14.5 towing the BBQ trailer

 

I got 13~14 pulling my 01 Mallard 5er'; when i had my smaller camper (1986 25' nomad 5er') I got between 18~19. It was no where near as heavy: ~4,500lbs vs. ~12,000lbs. This is going from Hill Country Texas to the Coast and back...

 

i just went on my first big trip this weekend southern ohio to virginia beach pulling about 5500 pounds and on flat ground running about 75 or so i was averaging around 17 and in the mountains i was getting around 14... truck is amazing..

 

Ok, I need some help here then. I just got back from Hermiston, OR where I bought our 'new' 04 Desert Fox 28K Toy Hauler. My truck hates this new trailer. It has to shift out of over drive on almost every hill. What is worse is when I figured out my mileage. From Boise to Twin I had about 135 miles on that tank and it used about 5/8 of it. I calculated it out at 6.35 mpg.
This trailer is supposed to be 28'. I weighed it at 8,560 empty. The only problem with these is that they are very tall. But I really didn't expect to see that bad of mileage.
What is going on here? Why am I out of power and using that much fuel?

 

WOW, just over 6mpg... I think big rigs even get better than that towing heavier loads! Several things to consider: transmission, pumpkin gears, programmer, terrain (lots of hills), speed...

When I did my first big pull on my 01 all stock, it was miserable: not enough power to fight a 40mph head wind, horrrrrrible fuel consumption, difficulty maintaining hwy speeds in 5th or 6th. Moded the truck with programmer, exhaust, intake: now I can yank my 30' 5th wheel (~12,000lbs) around with ease, and I am at 12~13mpg pulling and 20~21mpg empty!

Something else I just thought of... aero dynamics of the truck and trailer: factory bumpers, while not the most attractive serve the purpose of re-directing the air flow around and past things like the under carriage. Typically, when these are removed, there is sufferage in the mpg department, but minimal, just ~1 mpg; this of course depends on the amount of lift, tires ect.

If the truck can't handle the load on a grade in OD, then it is best to turn it off. You will get higher RPM's, but at least you won't smoke the tranny! I have read that if you run with out OD, not only is it better for the tranny, but it doesn't affect the over all mpg's while towing...

Just my nickle's worth of useless knowledge! Good Luck...

 

How tall is really tall and how wide? Frontal area and drag can destroy the fuel economy of anything. Regardless of how heavy the trailer is, if you're trying to pull a wall through the air at highway speeds, you will see terrible fuel economy. How fast were you driving? How steep were the grades? Was it windy? There's a lot of things that can factor into this... If your truck is running properly otherwise, I'd attribute the poor performance just to drag.

 

13 to 14 pulling my 5500# Jayco.

 

I am happy with any thing in the teens pulling a stock trailer.

 

11 mpg pulling 10000 lbs. not the greatest but awesome power.

 

11 mpg, mostly in hills and mountains. Plenty of power and temps are fine. Used to get 7mpg with a Suburban and 454, with not as much power as the 6.7 cummins. TT usually around 8-9k.