Fuel mileage 5th wheel vs travel trailer

Well seeing how a Canadian (Imperial) gallon equals 1.201 US gallons, while 16.5 mpg is good it needs to be reduced by at least 20%.

spoon059 wrote:

StirCrazy wrote:


I had a 29 foot 8000 lb trailer and I got about 12 mpg, then I got a 39 foot 14000lbs 5th and I went up to 16.5 mpg.

Steve

No you didn't. Maybe once, going downhill from the gas station... unless you have one of those super carburetors the govt tried to destroy...

Diesel. and I get 16.5 mpg (canadian gal) all the time in the mountians. on the praries it goes down because of wind and long long slight inclines.

Steve

MFL wrote:
Wow Steve...that is terrific mpg towing a 14K FW! I'm not sure my gas 6.2 will get 16.5 mpg running empty? Maybe on a still day at 55 mph.

Jerry

that is Canadian gallon and a modern diesel truck. empty I get 21 to 24 mpg depending how I drive.

Steve

hornet28,

Yes, A 5th wheel has a considerably better aerodynamics flow being a continuous surface for air flow than a TT which is located behind the tow vehicle and thus the flow is disrupted along the surfaces.

BTW, perhaps your brother and his wife each drove Ford diesel trucks and kept a trailer down at Old Town Campground n Retreat at Old Town FL where they'd stay at in the winter often between RV hauling trips back when Joe and Linda owned the CG. They lived in Muskegon. Had your Bro passed several years ago and his wife still hauled RV's for a few years and later had a smaller trailer at the CG? We live in Grand Haven about 13 miles south of Muskegon and have been going to Old Town CG for about 10 or so years now for about 2-1/2 months in winter. Just wondering.

When we went from our S&S truck camper to our first 5th wheel, there was no difference in mileage. I honestly did expect mileage to get a little worse, but there was no change. There was a large weight difference, but not as much in aerodynamics.

I pulled a 24' TT, a 30' TT, and a 35' Fifthwheel all with the same truck, a 2005 Chevy Extended Cab Dually with the Duramax and got almost the same mileage with all three, at least not enough difference that you could really tell.

StirCrazy wrote:


I had a 29 foot 8000 lb trailer and I got about 12 mpg, then I got a 39 foot 14000lbs 5th and I went up to 16.5 mpg.

Steve

No you didn't. Maybe once, going downhill from the gas station... unless you have one of those super carburetors the govt tried to destroy...

TomG2 wrote:

time2roll wrote:
3 mpg seems a bit much to lose. From 12 down to 9 mpg is 25%. I think speed, wind, terrain might also be an issue. See how next trip goes.

Who gets 12 mpg towing almost 10,000 with a gasoline fueled tow vehicle? "gets less gas mileage by about 3 mpg". Probably lucky to get 8 mpg which resulted in 5 for the travel trailer. Since we don't know the route or even the average speed, simply saying 40% less gas mileage is meaningless.

We still don't know the numbers or how it was calculated.

12 is high? Sure. Say it was 9 and dropped by 3 to 6 mpg. That is a 33% drop. Seems high percentage for like conditions.

MFL wrote:
Wow Steve...that is terrific mpg towing a 14K FW! I'm not sure my gas 6.2 will get 16.5 mpg running empty? Maybe on a still day at 55 mph.

Jerry

Maybe an issue with metric to imperial conversion.

Wow Steve...that is terrific mpg towing a 14K FW! I'm not sure my gas 6.2 will get 16.5 mpg running empty? Maybe on a still day at 55 mph.

Jerry