496 towing milage

[Elbert]

Just wondering if approx. 7.5 mpg is average...? Towing with a 01 K2500 Suburban with 496 engine and 4L80E Trans with 3.73 gears. Pulling vehicle that weighs about 5.5K with a dual axle trailer.

I suspect so...but wondered what others have observed.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by Elbert

Just wondering if approx. 7.5 mpg is average...? Towing with a 01 K2500 Suburban with 496 engine and 4L80E Trans with 3.73 gears. Pulling vehicle that weighs about 5.5K with a dual axle trailer.

I suspect so...but wondered what others have observed.

I suspect your vehicle with non synthetic oils/fluids gets 15MPG MAX..when towing 5,ooolbs the MPG should drop to 50% of your max..7.5 sounds very normal with this load....other factors that effect this would be tire pressures all, and the shape of the load being towed ,wind resistance/speed...

[risleydc]

Originally Posted by Elbert

Just wondering if approx. 7.5 mpg is average...? Towing with a 01 K2500 Suburban with 496 engine and 4L80E Trans with 3.73 gears. Pulling vehicle that weighs about 5.5K with a dual axle trailer.

I suspect so...but wondered what others have observed.

My 2001 K2500 4WD 496 4L80E with 4.1 gear ratio gets about 6mpg towing a 5500lb dual axle trailer.

[Elbert]

Originally Posted by risleydc

My 2001 K2500 4WD 496 4L80E with 4.1 gear ratio gets about 6mpg towing a 5500lb dual axle trailer.

Ok, so I'm in the ballpark. I have thought about going to 4.10 gears, but only for the change in the torque "curve".

On the steep hills I sometimes would like a little lower gear, but generally the 496 has no problems pulling this and I don't see the mountains or really aggressive hills that often.

I should have phrased my towed load to say...I'm pulling a trailer that weighs around 2K and a vehcile that weighs around 5.5K so about 8K in total weight (I've added some more weight to the land cruiser I tow).

[jtmarten]

My '96 K2500, 454, 4.10s gets 12-13hwy (@75), about 9.5 towing an 8000lb boat (@65). A PO installed a K&N and a Tornado, maybe they actually make a difference?

[Elbert]

Originally Posted by jtmarten

My '96 K2500, 454, 4.10s gets 12-13hwy (@75), about 9.5 towing an 8000lb boat (@65). A PO installed a K&N and a Tornado, maybe they actually make a difference?

On the route I measured I was going about 75mph. I would say that 9.5mpg towing is very good. I don't know how much credit I would give to the air filter though.