Impact of Heavy Duty Tow Package (w/ 3.73 axle ratio) on MPG gas mileage

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Deadman

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Did anyone seen an increase in MPG after break in or any certain mileage point?

The second tank of fuel I ran thru mine, I ran it easy to try and see how good of MPG I could squeeze out of it. It averaged 25.2 mpg at 55-60 mpg, so its efficient from day 1.
 

LokiWolf

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Did anyone seen an increase in MPG after break in or any certain mileage point?

Our 17 definitely got better as it got closer to 10K with very little difference in driving. After 10K - 44K when we traded it, very little change all others things the same.


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Overtow

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Just finished a quick trip from Cleveland, OH to Gatlinburg, TN. First time I've ever manually measured mileage. I have a 2018 XLT with the HDTow package. We left CLE Sunday morning with a 1/2 tank which got us to Grove City on the south side of Columbus. Filled up there with 93, then continued on down 71 to 75 in Cincinnati, a quick pit stop south of Lexignton, then off 75 to Jellico, TN. Took some backroads there down through LaFollete, then back on to 75/40 to finish the drive to Gatlinburg.

Still had ~100 miles of fuel, but knew we were going to do some tooling around so I filled up with 92. Average for the drive from CMH to GB was 20.3 (441 miles, 21.75 gallons).

The tank of 92 was able to handle a bunch of mountain driving - up to NewFound Gap and then over to Clingman's dome, back down and all around Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. We left this morning and made it to halfway between Richmond KY and Lexington, where a bathroom break necessitated a 16 gallon top-off of 93. Coming out to an average of 15.6mpg for the slow mountain driving and the trip back to Richmond.

From there, we made our meandering way back to Cleveland via I75, R53, and R2, with a pretty strong West wind (We had to pick up our dog, hence the meandering drive). According to the trip computer, we have 170 miles left on this tank, and the run we just made was 377 miles. If the computer is right and we have 170 MTE, then we averaged almost 23mpg on the way home.

Tomorrow we are going to Cedar Point, so that should basically finish out most of this tank. I'll run the numbers after that and post an update.
 

Greg Parker

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Just finished a quick trip from Cleveland, OH to Gatlinburg, TN. First time I've ever manually measured mileage. I have a 2018 XLT with the HDTow package. We left CLE Sunday morning with a 1/2 tank which got us to Grove City on the south side of Columbus. Filled up there with 93, then continued on down 71 to 75 in Cincinnati, a quick pit stop south of Lexignton, then off 75 to Jellico, TN. Took some backroads there down through LaFollete, then back on to 75/40 to finish the drive to Gatlinburg.

Still had ~100 miles of fuel, but knew we were going to do some tooling around so I filled up with 92. Average for the drive from CMH to GB was 20.3 (441 miles, 21.75 gallons).

The tank of 92 was able to handle a bunch of mountain driving - up to NewFound Gap and then over to Clingman's dome, back down and all around Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. We left this morning and made it to halfway between Richmond KY and Lexington, where a bathroom break necessitated a 16 gallon top-off of 93. Coming out to an average of 15.6mpg for the slow mountain driving and the trip back to Richmond.

From there, we made our meandering way back to Cleveland via I75, R53, and R2, with a pretty strong West wind (We had to pick up our dog, hence the meandering drive). According to the trip computer, we have 170 miles left on this tank, and the run we just made was 377 miles. If the computer is right and we have 170 MTE, then we averaged almost 23mpg on the way home.

Tomorrow we are going to Cedar Point, so that should basically finish out most of this tank. I'll run the numbers after that and post an update.

Holy hell ...if you're getting better than 15mpg towing ...PLEASE tell me you're towing a Hi-Lo or a pop-up. NO MATTER how hard I tried, I couldn't imagine getting better than 12mpg with my 6200#, full-bodied camper.
 

dlcorbett

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Holy hell ...if you're getting better than 15mpg towing ...PLEASE tell me you're towing a Hi-Lo or a pop-up. NO MATTER how hard I tried, I couldn't imagine getting better than 12mpg with my 6200#, full-bodied camper.

I dnt think he was towing at all for this trip.
 

Overtow

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correct, I was not towing for this trip. I do have the heavy duty tow package and figured that maybe it would be a good baseline to share. I just filled up on this last trip and from Lexington to Cleveland average 22.25 MPG. This was 95% freeway driving running 93 octane.

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Dice Roll

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correct, I was not towing for this trip. I do have the heavy duty tow package and figured that maybe it would be a good baseline to share. I just filled up on this last trip and from Lexington to Cleveland average 22.25 MPG. This was 95% freeway driving running 93 octane.

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4 or 2wd? Max?
 

Greg Parker

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correct, I was not towing for this trip. I do have the heavy duty tow package and figured that maybe it would be a good baseline to share. I just filled up on this last trip and from Lexington to Cleveland average 22.25 MPG. This was 95% freeway driving running 93 octane.

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Ahh...understood. One of the things I noticed about my Expy was that until it hit about 600-700 miles on the OD, I couldn't get more than 18mpg no matter how hard I tried. As I drove it home (to AZ) from the dealership I found it at in Wyoming, I was getting kinda ticked-off. Then something changed, and I got 21.8mpg on the next fill-up and 24.1mpg on a mostly downhill run from Flagstaff, AZ to the Phoenix area. I theorize that the ECM in these is tuned from the factory to run a little rich (for the first 600 miles?) to allow for proper break-in.

I'm only getting 9-10mpg while towing, but that has just been one trip so far, and it was super hot and windy (no matter which direction we were driving, we seemed to encounter a headwind). So, I'm hoping for some improvement on the towing ...but maybe not more than 1-1.5mpg increase in calm, cooler conditions.

(EDIT: Was using 87/89 octane on the drive from WY-to-AZ, but did fill-up with 93 for towing the camper. Might stick with 91/93 all of the time and see what it does to perceived performance / mpg.)
 

Expedition Dave

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FX4 HD package (3.73s).

At sea-level and flat with 300 lbs of driver/kit, at 50-55 mph I was getting a hair over 28 on the computer with A/C running (only a one way measurement, so yes should have done the route the same day with same wind etc).

I will confirm today with a 200-mile round trip with some in town driving and idiling and report back her if anyone is interested. Return trip will be with maybe another 100+ pounds of goods (so 400 lbs driver/kit).

IMHO, the extra gearing only make a significantly measurable difference at steady state, top-gear highway speeds in the 70+ mph class, where she rpms maybe 100 +/- more.

I love the mileage on this thing and afraid the slight lift I desire and slightly larger/heavier tires will promptly ruin it by 2-3 mpg (or more) at highway speeds...

YMMV
 

Deadman

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FX4 HD package (3.73s).

At sea-level and flat with 300 lbs of driver/kit, at 50-55 mph I was getting a hair over 28 on the computer with A/C running (only a one way measurement, so yes should have done the route the same day with same wind etc).

I will confirm today with a 200-mile round trip with some in town driving and idiling and report back her if anyone is interested. Return trip will be with maybe another 100+ pounds of goods (so 400 lbs driver/kit).

IMHO, the extra gearing only make a significantly measurable difference at steady state, top-gear highway speeds in the 70+ mph class, where she rpms maybe 100 +/- more.

I love the mileage on this thing and afraid the slight lift I desire and slightly larger/heavier tires will promptly ruin it by 2-3 mpg (or more) at highway speeds...

YMMV

Lift and tires will probably kill 5mpg easily. Looking cool isn't worth the coin for me.
 

duneslider

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Lift and tires will probably kill 5mpg easily. Looking cool isn't worth the coin for me.

Not sure about this, possible but maybe not. On my jeep stock tires 32" street tires with 4.10 gears I would get 19-20, when I bumped to 35" mud tires and 3.5" lift and 5.13 gears I went to 17-18 on the highway. A slightly taller tire on the expedition and 1-2" lift probably won't be more than an mpg or two max on the highway. Probably hurt around town driving more and hurt towing mpg.
 

Fozzy

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Stock tires to 35” 10 ply tires with 3” lift on both my 16 F-150 6 speed and my 2019 Expy 10 speed dropped the empty highway mileage 3 MPG. Zero difference when towing my boat. You are just in the turbo with a load and that is always single digits for me.


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