Semi truck: how many MPG??

[Yamada]

The other thread about the gas price and such made me think about the fuel consumption of a truck with a semi-trailer. What is the average consumption of a loaded truck ( say 25-30 ton of freight)??? I would guess maybe 4 MPG??

[The Goat]

na, i'd say it has to be more than that. yeah they are pulling one helluva load...but they have the gearing for it...and they have A LOT of gears.

my guess is 9. any truckers here?

[deathman53]

I was told by a trucker in a concrete truck, 6 mpg.

[hublake]

A friend of mine has two redi-mix trucks and gets 4-5 mpg. He says that with the cost of fuel that it costs him about a dollar a mile in fuel.

[KASEY]

trucks are LUCKY if they get over 7,,,, maybe some of the newer generation motors are supose to do better but i have not seen it,,,,,,,

[KASEY]

A friend of mine has two redi-mix trucks and gets 4-5 mpg. He says that with the cost of fuel that it costs him about a dollar a mile in fuel.

very hard to use these numbers ,,, redi mix trucks set and run against the governor while loading,,, even if they load under a wet batch plant,,, also while mixing and adding water ,,, so they will get quite a bit lower milage than a freight truck,,

[TravEX]

4-6mpg loaded over the road is what I've heard.

[longbedGTs]

It all depends on how heavy you are and the terrain. Ive gotten a best of 8.5MPG EMPTY on flat ground. Also got that after coasting 6 miles down a 6% grade. :D I should have taken a pic because it probally wont happen again.
LOADED 79K, average on flat ground would be 5-5.5MPG. Loaded heavy in the mountians...somewhere in the 4's.
BTW, mines a Detroit 60 10spd with 559K on the clock.
Those with less miles will get better mileage.

[OldSchoolin86]

The engine you have makes a big difference! We have a quad axle dump at work with a Cummins that will do better mileage at 73,000lbs then our 7.3 and 6.0 Fords just pulling equipment around. I can't say the Cat's we have are that easy on fuel either.

[Dustin87R]

I can get 6-7 mpg in my dump truck loaded with 18 ton of material, it's got a 400 horse cat with a 10spd overdrive 342k miles,since fuel prices have gone up and the construction bussiness around here has all but stopped I've been driving a semi for another company it's a 2008 navistar with a 320 cummins and a 9spd it's gets about 5mpg loaded.

[J.D.]

I worked at a smaller OTR company, all the cats usually got about 6.8 avg(C15's), the Cummins ISX got about 7.1 or so, and the Volvo's usually got about 7. Trucks were Pete 379's and Volvos(not sure of model).

[brapp]

towign a 7500lb excavator on a 8k trailer in my 04 f250 with 3:73 gears i get abotu 16 or so loaded fullof fuel both bucks and allmy tools but that sa pick up not a otr truck .

[Yamada]

Hey thanks guys, that some good numbers... keep them cummins,ehh coming:P

[200xcellent]

towign a 7500lb excavator on a 8k trailer in my 04 f250 with 3:73 gears i get abotu 16 or so loaded fullof fuel both bucks and allmy tools but that sa pick up not a otr truck .

thats almost tooooo good to be true :wondering
but, i guess anything is possible

I always thought semis got better than whats been posted, no wonder they have been struggling so bad with theses prices.

[longbedGTs]

thats almost tooooo good to be true :wondering
but, i guess anything is possible

I always thought semis got better than whats been posted, no wonder they have been struggling so bad with theses prices.


Indeed. Its said a train can move 8 times(I think its 8) what a truck can at the same operating cost, so Im looking for the railroads to start expanding. Though trains are good at moving freight in bulk, they still cant bump a dock and unload their freight in downtown Chicago like a truck can. I wonder what the future holds for this country...