I can't drive 55.

onanysunday

onanysunday

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So my motorhome and rig weighs about 27,500 lb loaded. I burned right at 63.5 gallons round trip of diesel each trip. Unless there's heavy crosswinds it can burn another three to five gallons. I normally drive at 62 miles per hour. Today for grins I'm going to try it at 56 mph. I'm guessing it will be an extra half hour of drive time. So who wants to guess how much fuel this will save. I'm hoping for at least 5 gallons.

 
Actually no buggy on the trailer going one way so 2,400 lb lighter let's say

 
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You are going to burn the same. Santa Ana winds are about.

If no or lighter winds, let's go with 59.3 gallons in fuel

 
I don't think much wind is forecast for today but you never know. See if I can make minimum wage on this stunt.

 
This trip to Glamis from Orange County I stayed at 55 mph and used about 25% less diesel. 
That equates to about $4.50 a gallon. 

 
Driving at 55mph equates to no blow outs.  Driving at 62mph increases the chance of a trailer blow out by 15%.  For every 5mph increase, increases the blow outs by 10%.

 
Unless you head into a bunch of wind, you should def see a noticeable drop in fuel consumption. With our Winnie, if I set the cruise at 57-58mph, it puts the Cummins ISL right at 1500rpms where it seems pretty happy. Once I run it above that, it really seems to kick up it's drinking problem. She weighs right about 30k lbs on her own with water.

In this configuration it's 36,500lbs and averages about 7mpg

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You will see a slight improvement.  Not enough to add 30 minutes to the trip. 

 
Just pulled on to gecko road and the gauge is right at 3/4 or just maybe a pinch below certainly higher than it normally is halfway through the trip. Looks like it took about an extra 20 minutes. Looks like maybe a nice payday here.

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There's a guy who buys used class 8 trucks, converts them to RVs for towing and changes the gear ratio to a taller one. He does YT videos showing off his fuel economy towing a 24,000 lb trailer. One truck got about 9 mpg towing and when he changed to a taller gear, it went up to 10.5 mpg. Empty, that truck got about 16.5 mpg before and about 17.5 mpg after. He got very similar results with another brand of truck. One had a 12 speed auto shift and the other had I believe a 13 speed automatic.

In addition to the obvious safety benefits, those big rigs are getting better mileage than my truck towing an estimated 19-20k. Not to mention they can carry 300 gal so you can fill up whenever you find a great deal on diesel. Regardless of where you live, you don't ever need to buy fuel in CA again. 

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
There's a guy who buys used class 8 trucks, converts them to RVs for towing and changes the gear ratio to a taller one. He does YT videos showing off his fuel economy towing a 24,000 lb trailer. One truck got about 9 mpg towing and when he changed to a taller gear, it went up to 10.5 mpg. Empty, that truck got about 16.5 mpg before and about 17.5 mpg after. He got very similar results with another brand of truck. One had a 12 speed auto shift and the other had I believe a 13 speed automatic.

In addition to the obvious safety benefits, those big rigs are getting better mileage than my truck towing an estimated 19-20k. Not to mention they can carry 300 gal so you can fill up whenever you find a great deal on diesel. Regardless of where you live, you don't ever need to buy fuel in CA again. 
Click to expand...
What's the name of the channel?

 
I normally stay around 65-68 but I’m determined this summer on our 3,000 mile trip to stick around 56-57 to see if I can’t maximize the fuel economy of the Ford 7.3L. Part of me thinks I’ll find it unsafe as trucks are ignoring speed limits all the time in CA and flying by you at 65-70.

 
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