i have a 95 c2500 with the 6.5 turbo and recently made a 750 mile round trip. i was towing a 79 blazer without the engine, tranny or transfer although the tranny and transfer was thrown in the back of the blazer. i dropped it off and picked up an 83 toyota that was complete and returned home. i figured my mileage at a little over 11 mpg. this seems pretty low to me. i went to barnwell (wheeling area) and talked to a guy with a superduty that was hauling a gooseneck with a jeep with 44's and a blazer with 44's as well as firewood, coolers, and all kinds of camping equipment and spare parts and he said he was getting 11 mpg, with a helluva bigger load than i. any thoughts? this doesn't seem right on mine. any suggestions?? (besides buying a different tow rig which won't happen until i buy my wife a bigger home )
I just towed my Jeep XJ on a Uhaul trailer from LA to Denver with my 6.5. The Jeep was FULL of stuff from our house so the total weight of the Jeep and Trailer is like 6000-6500lbs. I also have about 2000lbs of stuff in the bed of the truck and I am averaging about 8.5mpg:doah: . My truck also has a Lumber rack that is full of stuff so that creates alot of wind resistance. The trip is full of alot of steep/long hills so that doesnt help. I was hoping for better milage but oh well. I took a 700mi round trip recently towing a 3500lb boat and got 13.5mpg I get about 13.5mpg around town 15 mixed and 16-17 highway Your friend with the Ford also has alot more power than you do so that helps his milage. dont get a new truck yet...Look at it this way...if you had a Gasser you would have gotten like 7mpg
Without. The small turbo on the 6.5 keeps it quiet. Your fuel mileage seems about the same as mine. Loaded 16-17K total towing the Blazer or my 23' TT, I get 8-11 depending on terrain and wind, empty 14-16 depending on speed.
Ditto on the lack of muffler. I am running no cat or muffler and I cant tell a difference on the inside. However driving next to my truck with the window down will make you soil yourself when someone hits the gas I did notice a slight increase in power after I installed the straight pipe. James- Do you pull your trailers in OD on the flat lands? Mine would run easy in overdrive if I was doing 70+ even on some smaller hills (vail pass on the 70 got my about 30mph:doah: ) Time for a chip!!!
i usually pull my trailers in overdrive, but texas has alot of flat land here is a pic of my latest addition to the fleet, i traded a 79 blazer without engine, tranny or transfer for it. it is an 83 toyota sr-5. another pic of towing a cherokee i picked up for parts
i guess i should have asked what size, there is an exhaust on ebay i am looking at right now. it is 4 inch in size. it figures up to about 250 with no muffler, shipping included.
well, since us three seem to be the only ones running a 6.5; i ask you what size diameter pipe are you running for exhaust; 3, 3.5, or 4 inch? also, since i am a cheap*ss i have been looking at building my own air intake. i think it would be pretty easy using some universal stuff
I am running the stock sized pipe. I took it to a muffler shop and had them cut out the cat and muffler and weld in a straight pipe in its place. As for the intake I just put a K&N filter on the end of the stock tube and took the lid off of the intake box. Eventually I will probably go with a SSdieselsupply.com 4in exhaust and air intake tube. As far as the exhaust is concerned the bigger the better as far as I am concerned. The bigger you go the lower your EGTs will get. 3in is probably big enough for this engine and turbo combo but hey... the 4in just looks cooler and when in Rome...
Yes, I pull OD as much as I can without it "hunting" between 3rd and OD. Biggest trick is to go fast enough on hills to keep the converter locked. Keeps the tranny cooler. How was the trip BTW? I have 3" right now, but am going to a 3.5" tailpipe from a Duramax truck (got a complete exhaust downpipe back for free). John Kennedy recommends 3.5" for the 6.5, others think 4" is required. I want larger to get my EGT's down some more (muffler removal helped, but still have to watch it on hills). I would try and find a setup from the 97-up trucks like mine. Seems to be as good as anything aftermarket, and you might be able to make parts from the gas engine trucks work (filter and box seem to be the same). The 96 and back trucks can be improved. You have seen the tech tips on Kennedys site, right?
Trip was good. Bumper ripped off of my XJ before I even left town so Flat towing was out. Had to go to U-Haul and rent a trailer. Only set me back about an hour and a half and $477 (BTW U-haul prices are negotiable as I found out when I whined about the $610 quote ) the trailer actually pulled ALOT better than I thought it would. Very stable but added 2000lbs to my load (6500lb truck+ ~2000lbs in the bed + ~4500lb Jeep packed w/ stuff +2000lb trailer = ~15000lbs gross, 8.5mpg and 30mph up the BIG hills:doah: ) The truck would heat up to about 235* on the big hills even in the 40* temps. I think when I pull my Jeep out to Moab next year it will do alot better b/c I will be alot better I think now that I have really tested what it will do stock I will add guages, an ECM, and a D-Max fan & clutch. BTW the block heater REALLY comes in handy here at night.
Flowmaster makes a crossover and downpipe(3") kit that sells for cheap at Summit and others. It is a good start for a 3" system. I have heard of at least one guy on TDP that used a straight pipe from the downpipe back the rear bumper.
I would think a 3.5" exhaust with a performance muffler or just strait pipe would be enough, but 4" is cooler. I think the reason the 6.5 lacks a little on the mileage compared to the newer diesels is their power output. I bet if you guys got your 6.5's closer to 250+HP and 500+ft lbs you would probably pick up a couple of miles per gallon.
I got 4" with a 3" downpipe off EBAY from Warpspeed performance with the crossover pipe for like $380 with shipping. Had no issues installing it and no rattles. Love it.
yeah that is definetly why they are lacking in the milage. When I bought my truck I was also considering a cummins but the only ones i could find in my price range had 200k miles or were beat pretty badly. I think I scored a good deal on mine with 111k miles in really good (not perfect) shape. The other alternative was a 454 rig but I get 13.5mpg around town with a heavy foot and a 454 would get like 8:doah: I hate Fords so that wasnt even an option With about $1500 in upgrades I will probably be able to keep up with a stock 2nd gen cummins StdOutput yet will still have under $12000 invested.
