Towing Mileage ?

[jkacker]

Hi All,

What type of mileage should I expect when towing our 5th wheel. It is a 1996 Glendale 29RG with a GVWR of ~ 9500 lbs. I have been seeing ~ 9 MPG and was wondering if that is what I should expect or not based on your experiences. Thanks in advance.

[Super_Dave]

Could be better maybe, but it's not terrible. How fast are you going, and what rpms are you doing that at?

[sheepman]

Where do you tow the most? What Mods are done to your truck? 9 is not bad, I think 10.5 would be easy to get up to.

[Hensley Ron]

Make sure the trailer tires are inflated to the max (and carry a spare). Wind resistance is the worst enemy of the fiver, and the only thing you can do about it is slow down. I typically tow at 60mph, 55 in hilly areas. I've found that the size and length of the trailer makes very little difference (up to a point, of course). I know some guys tow with empty tanks and fill up at the park. I haven't seen much difference either way with my 50 gal. fresh water tank.

You'll find that 9-10mpg is typical across the board, gas or diesel, fiver or travel trailer, so don't sweat it too much.

[davydee]

I'm towing 6,000 and plan at 10 mpg. Usually get better until I head west and cross the Mississippi River. Then it's about 9 or so until we turn around and head down hill. David

[jetskier]

My fifth wheel weighs in around 12.5k and I get around 10 or 10.5mpg at 65-70mph, 9.5 at 75mph and it creeps up to 11 if I maintain 55-62mph. In Nevada the wind always blows so usually there is a headwind no matter which way I go. My trailer tires are at 65psi (3250# each tire). At the scale, haven't seen over 10,500# on the trailer axles so I feel comfortable travel at speeds greater than 65. The 75 mph is when I travel on I-80 in the middle of the NV desert. Usually I travel at 65-70mph on the flats and adjust for curvy mountain roads as appropriate. We have a lot of 6-8% grades around here and the mileage rarely varies from the 9.5-11 when towing (I am just east of Lake Tahoe).

My empty combined highway/city (aka commute to work) is around 14.5mpg. Only one time since I bought the truck in 2000 have I used a full tank exclusively on the highway and not towing anything. The only reason I did it was to go pick up my fifth wheel at the trailer plant in NW Oregon. I got around 19mpg.

[dmd]

I am right there with jetskier.. but I have a touch lighter trailer, and get a touch better milage. Expect around 9 with no chip or exhaust for a 7.3L, and
around 10.5 to 11 with mods when towing a reasonable trailer.

[FloridaEd]

See my sig for my rig....

I get 9-10 at 65-70..... or at least I used to get that.

I now tow at 55 on interstates and 50 on non-interstates. I got 13.3 coming back from Michigan last year on I-75 at 55MPH. I'm real happy with 12-13 towing.

Speed (absent big headwinds or mountains) is by far the biggest MPH killer that I have found. I do the best with my engine at about 1700 RPM. I tow in overdrive and let the transmission select the gear as long as it doesn't hunt too much. If I'm in rolling hills, I turn off the cruise and speed down the hills and bleed off speed going up the hills.

It's getting real expensive to travel, though.

Florida Ed

[SpikeEng]

See this post for my response.

[jkacker]

Thanks guys I guess I was thinking I should easily get 10-11....I'll try to answer most of the questions. I mainly tow between Denver and the Black Hills in South Dakota. My speed varies but I try to stay around 72 (when it is safe to do so) or so because the truck seems to run well there. I think it is about 2200 RPM or so. I always air up the truck and trailer tires to max pressure. My mods are pretty minimal but they are an AFE Intake and straight pipe exhaust (stock muffler removed).

If I was to get some tunes from DP Tuner or someone what type of gains should I expect? Thanks again for all your input/advice.

[Bill Wincapaw]

12.8mpg pulling my 25', 3 horse G/N ( aprox 10k lbs) over flat florida roads @ 65mph.
11mpg pulling my show truck on my 16' car trailer ( aprox 8k lbs)!
As mentioned wind resistance ( parasitic drag) is a big factor

[Painted Horse]

My gooseneck LQ horse trailer weighs 16,000 loaded, my GCVW is right at 23,500. And I will usually average about 11 mpg for a trip. There will be period of the trip where it will be reading 9 - 9.5 as I climb the mountains to get out of the Salt Lake Valley. But it will adjust as I do the downhill leg on the return. The horse trailer tires run at 110psi

I also tow a 14' dump trailer. When I hook up to it, I get 12.5mpg on the hiway, whether the trailer is empty or loaded. (it has 4' tall sides, so not as tall as the Gooseneck horse trailer). I get about the same mileage with my equipment trailer with either my Skidloader or Mini excavator on it. These trailers tires run at 80 psi.

Empty around town this truck gets 13-14mpg and empty on the freeway it's pretty easy to average 18-19mpg.

I do have the Edge Evolution chip set on tow, a cat back exhaust and a B&D exhaust brake.

[T_Bone]

Originally Posted by jkacker

... I mainly tow between Denver and the Black Hills in South Dakota. My speed varies but I try to stay around 72 ...

Sorry but you can't use speed and mpg in the same sentance. You'll have to give up one or the other as you can't have both.

On two recent Az to Co trips from 1800ft to 11000ft to 1800ft, 1900 miles each, pulling 16k GCW I got 14.1mpg average! Another 7state 3600 mile pull with 31kGCW I got 13.86mpg average.

I pull by peak torque RPM, 1750rpm on the grades and 1600rpm on the flats.

[RonRosewall]

I averaged about 12mpg pulling our 5'er across relatively flat interstate roads traveling 60-65mph. I was expecting worse with the DRW and 4.10's, but was happy to see hand calculated averages of 11.5-12.5 the trip to Indiana and back this past spring.

[5erPuller2]

12mpg-13mpg towing a 9500lb. 5th wheel.
Mostly NH/Maine seacoast, but certainly not flat travel.
Truck likes 65-70.

My past truck, 05' Ram 2500 Hemi was a solid 8mpg with same 5er.
Yeah, I'm happy!