ohiozj
Full Access Member
first a little background. i have had the truck about 15 months. and have been spending alot of time working the kinks out of the truck and making alot of little 'tlc' repairs as the truck has definitely been neglected the past oh ten years or so. the biggest of the repairs were a new clutch and 6 new bfg a/t's.
also i replaced all my injector o rings and return lines. got the truck up to the mid 13's for gas mileage empty.
so i had finally got the truck to where i felt it would be reliable and capable to tow my trail truck down to harlan ky for the weekend. its a solid 4 hour drive with no stops. with having to slow down considerably on the long hills and stopping for fuel and food once (the wife and 2 kids were with me) it was closer to 5 hours. i dont have a trailer and couldnt find someone who would let me borrow one and i didnt feel like driving my jeep there, not to mention wouldnt be able to fit all our gear and food and tools in the jeep. it gets extremely tight with 2 car seats. so i ended up just renting one from uhaul. which turned out to be a great idea since my jeep died on top of the mountain. the trailer was relatively light, around 2200 lbs i think. it had surge brakes, which worked really well.
my jeep is probably around 5500 plus the trailer 2200 and my truck around 7000. i guess i was grossing around 15k. which is about 6k less than the most i have ever pulled with the truck - it was local though.
down 75 to corbin i was able to hold 65-70 fairly well, i had to drop to 50 once or twice. avg. mileage on the highway was 8-1/2 to 9 mpg. at corbin we got off the highway and the road the rest of the way to harlan was 55mph max, and through the twisty mountains. i got right under 11mpg on that part. which i was very happy with. so im sure if i were to keep my highway speeds between 55 and 60 i could get that good of mileage on the highway too.
specs on the motor are pretty boring, its all stock n/a 7.3 wth the 5 speed.
had no problems with the truck at all except for one thing. on long downhills when i let off the throttle i got alot of white smoke out the exhaust. the truck smokes white smoke a little at start up and when its warming up. but i noticed alot on long grades when i let it coast....
also i replaced all my injector o rings and return lines. got the truck up to the mid 13's for gas mileage empty.
so i had finally got the truck to where i felt it would be reliable and capable to tow my trail truck down to harlan ky for the weekend. its a solid 4 hour drive with no stops. with having to slow down considerably on the long hills and stopping for fuel and food once (the wife and 2 kids were with me) it was closer to 5 hours. i dont have a trailer and couldnt find someone who would let me borrow one and i didnt feel like driving my jeep there, not to mention wouldnt be able to fit all our gear and food and tools in the jeep. it gets extremely tight with 2 car seats. so i ended up just renting one from uhaul. which turned out to be a great idea since my jeep died on top of the mountain. the trailer was relatively light, around 2200 lbs i think. it had surge brakes, which worked really well.
my jeep is probably around 5500 plus the trailer 2200 and my truck around 7000. i guess i was grossing around 15k. which is about 6k less than the most i have ever pulled with the truck - it was local though.
down 75 to corbin i was able to hold 65-70 fairly well, i had to drop to 50 once or twice. avg. mileage on the highway was 8-1/2 to 9 mpg. at corbin we got off the highway and the road the rest of the way to harlan was 55mph max, and through the twisty mountains. i got right under 11mpg on that part. which i was very happy with. so im sure if i were to keep my highway speeds between 55 and 60 i could get that good of mileage on the highway too.
specs on the motor are pretty boring, its all stock n/a 7.3 wth the 5 speed.
had no problems with the truck at all except for one thing. on long downhills when i let off the throttle i got alot of white smoke out the exhaust. the truck smokes white smoke a little at start up and when its warming up. but i noticed alot on long grades when i let it coast....
