Cowpuncher
Well-known member
Some of you might remember a couple of years ago, We sold our ranch.
We kept our GMC Duramax 2500 HD. A couple of days ago, we traded it in for a Chevrolet 1500 half ton.
We owned the Duramax for 5 years. While it was a ranch truck, we kept track of every gallon of fuel that went into it. We put 2962.o gallons of diesel in it over 49,650 miles for an average of 16.76 MPG. At east 90% of the miles were highway. Every time it was filled up, I spent a lot of time making sure it was absolutely full to the top of the filler neck. The best mileage I ever got was 19.2 MPG and the worst was 10.0 (pulling a goosenweck trailer loaded with a 14,000# trencher.
I often talked with others while filling up at fuel stops and never found anyone with any 3/4 ton or one ton getting more that 19 or 20 MPG. Our Duramax had an Allison Transmission (which is one good gearbox). Maybe a manual transmission would get better mileage, But, I don't think you can even even buy a GM Diesel with a manual gear box anymore.
I have owned several diesels going back to 1982. They all performed pretty well - a couple of GM's and a Ford. We also had a couple of Dodges on the ranch owned by employees. They do their job very well, but unless someone keeps meticulous records of every ounce of fuel they put in them, I will continue to doubt the mileage claims some make. Diesel foams when put into the tank and unless one takes the time to make sure the tank is full to the neck without foam, a tank full will vary 2 or 3 gallons which will make a lot of difference in the claimed mileage.
I hope this doesn't start a word war, but I really do doubt that any diesel pickup can get more than about 20MPG, especially pulling something.
Even had a VW Diesel pickup many years ago which would get 45 or 50 MPG on the highway, but it had to be downshifted as soon as a hill cam into sight.
Also had a 5 cylinder Mercedes Diesel which would get about 25 on the highway, but it had no turbo. Once had it on a high mountain pass and it barely would move again once it was stopped.
We kept our GMC Duramax 2500 HD. A couple of days ago, we traded it in for a Chevrolet 1500 half ton.
We owned the Duramax for 5 years. While it was a ranch truck, we kept track of every gallon of fuel that went into it. We put 2962.o gallons of diesel in it over 49,650 miles for an average of 16.76 MPG. At east 90% of the miles were highway. Every time it was filled up, I spent a lot of time making sure it was absolutely full to the top of the filler neck. The best mileage I ever got was 19.2 MPG and the worst was 10.0 (pulling a goosenweck trailer loaded with a 14,000# trencher.
I often talked with others while filling up at fuel stops and never found anyone with any 3/4 ton or one ton getting more that 19 or 20 MPG. Our Duramax had an Allison Transmission (which is one good gearbox). Maybe a manual transmission would get better mileage, But, I don't think you can even even buy a GM Diesel with a manual gear box anymore.
I have owned several diesels going back to 1982. They all performed pretty well - a couple of GM's and a Ford. We also had a couple of Dodges on the ranch owned by employees. They do their job very well, but unless someone keeps meticulous records of every ounce of fuel they put in them, I will continue to doubt the mileage claims some make. Diesel foams when put into the tank and unless one takes the time to make sure the tank is full to the neck without foam, a tank full will vary 2 or 3 gallons which will make a lot of difference in the claimed mileage.
I hope this doesn't start a word war, but I really do doubt that any diesel pickup can get more than about 20MPG, especially pulling something.
Even had a VW Diesel pickup many years ago which would get 45 or 50 MPG on the highway, but it had to be downshifted as soon as a hill cam into sight.
Also had a 5 cylinder Mercedes Diesel which would get about 25 on the highway, but it had no turbo. Once had it on a high mountain pass and it barely would move again once it was stopped.
