Gotta Love That Dmax

[LanduytG]

Well this is my first long trip towing with the Dmax and all I can say is what a differnce between this and the old 6.5TD. Have gone about 1K miles in he last 2 days and you just set the cruies and drive. Driving 70mph I have gotten 11.8 and 11.2 mpg towing my 26 foot 5th wheel. Today was a head wind and more bigger hills. Tomorrow we will be in the Colorado rockies.

I have run with nd without the Juice and so far other than from a dead stop I don't see any difference.

Now this is fun to travel and not feel like you have been beat to death by the end of the day.

Greg

[tanker]

Hi Greg, I agree with you. My old 30' Jayco at 8000lbs. did fine with my 6.5 Suburban, but the 12,000lb Holiday Rambler seperated the men from the boys. Now with the new D-Max its fine again, and like you said you don't feel beat up at the end of the day. I've only towed with it twice and not all that far. The test will be the "Rendezvous" in SLC this September.
Hope to see you there. smile.gif

[Mark Heiken]

"I have run with nd without the Juice and so far other than from a dead stop I don't see any difference."

Wait till you hit the Rocks. ;)

[JD Diesel]

WE are leaving today for oregon.First big pull for the both of them cause they are only a few months old. I am looking forward to this and to see how well it does. Rock on dude. JD :D

[Craig M]

There are 4 or 5 good grades in Oregon, but the grapevine in Newhall will give you just as much test as any of them.

[2dogs]

I've travelled all over the US and Canada - and few if any places are as hard as Cabbage Hill in eastern Oregon - just east of Pendleton.... Not only is it steep but you change 2000 feet in elevation on a 6% grade with some hairpin curves...That hill will seperate the men from the boys....Now talk about winter and this is real interesting....

http://egov.oregon.gov/ODOT/MCT/DOWNHILL.shtml

[A||||0||rambo||H-2 WHEELS, mudflaps||||1||||jsa||00010863]

Dmax is great and fun to drive

[Mudflap]

My DMax has 107,000 miles on it with at least half of that towing our 34 foot fifth wheel. Combined weight of truck and trailer with 1/2 fuel and empty trailer tanks is 18,750. We have been in some serious hills down south and out west. I have had bad fuel, a blown tire due to debris and once I hit an engine block that some idiot dropped in the middle of the road but nothing major that I could blame on the truck. She is happiest when she is towing and gives me about 12 mpg under load (better if I keep my foot out of it). I have never had to apologize to a F**d or a D**ge and it is the first truck I have ever had that I thought enough of to pay off. I could buy a new one, but this one is like an old friend.

[DIESEL/VETTE]

2 DOGS

I want to be prepared when i tackle cabbage hill in oregon, how do you drive it? do you let the dmax do its thing, or do you down shift it? at what speed are you going when climbing and what gear are you in? any recommendations would be helpfull.
THANK YOU

[JD Diesel]

.Well we are here in gold beach OR. Now I don't know the names of the mountains here. But all I did was put it in cruse and tow haul and let it do it's thingand boy did it. :D my cruse speed was set at 62mph. on the bad hills got down to 50. MPG on the flats was 11.5 in the hills 9.5 this was all on the 101 from cal. My wieght was 21980 with most of are stuff. still had to stop to get more supplies loaded in will weight again when we get back. will be about 2500 mile trip. JD :D :D :D :D

[LanduytG]

Well we are in a camp ground in Lincoln, NE on our why back home. I have to say that I put the Dmax to the test this trip. I was towing with Edge Juice and after a couple of 6-7K foot passes I shut it off.

With the stock tune I don't have to back out of it and can do better up the big grades without it. As stated above its great for the take offs but IMHO its worthless to tow with, I didn't even try the Preditor.

We were all over Colorado and pulled a couple of 9500 ft passes and 10,500 and a 11,000 and the biggest in Rocky Mountain National of 12,200 ft. I gross about 16.5K and never ran out of power and thats with the stock tune. As for the grade braking that is GREAT!! once I got use to how it worked, hardly had to use the brakes.

As for economy, so far my worst is 10.2 and best is 13.4mpg. I 2 best tanks were it the mountains which is hard to beleive but when you are going 40 to 55mph it makes a big diffeence. Also the worst tank was doing 65 in a strong head wind climbing up the 6300 foot hills in eastern Colorado. Speed and head wind are the biggest eaters of economy.The 13.4 tank ws from Colorado Springs to Denver west on I70 to US 40 north to Rocky Mountain National. We went over 10K plus passes with the grand dady 12.2K pass. Speed is everything.

Today we went accross eastern Colodaro through Nebraska on I80 running 75mph with next to know wind. Have not filled up yet but it looks to be between 10.5 and 11mpg.

Did not get to run with any Dodges but did get to with some Fords. THey would buzz by going down hill or on the flats but when it came to serious hills we walked on by. Also did not talk to one 6.0L For owner that was happy about economy. Most seem to be in the 9-10 mpg range with some down to 7.5-8.5 mpg.

Any way when I get home I will do a worst best and average mpg.

I love this thing, get behind the wheel and drive and be rested at the end of a 500 mile day.

Greg

[JD Diesel]

2200 mile trip to oregon nothing but :D :D :D :D my gross weight was 21980 The thing pulls like a monster It did everthing that I wanted in cruse at 62 mph about 1850 rpm Think I would have pulled the grape vine at 55 if the slow ones would have gotten out of my way The grade brake was super what a help that was going down hill. Was extrmely happy with all the performance that she gave on this trip at bone stock well do have a amsoil air filter and did change the rear end oil. But otherwise bone stock JD :D :D :D :D

[MaxACL]

Greg,

Now you know why I had such a broad smile across my face:)

Mike