Towing and 4wd mpg report

I went into the mountains this week to do some no elk hunting. I live at higher altitude (6-7k) and only go up from there. The engine is a stick 2.7, oversized on the tires, havent regeared yet. My normal around town mog is around 19.

Loaded for cold weather, trailer is packed but i dont know the total weight.




Running the interstate in mostly 3rd gear to maintain 50-60mph was about the max this combo allowed, its a constant climb for hours. We cross over the top of the continental divide. I ran 13-13.5 mpg, which is about what my f250 gets unloaded, but i would have been going faster.

Once i got into the mountain passes and ran slower i netted around 16mpg.

I spent the week in 4wd, several hours in 4low crawling through the snow, also netted around 16mpg.

I expect the numbers will improve once i regear. This was my first trip with this truck. It didnt tow as well as i would like but substantially better than i anticipated. The trailer doesnt have brakes, which would be nice, but its lighter than required for the time. The taco managed it well, the only butt clench was coming home last night on icy roads, carried too much speed into a corner. It managed but i felt like i was on the edge of losing traction. My fault for being tired and not paying attention.

Tire wise im running treadwrights. They were seriously impressive off road. I watched a fully chained chevy repeatedly fail on one trail, i crawled up it with 0 wheel spin. One steep downhill in 1st low was more of a controlled skid on the ice, coming back out again it just crawled without wheel spin. I climbed out of ruts i honestly thought i would just skid through. Ive been off roading for years on numerous tires, these tires were great.

This is also by far the latest season ive been in the woods and this vortex hit right before i left. But it was my only time to go hunting so we went. Temps in the town our last night were -20, colder up in the mountains. It was painfully cold. Even with full heat going we had ice on the inside. Im going to look for an upgrade in the camper just for the temps

And on day 2 we relocated camp and broke a lift cable, again, so its time. We fot another foot of snow after this pic.



Pretty this time of year though.








The hunting unfortunately wasnt good. We heard 1 set of shots, and i can wax about ethics in regards to that incident. It was so cold nothing was moving until the last day, we finally spotted 3 head, but miles past where we could get, days of hiking to get there. Deer everywhere though, coyote, red fox, even bald eagles. It was a decent trip, just wish meat would have come home with me.