab short bed auto SLT with some options). Im guessing you can find a better deal than that out there. Find yourself a better deal, buy a transfer flow tank (replacement or auxillary) and you are good to go. The replacement tank is like 50 gal and the auxillary tanks are 50+. You'd never have to stop.


Welcome to TDR.

blord

Matt, sounds like your tow load is contained totally in the bed so you aren't pulling a big heavy trailer behind. So I'm assuming you have your go kart and some tools so the load isn't all that heavy.

You will probably get around 15 MPG with the truck and might get 1 or two more with a manual transmission running at the speeds you are indicating. The newer 3rd gen trucks don't get quite as good of mileage as the 2nd gen trucks with the exception of the 2003. You should be comparable to the Ford's and Chevy's ... at least in the ballpark.

No matter what, you will get much better mileage than your gasser and have more power to boot.

estesbubba

i just bought a 2500 cummins and with the current incentives, got $10K off sticker.

TexasCTD

BLord......im not sure that the new G56 6 speeds get any better mileage than the 48RE automatics. It is my understanding that they are geared kinda low and the trucks run higher rpms at the same actual speed as the automatics even with the same rear gear ratio. I don't have one, but that is what I have gathered from reading here about guys with the G56. It is geared lower than the NV5600 it replaced. I believe some guys were saying they were turning like 24-2500 rpms rolling along at 70 and wished it had another gear or a higher gear ratio for 6th. Maybe someone with a G56 can chime in, but I doubt their mileage would be better than a 48RE equipped truck.

whitebuffalo

the 48 re should get better mileage. the g56 in top gear cruising with 3.73s is comparable to the auto cruising with 4.10s. my top speed with stock tires is in the 90-95 range b/c i hit the defueling point

surfnturf

Thanks for all the replies guys. Yeah, we don't tow, but the bed and cab are usually full of people and gear. Although there is the possibility we will add a trailer to the truck later on because my kart stable is slowly growing. The one time we towed (towing a 3000lb Audi TT on a trailer) with the 360 it got 7mpg even at only 60mph. We currently just fill up a camper shell on our 1500 to see 10.8. As far as the deal goes, that was just an example, and the best one we've found around. We would be running with auto trans (my dad prefers it, because somebody sits in the middle sometimes).

blord

I stand corrected, I have an automatic. I thought all the guys on this forum with manuals were getting 30 MPG (only kidding only kidding)

Nav

Dont expect to get the "high" mpg numbers with the G56. I average around 16 with my mostly rural driving. On the highway, the average drops to 15. 70 mph has you turning 2300 rpm At 60 I'm somewhere around 2000 rpm. If you are thinking about driving 85, you better expect around 11-12 mpg. The CTD is nice, but when the revs and boost climbs, it starts sucking fuel at pretty high rate. I'm running a dually so that takes probably a mile or two off the the mpg due to the extra drag.

On the flip side, the granny gear running in 4 low gets you around a 13:1 ratio....just like a dump truck. There is very little that can hold you back

Nav

surfnturf

Well anything will be better than the 360, going up the Grapevine to LA is especially hard on it, trying to maintain 65 means lead footing it. I'm hoping the torque of the diesel (particularly when enhanced with intake, chip and exhaust) will pull it easier.

D.Wiggs

If I may make a suggestion. I would do one of two things. I would get either a 3500 Megacab dually (like myself) or a 3500 QC Dually for the following reasons. You say that you haul a lot of people around when you travel long distances. The Megacab is like having a limo when it comes to passenger comfort and the 3500 DRW will give you not only a higher payload capacity but the ability to tow a much heavier trailer should you decide to go that route. Towing a tag-a-long trailer with a dually is worlds better than a SRW because the trailer does not push the truck around at all.

If you are not that concerned about passenger comfort, or if the quad cab is enough, then I would HIGHLY recommend going with a 3500 DRW LONG bed for the following reasons. The 8ft. bed will give you the ability to have a 100 Gallon aux. fuel tank and that, along with the 56Gal replacement tank means that you could go upwards of 2200 miles between fill ups. It also means that you will have more cargo room in the bed and will be able to keep the aux. tank should you go up to even a gooseneck or 5er trailer. I would also recommend a 6-speed with an exhaust brake if you are going to be running those speeds with that much of a payload and/or trailer. The 6-speeds were definitely designed for towing. And, if you throw on a set of 19.5 or 22.5" rims, you will drop your overall gear ratio such that the RPMs you were getting at 65, you will now get at 80!

Best of luck, just my .02

topless

I've pulled a small (8 x 5) trailer with 2 quads on-board, across Colorado at or near the speeds you're talking about. This was before the motor was really broke in, I had about 9000 miles on the truck. However, with the same mods that I have now, the truck got 13.5 -15 mpg. That includes the mountains where I was in a pulling race with a comparibly loaded Ford P/S over Monarch Pass. (I won)
My biggest gripe is with the tranny, I couldn't select a gear manually to hold speed, so it was always shifting up or down on me. But, as I understand it, that's not an issue with the '06 trucks.

djbikeman

You should be able to get minimum 10k below sticker. Make em sweat until the end of the month. They'll come down. If they don't shop it around. Good luck with your purchase.

JCStrasser

I agree on the price you are looking at, could be better (lower).

3 weeks ago, we bought our new CTD for $29,800 The sticker said $39k. It is an "ST" with G56 manual, Quad Cab, 4x4, long bed. Nothing fancy, but not a stripper. Got what we wanted most- the Cummins!

Like the manual trans, but may have to go to larger diameter tires to slow down the highway revs. The auto might be better for highway fuel mileage.

Good luck!
John