dropping fuel prices

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by twinmill28

Hey OC--your last couple of posts really have me scratching my head on towing with a diesel in your deuce.
I've been towing a 30ft travel trailer weighed in around 6400-6600 pounds for local camping, and definately more when we drove cross country last year.
My average fuel consumption was 8mpg real world driving 50-55mph the entire distance; any faster and all my temps started going thru the roof.
The truck itself handled the towing duties well, drivetrain--esp. cooling system, just isn't suited to max. rated towing from my experience.
You said you don't feel the deuce is suited to towing, could it just be the SUT, or what has you feeling this way? Also, not sure how your diesel fuel economy at 80mph is comparable to mine at 50-55 in a gasser?
Doesn't really sound like a benefit (at least towing wise) to be had in going diesel? I know your performance without the trailer is impressive.

A few thoughts... my trailer is ALL aluminum. I don't know how much this one weighs since I just received it but it was a replacement for a 24' all aluminum that I ordered less than a year ago. My point is the 24' was 3K lbs. plus bathroom stuff. (I'd say 3800-4000lbs MAX) Now, I'm not a trailer expert so I don't know how much that makes a difference.

Second, I'm running 4.56 gears to offset my 40's. Again, not sure how that compares to your setup.

I do know this. Running 75-80mph in my H2 with a supercharged 6.0 pulling a trailer on the DIC only showed 6 mpg. (so I'm assuming 4-5 in real life)

I was using the "tow" tune which uses a bit more fuel but tows much better.

Last but not least, when I say it's not suited to towing, I'm talking suspension. With a lift kit and 40" tires, I had to install a set of airbags in the rear springs to keep the truck level. My "issue" when I say towing is the wheelbase. The H2 simply isn't conducive to towing as compared to an HD2500 or Suburban.

My trans temps never got over 200 and my duramax saw 210'ish a few times but it would drop down very quickly.

Hope that helped explain it a bit better.

Mark