Weight vs frontal area
Recently I rented a 24 ft. 3500 lb. dry weight RV, to see what it would be like to tow. I figured the loaded weight to be close to 5000 lbs. My truck handled the weight okay but the 200 horse V 6...
Forum Discussion
It looks like a couple of points got missed in this thread so far.
First, don't underestimate the drag of tires on the road, a tandem axle trailer that weighs the same as a single axle trailer will have more rolling resistance (4 tires versus 2) which equates to more gas.
Tires themselves make a difference too, taller tires means larger circumference and less resistance to rolling than smaller tires. The inflation of the tires also makes a big difference.
As far as frontal area goes, there's lots of variables, sloped back versus verticle, wedge shaped versus flat, tow vehicle size, height and width.
Also wind resistance is an exponential loss factor, the faster you go, the more drag it creates. In other words the drag at 60 mph is way more than double what it would be at 30 mph.
First, don't underestimate the drag of tires on the road, a tandem axle trailer that weighs the same as a single axle trailer will have more rolling resistance (4 tires versus 2) which equates to more gas.
Tires themselves make a difference too, taller tires means larger circumference and less resistance to rolling than smaller tires. The inflation of the tires also makes a big difference.
As far as frontal area goes, there's lots of variables, sloped back versus verticle, wedge shaped versus flat, tow vehicle size, height and width.
Also wind resistance is an exponential loss factor, the faster you go, the more drag it creates. In other words the drag at 60 mph is way more than double what it would be at 30 mph.
