How far will truck go before needing to refuel

Probably the best wat to answer that is to say there is no definitive answer. One of the biggest issues at play here is the size of the fuel tanks. You can have thanks anywhere from 50 gallons up to 300 gallons or more. My experience has been that depending on the load and the engine you could get anywhere from 5 miles to the gallon up to 8 miles to the gallon. Now if you have 300 gallon tanks, that could mean anywhere from 1500 miles to 2400 miles. So the real answer is there is no average:. Sorry I couldn't be more help

 

I would think it will go until the tanks are empty lol. Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Most OTR fleets spec them out with dual 100-135 gallon tanks. I know Cowan and Prime give you only 100-125 gallons on their small sleepers. Not too sure about JB Hunt. I usually can tell by the number of straps holding the tanks up and diameter. Three and its most likely 120-150 gallon. Two and its most likely 50-125 gallon. Some macks and newer Volvos have four straps for their square shaped tanks. Freightliner has long and circular tanks on its class 8 while the city delivery trucks have square shaped fuel tanks with two-three straps. They usually hold anywhere from 25-75 gallons.

 

trucks get in a normal range 6 -9 mpg. just do the math on the size of tanks. 2 one hundred gallons tanks at 7 mpg is approximately 1400 miles (it can vary). The biggest variables are weight of load, flat road or hills. Your speed will also be a factor, if you got a lead foot it will be less. If you use cruise and keep her steady mileage will be better.

 

Idling and sitting in traffic will decrease the mileage a bit, not to mention a poorly maintained truck/fuel system will also lose some mileage than a properly maintained truck.

 

If I'm scheduled to pick up a heavy load that will put me close to maximum weight I try to arrive to the shipper with 1/2 tanks or less. After scaling the load and balancing it then I calculate how many gallons I can add to the tanks and put in that many gallons, then look at the fuel gauge and understand that is the maximum I can fill at any fuel stop.

Usually on these heavy loads I may end up getting up to maximum 3/4 tanks to avoid being overweight on the steers or drives. I did take a load last year where the maximum I could handle was 1/2 tanks, which meant I was fueling about every 400 miles.

You never want to run your tanks dry. The last 1/8 fuel is generally not something I want going through my fuel filter. Usually I try to keep my tanks above 1/4.

 

I recall one one truck I drove back in the 70's had two one hundred gallon tanks & if the tanks were topped off I could make it half way to the west coast which was El Paso. If I did not top the tanks out at our yard myself I would stop & buy fuel before I got to El Paso. Of course we were not getting very good fuel mileage back them.

Back in early 70's I drove a conventionalKW with one one hundred gallon tank, I could make a round trip to Greenville, Miss & back which is a bit over 200 miles. Plus I was pulling a cement tanker & we had exhaust turbine run by the engine to pressurize the tank for unloading. All the other trucks had to stop & buy at least 20 gallons of fuel to make that trip, the reason I didn't was mine would pull more fuel out of its tanks than the others. Many a time I made that trip when fueling up afterwards I would put about 97 to 99 gallons of fuel in my tank. Also I would always fill my tank right to the brim, a lot of our drivers would not take the time to do that so they could not go quite a far as I could.

The only time I would stop & buy fuel on that trip was if I had a head wind coming or going & or it took me over 30 minutes to unload the cement. Usually unloaded in about 18 to 25 minutes if I was pulling my trailer.