# Fuel Consumption Per Hour Figures?



## JPO (Sep 30, 2006)

At this point I'm new to the industry and I'm doing some costing figures. The figure I need is how much fuel, in my case* gasoline*, is the truck going to consume per hour while plowing. Now I realize that there are a million variables but if I could get a ballpark figure it would help me out tremendously. Right now I'm making an uneducated guess that it will use 40-60 litres/hr (10-15gal/hr). Like I said I'm not looking to get a rocket science type formulated equation down to the nearest millionth of a decimal point, just a ballpark figure.

Here's the specs on the truck;
1995 GMC K2500HD 4x4
5.7L Gas 
Automatic
1994 Meyer 7.5' w/E-60 (800lbs)
600lbs Ballast in bed

Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks guys!


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## CAG80 (Nov 7, 2006)

i really don't have any real #'s for u, so many things will factor into the hour/mileage.. if u need an idea to start at i say cut your fuel mileage in half from what u get normally driving in town and i guess maybe 3-6 gallons per hour.. the 10-15gal per hour is way high...


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## LoneCowboy (Jan 2, 2007)

I haven't plowed much at all with the new truck
but many moons and years ago
a 92 F250 HD, 351
1.5 yards of sand (talk about ballast), 8' western plow with wings.
I could plow 12 to 18 hours before it really started getting below 1/4 tank (two tanks)
it probably held 20+ gallons

So, 1.5 gallons an hour? maybe?


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## CAG80 (Nov 7, 2006)

LoneCowboy;358320 said:


> I haven't plowed much at all with the new truck
> but many moons and years ago
> a 92 F250 HD, 351
> 1.5 yards of sand (talk about ballast), 8' western plow with wings.
> ...


one of my trucks that is a srw350 with a 460ci with dual tanks is about 38 total gallons i belive.. im sure yours is the same..


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## Oshkosh (Sep 11, 2005)

*This should make you feel better...*

This wont help but my Oshkosh used to burn about 4.5 gal per hour...


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## Rowski (Oct 24, 2005)

1975 International Scout II with 304cid auto plowing in low range 99% of time gets about 1.5 gallons per hour.

1997 F350 4x4 wrecker 460cid auto plowing in low range 90% of the time uses about 2 to 2.25 gallons per hour.

2001 Chevy 2500HD 6.0L (366cid) auto plowing in low range 75% of the time uses about 1 to 1.25 gallons per hour.

New Holland tractor 70 HP turbo gear shuttle shift uses about 2 gallons per hour, that was with rotary cutter in summer, haven't had enough winter to use it for a full day. I would assume the snowblower would use about the same.

These figures are average, around 20ish degrees, average snow not to heavy and about 6-8 inches.

Hope this helps.

Derek


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

I have f250 5.4 I plowed for 11hrs and used a half tank 12-15 gals.


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## LoneCowboy (Jan 2, 2007)

CAG80;358322 said:


> one of my trucks that is a srw350 with a 460ci with dual tanks is about 38 total gallons i belive.. im sure yours is the same..


Oh yeah, typo, should be 30+ gallons.
bad typist finger. 

If you say 38, I believe you, it was a long time ago.
I know you always lost some by having two tanks, never run them down.
And these were big commercial lots, so pushing long hard runs.


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## Mebes (Feb 7, 2004)

1.09 gal Per Hour on my old 01 F350 7.3 PSD with 8.5' V plow a couple of winters ago.
This was over 2 tanks on 2 different storms.
All commercial with probably only 20-30 miles of driving between sites per tank.

My old 96 F350 (gas) 7' straight blade with wings, and the fuel injected 5.8 got around 2.3 to 2.5 Per Hr.

My new 04 F350 6.0 PSD with Western 8.5'V gets about the same as my 01 did, I haven't done the math on it yet, but it appears to be about the same as the 01 right around 1gal per hour.


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## gardenkeeper88 (Dec 22, 2001)

03 Dodge diesel plowed 6 hours 1/4 tank (about 7-8 gal.)
99 GMC 6.0 gas 6 hrs about 1/2 tank (about 10-11 gal.)


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## lodogg89 (Jul 8, 2006)

Rowski, why would you plow in low gear?? Does it help? Just wondering, seems like it would be harder on the truck.


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## Rowski (Oct 24, 2005)

lodogg89;358474 said:


> Rowski, why would you plow in low gear?? Does it help? Just wondering, seems like it would be harder on the truck.


We are in a relative hilly (mtn) very rural area. I find fuel usage is less. Transmission temperatures are lower. I have not had a transmission failures (yet).

My '01 Chevy has 98k miles, does the bulk of the plowing and in the summer tows (locally) 8k to 14K trailer.

The '97 Ford F350 has about 38K miles, did the bulk of the plowing the first three years and does a lot of local recovery and towing, a 60 mile trip happens 2 or 3 times a year. The other towing is in our hilly terrain. But this summer the low reverse sprag (one way clutch) let go due to much manual down shifting to get engine braking. The trans still works doesn't slip but has no engine braking in manual 1 and a slight engagement delay on reverse.

The Scout has a Torque Flight 727. We use to snap the output shaft in extension housing (between transmission and transfer case). But I figured it out there was to much play between input shaft and output shaft, the play was with the specs but after setting the play to minimum spec. All is well, three seasons.

This is just my experience, it works for me.

Derek


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## JPO (Sep 30, 2006)

I just wanted to say thanks for the replies to my question. This information really helps out. It looks like my "uneducated guess" of 10-15gal/hr was way off!:salute:


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## GL&M (Sep 26, 2005)

JPO;358268 said:


> At this point I'm new to the industry and I'm doing some costing figures. The figure I need is how much fuel, in my case* gasoline*, is the truck going to consume per hour while plowing. Now I realize that there are a million variables but if I could get a ballpark figure it would help me out tremendously. Right now I'm making an uneducated guess that it will use 40-60 litres/hr (10-15gal/hr). Like I said I'm not looking to get a rocket science type formulated equation down to the nearest millionth of a decimal point, just a ballpark figure.
> 
> Here's the specs on the truck;
> 1995 GMC K2500HD 4x4
> ...


I run a 97 K2500, Same plow set up, more weight with a tool box, Salt Spreader and salt. I figure I use roughly 1.5 to 2 gals per hour.


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## Cassy (Aug 10, 2006)

During the Valentine's Day snow storm I had the truck operational for 36 hours. Between plowing and taking breaks in the truck I averaged about 0.5 gals/hour.


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