My truck differs from loads and trailers.

I tend to get 5.5 on this ole shaker. If I run up the I5 corridor I average around 6 to 6.5. As always it depends on the loads too.

Since 3/4 of my loads are over 38K, I don't usually see a huge increase in MPG.

I do have her wide open, but with 670K I'm lucky that she's still a good truck.

Trailers and Lucus Oil Stabilizer makes a world of difference too. If I pull a spring loaded trailer my truck seems to slug up hills. If I pull a new airride then it's like a glider.

The oil stabilizer is a miracle worker. If I go 1,000 miles without Lucus my truck doesn't perform well. You can hear the engine slug and it seems like my fuel mileage also goes down the drain.

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Don\'t judge me because of my truck. She does a fine job of going down the road.

I didnt realise that this topic was already started and just got done starting one in another section of the forums. Ile put some different things in this post that I didnt put in the other though. I run a Kenworth T600 which has the Cat engine with a 13 speed trans. I use progressive shifting and most always run at 62 mph (our trucks were spec'd for this). I get on average 7.4 mpg and my average load is 36,000 lbs. Just pulled 43200 from lakewood ,N.Y. to Calexico , Ca. and got 7.2 mpg.

Iceratt

Any one have experience or care to speculate on the effect trailer type has on fuel usage.

With the same tractor what would the difference be between a van and a flatbed both empty.

I have always been curious about this.

I was told once that a bigger engine (more HP) would actually do better on fuel than a smaller one. The logic was that on hills, you're not on the hill under full load as long with a bigger engine as opposed to a smaller one.

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Z-Lady's devoted hubby.

ile say this about fuel mileage. The way an engineer for firestone explained it to me was that the biggest determination in fuel mileage is friction. Where the footprint (tread) of the tire meets the sidewall. the most friction is caused in this location and the more there is (under inflation or extreme overweight) the less fuel mileage you will get. This explains a bit as to why the super single is a better fuel mileage tire than running a duel setup. First you only have 8 points of contact for friction. The other more obvious one is that there are less moving parts and there for also less weight. All of our T600's and most of our trailers are fitted with these tires and I love when I pull in for a drop-n-hook and see em'.

My latest update... 2000 Volvo VNL64T w/ Cummins N14 pulling 53' trailers.

I work hauling to Wal Marts in the Georgia/Alabama area. I've only had my truck for a couple weeks, but starting to see what my averages are.

We weigh our loads every day out of the gate, and averages are from about 74-79k. Also a lot of hilly terrain.

I'm getting about 6.5-6.6 on most loads. The exception has been when I'm making deliveries in the ATL metro area stuck in stop n go traffic. My worst was 5.7. Best was on a long run into the Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC areas. Wound up hitting 7.1 for a while due to this being a longer trip and lighter load. I was loaded down with about a 41k load on the way back down I-20, and saw my mpg's decrease to 6.7 due to all the climbing hills and had to idle the truck for 3 hours at a backhaul.

Pretty "average" so far. I plan on switching to all synthetic lubes here soon, and possibly the Michelin X 1 tires. Hoping to see over 7 all the time.

My Tractor is hauling roof trusses ( Low weight ) 97' FLD 112 S/A weighs 12,500 lb. /9 speed .73 O.D./ M11 330 h.p./ 4:11 Eaton/ 11R22.5/ 1600 r.p.m. # 64 mph. The trailer weighs 16,500 empty but only hauls about 5-25,000 lbs of trusses and only carries the load one way. We see low 9's to low 10 MPG's so I suppose we are lucky, would love to put a 13 speed D.O. in this truck.

96 T600 with over 1 million miles. 3406E CAT, 13 spd and 3.55 rears


65 mph and under the mpgs climb and are usually 6.5 - 7.3

I idle for comfort. I pull a flat bed and can be loaded any where from 32,400 empty to 80,000 loaded.

Over 65 the mpgs drop to an average of 5.5 at 75 mph.

2006 Columbia, 515 Detroit 60, Eaton autoshift. Last quarter I made 5.87mpg, running reefer meat loads, normally 70k+. But that damn Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming speed limits kill my mileage.

No body forces you to drive that fast