Mileage change with smaller lighter trailer
My Excursion V-10 with 4.30's gets 7.8 mpg at 58 mph (OD locked out, cruise on)towing my Jayco Eagle 33' TT with super slide weighing about 8,500 pounds as towed. I'm looking at trading for a 2010 ...
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Yes, I would expect an improvement to 8.5 to even 9 MPG. Less weight, better air flow and less wind resistance with the sloped front and lower trailer height. The real hurtful thing to a large improvement in NPG's is your 4.30 rear end and running with overdrive locked out. That means your engine is revving more and it takes more fuel to run an internal combustion engine at higher RPM's. Yes, I understand why you run in locked out overdrive now which stops constant locking and unlocking of your overdrive due the higher weight and frontal wind resistance of the 33'.
I would expect with your 6.8 V-10 gas and your 4.30 rear end your truck will pull the lower, much lighter, sloped front travel trailer at 60 MPH in overdrive and get approx 9.5+ MPG average on flat ground below 2000 ft altitude. Maybe not as much of an improvement as you were looking for but it is an improvement. The 6.8 V-10 is NOT known for good fuel mileage by any stretch!
If your truck were the same size model of any of the big 3 with a diesel engine (not the 6.0 PSD or the 6.4 PSD), and having a 3.73 rear end pulling the much smaller and much lighter trailer you mentioned at 60 MPH, it would render a min of 12 MPG or higher. That's a long way from your present 7.8 MPG's and what you could expect from pulling the much smaller and lighter trailer with your present truck.
We pulled our 2007 Sunline Solaris TT (brochure dry wt - 4780, GVWR - 6690) before we sold it in August from Michigan to Cades Cove etc in the Smokies and back and got 14.94 MPG for the 1982 mile trip this past spring (132.66 gal). We always drive a max of 60 on Interstates and 55 on other highways whether pulling a TT, a 5th wheel, or with our 11'4" Lance TC on.
I would expect with your 6.8 V-10 gas and your 4.30 rear end your truck will pull the lower, much lighter, sloped front travel trailer at 60 MPH in overdrive and get approx 9.5+ MPG average on flat ground below 2000 ft altitude. Maybe not as much of an improvement as you were looking for but it is an improvement. The 6.8 V-10 is NOT known for good fuel mileage by any stretch!
If your truck were the same size model of any of the big 3 with a diesel engine (not the 6.0 PSD or the 6.4 PSD), and having a 3.73 rear end pulling the much smaller and much lighter trailer you mentioned at 60 MPH, it would render a min of 12 MPG or higher. That's a long way from your present 7.8 MPG's and what you could expect from pulling the much smaller and lighter trailer with your present truck.
We pulled our 2007 Sunline Solaris TT (brochure dry wt - 4780, GVWR - 6690) before we sold it in August from Michigan to Cades Cove etc in the Smokies and back and got 14.94 MPG for the 1982 mile trip this past spring (132.66 gal). We always drive a max of 60 on Interstates and 55 on other highways whether pulling a TT, a 5th wheel, or with our 11'4" Lance TC on.
