generator woes

[jbeech]

You recently made a post where you mentioned your truck averaging 13mpg. Has that figure held up over time? What's the gear ratio?

Reason I ask is I just picked up a 2001 Freightliner Expediter with a Cat engine of some sort and gear ratio still unknown as well. The seller said to expect 8mpg, which a huge difference in variable costs vs. what you stated. Anyway, if you don't mind, let me know please.

Cheers,

John
407-302-3361

[Doc Weaver]

If that was me, it was a typo. I can get 12mpg on flat ground hwy. On this last trip we checked it again. We figured it with hwy, city, hills, traffic, and the generator sucking on the same tank nonstop. With all that we still got 10mpg. I was amazed. We did over 1500 miles on 2 tanks of fuel.

[LesReiselt]

John and also Doc,
The 13 mpg didn't hold, it's now more like 14 but we haven't been away from this general area and we are very, very flat. Our home is at the highest point in Sarasota County and that's only 27 feet. My truck is geared for the highway and has a 3.55 axle
ratio. At 70 mph we are only at around 1400 rpm. Most have a higher ratio as they are more likely to be hauling a heavier load. Our truck was never designed for hauling
freight. Ours is also just enough older that we don't have all the emissions add ons which you do and those also really cut into your mileage. None of the new trucks are as fuel efficient as the older ones. My son has two nearly Identical International 9900is
with the same engine and the older of the two gets 2 mpg better than the newer one.
It's all because of the crazy formula which the EPA devised to calculate emissions.
It's based upon the percentage of emission and not the total which was actually putting less total carbon than the new formula which they have mandated.
Les

[jbeech]

Thanks! I'll create my own starter post. Sorry for hijacking this one but knew it was quite old and hoped folks wouldn't mind since it was on-topic(ish).