My tow truck fuel Mileage

[spurhunter]

To the comment, "switch to a bowtie", I wish that was true. My Avalanche gets a whopping 8-9 while towing my beast. And it tows it kinda sucky anyways.

[rancherlee]

I know my new 5.0l scab 4x4 with 3.55 gears is doing ALOT better than my old 4.6 2v in the towing department. I'm right at 12mpg towing the toon @ 60mph where the 4.6l struggled to crack 10mpg. Unloaded highway driving Is improved also, I stretched the 36gallon tank over 700 miles on a recent road trip and logged a hand calculated 21.9mpg with the cruise basically set at 70mph the whole day. Speed is the big factor with the toon, every 5mph is roughly 1mpg worse past 60mph. I get better mileage lugging my 8000# skidsteer/trailer around then my 3000# pontoon.

[GXPWeasel]

To the comment, "switch to a bowtie", I wish that was true. My Avalanche gets a whopping 8-9 while towing my beast. And it tows it kinda sucky anyways.

I'm wondering how much having 4wd hurts your MPG while towing. From everything I've noticed or heard from others, I get about 2 MPG better with 2wd than an equivalent truck with 4wd. This should be the same while towing, right? How do you guys with the Ovals and Horns feel regarding the MPG and 4wd versus 2wd?

[rancherlee]

To the comment, "switch to a bowtie", I wish that was true. My Avalanche gets a whopping 8-9 while towing my beast. And it tows it kinda sucky anyways.

I'm wondering how much having 4wd hurts your MPG while towing. From everything I've noticed or heard from others, I get about 2 MPG better with 2wd than an equivalent truck with 4wd. This should be the same while towing, right? How do you guys with the Ovals and Horns feel regarding the MPG and 4wd versus 2wd?

I don't think 2x4 vs 4x4 makes a difference while towing at all, and really doesn't make a difference in unloaded highway mileage either with today's trucks. I know on the Ford forums I'm a regular on the only place 2x4 makes a noticeable 1mpg+ difference is city/mixed driving.

[waterlab]

To the comment, "switch to a bowtie", I wish that was true. My Avalanche gets a whopping 8-9 while towing my beast. And it tows it kinda sucky anyways.

I'm wondering how much having 4wd hurts your MPG while towing. From everything I've noticed or heard from others, I get about 2 MPG better with 2wd than an equivalent truck with 4wd. This should be the same while towing, right? How do you guys with the Ovals and Horns feel regarding the MPG and 4wd versus 2wd?

I don't think 2x4 vs 4x4 makes a difference while towing at all, and really doesn't make a difference in unloaded highway mileage either with today's trucks. I know on the Ford forums I'm a regular on the only place 2x4 makes a noticeable 1mpg+ difference is city/mixed driving.

Is that the FTE forum?

[sunnyside]

Occasionally, I also tow with our 2010 Traverse, with the 3.6L V6. I get just about the same MPG while towing with it. The Traverse sits higher than my truck, by about 1.5 feet, but it also searches for gears more often, due to the lower torque levels, and the 6 speed auto. transmission. Yet, I've never had worse than 10 MPG while towing the toon with either vehicle.

I got our South Bay late last fall and towed with 2011 GMC Acadia (same engine as Traverse iirc) the few times we used the boat. With all the mountains, hills and winding roads here in central PA that Acadia was rarely in the higher gears and the engine was screaming while you could almost watch the gas gauge moving. So, I'm now towing with 2013 GMC Yukon (320 hp iirc) and it's a world of difference both in towing and gas mileage. I get about 21 mpg not towing and it drops off quite a bit when towing. I know it is not nearly as bad as when towing with the Acadia but I need to check to see what it is.

[Mosnowman]

2013 Ford F250 Lariat....towing my 24 foot Harris Cruiser = 10-12 mg

[ROLAND]

Geez... I thought my fuel mileage was bad.... not compared to some of you guys... we tow our 20 foot toon with a 2010 Toyota 4 Runner... without the boat we get 18.5 mpg... with the toon, it' drops to around 16 mpg.... guess I shouldn't bitch.

[Bryden24shp]

Roland, thats damn good! We just took the boat to Missouri and in the hills of the Ozarks I dropped down to 7.5 per gallon running 89 octane w/ethanol (out of 91) that I bought in Palmyra. I filled with 93 (non-ethanol) in Kingdom City and mileage went up to 9.3, the truck was customed tuned on 91 (non-E). It downshifted alot less on the hills and really ran alot better. I paid about .50 a gallon more for the 93 and it was worth it. Just such a pain in the butt to find GOOD 100%GAS!