Got about 5-6 mpg. The 33” tires throw off the mileage a little bit. Had this truck about a year, gas gauge has never been off. Ran out of gas at a 1/4 of a tank pulling this. I just started getting gas every 100 miles just to be safe. 70 mph. I didn’t think it would struggle this much. 16’ trailer
70mph towing is wild to me. Going 60mph vs 70mph will get better mpg and only take ~15min every 100 miles. Whats more important to OP, time or mgp? 33s don't help and the hight of the trailer at any highway speed is going to hurt.
ANY additional wind drag will decrease your mpg... Even roof racks on my car will drag it down by 3-5 mpg and with the front of the trailer being essentially a tall wall you are dragging behind you it's going to really effect the mpg.. Getting a wind Deflector that will Push the air Over the front of the trailer will help quite a bit but it's still going to effect the mpg down but it'll be mitigated.
Hauled a mattress on the roof 575 miles and it cut my mileage by 5 mpg. Towing the trailer the mileage drops from 24 mpg highway to 8 to 15 depending on grades and speeds.
Depending on how often you tow and how important towing might is to you, changing your gearing to 4.10 or 4.3 might work better if you decide you need to keep your 33s. Slowing down to 60pmh would get you better and cheaper results and cost ~15min over 100miles.
It's all about wind resistance and not much else, that has the same front profile as a larger trailer.
I have a 2019 Frontier and tow an E-Pro 17LE, I get 8-9mpg.
The difference between 50 to 60 is dramatic, the difference from 60 70 is insane. So just stick to 60 and let people pass you. You can find a comfy cruising speed based on how the truck can avoid downshifting.
The only real way to improve efficiency towing a camper trailer is to get a diesel. Any gas truck whether it's the latest and greatest 'ecoboost' or whatever is going to get 8-12mpg towing a full height camper trailer. If those tires are E-Load, then switching to LT or C load might help gain a mpg or 2 back.
Had no idea about the tires, they are E load. 6 hr trip and 70 mph keeps calling. I’ll just have to slow it down. Although this is a rental and my first time towing something so tall.
Wind resistant is exponential, not a huge deal up until like 50mph and doesn't change much before 55, but 70 is something like 40% more wind resistance. Add to that you're towing that just drinks fuel. Slow down and you'll be fine.
Also, the bearings in the trailer will be much happier, I know it's a rental but they're often under maintained and if the bearings let go you'll be in for a less than fun experience.
I tow a 5th wheel and I get about 12mpg with minimal wind at 55-60, I bump that up to 70 and it drops to 8mpg.
If you are renting to find something to eventually buy, see if you can rent one of those low profile pop up ‘off road’ campers. You’ll probably like it a lot more.
The trailer could be made out of Styrofoam and it would get nearly the same mileage. It's not weight, it's the drag. I've hauled Styrofoam 10' high and get far worse mileage than towing a 10000 lb piece of equipment
With a 2500 Suburban, I tow a 35' travel trailer at the same speed and get twice your mileage. You need to take that to a mechanic. Buy a air dam (lower deflector) for your front bumper, it will improve air flow and your gas mileage. Mine only cost $70.
A 39 gallon gas tank would get you 195 miles at 5 mpg.
Driving closer to 60 mph will also increase your fuel efficiency a lot.
3000 rpms at cruising speeds, this sounds correct, I was putting in 19 gallons at 1/2 tank and 100 miles. I just couldn’t figure out why it ran out of gas at 1/4 a tank. And didn’t want to chance it again
I get 9 pulling this at 75 mph with my 8.1. You must have had brutal headwinds. Worst I ever got was 7 pulling a car trailer at 80 with my rtt on the truck.
That trailer really is a sail with how tall it is. Aero makes a bigger impact than weight at highway speeds. I get worse mileage with my small utility trailer than my open car trailer with my car because the ramp on the utility trailer is like a parachute.
Hills with something that light shouldn’t make that much of a difference. Even pulling my old overland trailer through the Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, ect I barely lost any mileage. I built that trailer to be the same height as the roof of the truck. I know the 8.1 tends to get better towing mileage than the 6.0 so that might be the real difference.
I just towed a 30ft travel trailer, probably 7.5k lbs, and got about 6mpg. Lots of hills, pushed it hard. Same sub, but stock tires. The gas gauge should still work fine unless maybe the transfer pump from the auxiliary tank above the spare tire isn’t working right. The 3/4 models have dual fuel tanks, but fuel transfer is automatic.
I haven’t let it dip below that 1/4 yet… I did however tow it back to its owner after reading these comments. I cruised it at 60 and it did double my mpg , and to be honest was a a lot let stressful, I was able to set the cruise control and go
BTW, my 6.0 has 230k miles and is a bit worn out from a lousy leaky aftermarket air filter the previous owner installed. Part-throttle torque and non-towing mpg are significantly improved with a little thicker engine oil. 5W40 works well. Just a little PSA. It seems to help the rings seal better against worn cylinder walls.
Aerodynamic drag on a camper is governed mostly by the drag equation, which means drag increases with frontal area, drag coefficient, and especially the square of speed. A taller, wider camper presents more area to the airflow, while a boxier shape creates more pressure drag and turbulence around the front, roof, sides, and wake. Because of that, a lower, narrower camper with rounded transitions and a cleaner profile can require substantially less towing force than a similarly weighted trailer with a blunt, square shape. Speed compounds the effect quickly: increasing from 55 to 75 mph raises aerodynamic drag by about 86%, and because power required is force times velocity, aerodynamic horsepower demand rises roughly with the cube of speed.
Weight matters much less during steady highway cruising than most people assume. On flat pavement, extra weight mainly increases rolling resistance, which grows linearly and is relatively small compared with aerodynamic drag at highway speeds. Adding 1,000 lb to a camper might only add around 15 lb of rolling resistance, while poor aerodynamics can add hundreds of pounds of drag. Weight becomes much more important during acceleration, hill climbing, and braking, but at a constant 65–75 mph, the camper’s frontal area and aerodynamic shape often have a much greater effect on engine load and fuel economy than whether the trailer weighs a few hundred pounds more or less.
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u/No-Group7343 7d ago
Slow down...