I have a ram 4x4 1500 qc with a 5.7 hemi and a 3.92 rear end. I noticed that my gas mileage is excellent when driving with the overdrive on. When I take the overdrive off and tow my boat I can almost see the gas gauge move towards empty. Does any one else have the same problem?

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I have the same setup on my truck and towed my friends boat to the lake on the way over there were many hills and curves, and there was no way to use the overdrive because it would go nuts on every hill. The average mpg on the way over there was ridiculous something like 11 or 12 mpg. On the way back we found a different route which only had a couple of hills, but mostly flat there the cruise control worked like a charm since the rpm where at there normal level, and there was a noticeable mpg increase to 15 or 16 mpg.

By the way were you useing the tow/haul on or off?

 

nytstker

You did not say how much your boat and trailer weigh, but unless it is a mighty large one I doubt that it strains the vehicle you describe while towing. I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, but I do know a good bit about towing that I have learned over the years.

It really does depend upon the weight of what you tow, but if that weight is well within the towing capacity of your vehicle, towing in overdrive on fairly flat terrain probably will not hurt the tranny. Ask yourself, does the transmission "hunt" for gears excessively when you tow in overdrive? If so, you probably are at, or near, your towing capacity and the vehicle is in too much of a strain. If not, and the vehicle seems to be hitting it's stride while towing with overdrive, then you probably are okay.

As you may know, if the transmission is continually hunting for gears this may cause overheating and could damage the transmission mainly from torque converter slippage. However, there is another reason for not towing in overdrive, if the vehicle is under excessive load it could cause the overdrive clutch pack assembly to fail whether it overheats or not.

You really have to be the judge of this, and if you have enough experience towing you should be able to get a "feel" for how much stress the vehicle seems to be in. Of course, when in doubt, use the tow/haul position and you can't go wrong.

I tow a TT with an, as pulled weight of around 4800 pounds, using about the same vehicle that you have and I often tow in overdrive while on fairly level terrain without incident. My truck does not "hunt" for gears and easily hits a good stride while towing like this. However, if I encounter hills of very much degree, I will shift to the tow/haul position. I talk to many other campers using several different vehicles and find that most will tow in overdrive under similiar circumstances.

My mileage will vary between about 9 to 12 mpg while towing, depending of course, upon the terrain that is encountered. I hope this has been helpful, it's based upon several years of towing experience without encountering any drive train problems.

Another thing that you might want to consider if you tow often is to add additional transmission oil cooling. You don't say if your vehicle is equipped with the tow package, if so it will have a larger oil cooler, but adding an additional cooler to this will be very helpful to the life of your transmission. I am in the process of doing this to my vehicle at the present time. Most automatic transmission failures are due to overheating, so consider adding cooling capacity and a tranny oil temperature gauge so you can keep check on what's going on down there.

 

Hold your speed to 55MPH if you can.

I get about 9MPG towing a 26' 4th that is at least 6,800lbs loaded up (with my 5.9L on tow/haul).

I have found that wind resistance is the biggest problem.

When I towed my father-in-laws 3,500lb boat - I got 12MPG into the wind - and over 14 MPG on the way back (when there was no almost wind).

Has anyone found those top of the cab fibreglass wind breaks to make a difference towing anything with frontage?

Dave

 

I average around 11.5 towing a 4000lb trailer, and around 15.5 when not towing. There are too many variables and not enough information to tell if you have a problem.

 

No, but I have a Cummins.. I average between 12 & 14 MPG pulling 8-10K @ 68 MPH. I see 20 - 22 empty.

 

I have a question about towing and I didn't want to start a new topic since this one is about towing.
I plan on getting a hitch/trailer from Uhaul and moving up to Idaho in about a month. My tow capacity is 5000lbs and I figure I'll be hauling no more than 3000lbs. My question is what do I need to do to get my truck ready for the move? And do I used the tow/haul button while moving? I'll be going from SoCal to Idaho, it's a distance of just under 1000 miles. I've already made the drive a month ago, but that was in my Intrepid. Your guys help would be much appreciated as I'm new to owning a big truck like this. Tnx.

 

I have a 4.7 2wd . Last year i towed my loaded 6x12 trailer from pa to nc and i got about 17 mpg with the air on avg speed around 70. Im in the Outer banks right now and i averaged over 20 on the way down with no trailer.

 

Alienfog

Don't forget to add the weight of all the contents of your truck, including any passengers, to your final towing calculations. Otherwise most of what I said in my previous post will apply in your case also. Judging by where you will be doing your towing, I would expect that you will be using the tow/haul position most, if not all of the time.

You didn't say what kind of trailer that you will be using, but pulling that much weight it should have electric brakes on it and that's going to require you to have a controller in your truck. Check with the place where you get your hitch about this.

 

Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like I am doing ok. I do have a trailer towing package and the trailer is about 4500 lbs. I do shut off the over drive button if that is what you refer to as the towing switch. I may be over cautious since I had tranny trouble on my 96 dodge 360 . It had no towing package. I will get a oil temp guage
Good idea
Thanks

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