How far can you tow prior to fill up?

[John_Joey]

Thinking about getting rid of the Class A and getting a different RV for traveling cross country in. So bear with me since I'm really new to TT's.

As a newbie to TT's I'm attempting to wrap my head around how far you guys can pull prior to a fillup. If all you're getting is 10mpg and a standard pull vehicle has lets say a 14 gallon tank then you must be pulling over all the time to fill up. What am I missing?

[dannydimitt]

I hear the Eco Boost V-6 gets good mileage driving down the road empty, But hook a big rectangular camper behind it and the mileage goes down in flames. It's two turbo chargers let it squeeze the horsepower out of that little 6 banger to move that boxy trailer through the air at 70 MPH. But it has to burn a whole lot of fuel to do it. I wonder what kind of engine life those things are going to have over the long haul if they are worked hard the way Danasdaddy2002 engine will be working when hooked to that trailer. Gasoline engines have always had to struggle when working them hard and all the ones that I have towed with 57 on up have gotten horrible gas mileage when towing a full size travel trailer.
The only thing I would suggest is keeping the speed down below 60 and never using the overdrive when pulling that trailer. Your engine will thank you.

[Desert_Captain]

The Texan wrote:
Captain, I believe the 2012 Ford 3.7L is the EcoBoost and it is rated to tow way more than what he is towing.....I do agree that his mileage will drop like a rock at 70 mph. We try to stay at or under 60 mph to help our mileage.

Nope. The 3.7L is not the EccoBoost which is 3.5L. The 3.7 has 302 HP at 6,500 rpm (can you say screamer?) it also has 278 '# of Torque at 4,000 rpm. Not nearly enough power for the trailer in question. :C

[mhsmith]

The 2012 Ecoboost is the 3.5l engine. With 36 gal tank, I was able to go 265 miles on 30 of those gallons.

[facory]

I don't care how 'hopped up' a 6 cylinder engine is, when it comes to towing you need the cubic inches. ECO Boost may be OK for running around with an empty truck, but you need more than that to tow something of substance. You are asking the 6 cyl to work too hard. That's just the way life it.

[jjwms]

OP obviously plans to use his present toad as tow vehicle. If so, he should be more concerned about checking its GCVW and how much weight he can put on the hitch before worrying about mileage and how often he'd have to pull over for refill fuel. Time to shift mind set of traveling down the hiway with a Class A motorhome and putting in longer days between stops.

[The_Texan]

Captain, I believe the 2012 Ford 3.7L is the EcoBoost and it is rated to tow way more than what he is towing.....I do agree that his mileage will drop like a rock at 70 mph. We try to stay at or under 60 mph to help our mileage.

[Desert_Captain]

Danasdaddy,

Per your request, a couple of thoughts:

Nice trailer by the way but..... The main reason your mileage is so poor is that you have an awful lot of trailer for a 3.7L V-6 and you are definitely going too fast. Your trailer does not weigh 4500#, it hasn't since it rolled off the factory floor, such is the joke of "Dry" weights. You are probably closer to 5,000# and will likely roll down the road fully loaded at something north of 6,000#. A trip to the CAT scale, fully loaded is hopefully in your future. Until then everything is speculation regarding your weights.

Asking a smallish V-6 to tow that much trailer is expecting a lot. I had an F-150 with the 4.2L V-6 for eleven years and believe me, towing is not the strong suit of smallish V-6's. Your trailer has tremendous CCC but even if you only load around 1,000# and most folks load more, you will have nearly 800# of tongue weight + another 100# for the WDH. Look at your trucks payload, probably around 1400# (if you are lucky), and 900# is gone already. This does not leave much room to load the truck.

Check your tires, they are probably "ST's" and as such their maximum speed rating is 65 mph. You will get the best mileage at 55- 60 mph. Anything above that will dig deeply into your fuel tank. I have a wind deflector and it works well but I think you need additional HP and torque more than less wind resistance. Good luck!

As always, Opinions and YMMV. :C

[GMT830]

I think Lena carries 40 gal plus or minus. I should be able to go 300 easy. But i like to stop every couple hours anyway to pee and stretch. I dont need to prove any sort of speed or endurance records these days.

And i like to fill up when i'm under a half tank. Last thing i need to worry about if i get lost or break down is running out of gas

[Danasdaddy2002]

Living in Alberta the land is pretty well flat. A few steep hills here and there in the Calgary area but once you get on the highway for a few kms it it pretty well flat driving. It was fairly windy. Bad weather that day. That may have been a big factor. Also being the 1st time towing a trailer it could have been my driving style. I am not a speeder but mayby going 110 kmh/ 70 mph is too fast for towing.

[facory]

When I drive to the dealer it's 82 miles. Easy drive because overall I drive downhill 1700 feet. On the way back home it's a uphill climb. The incline is so gentle you really don't realize. Point is that pulling uphill, even a very mild incline, will suck up the fuel.

[Bumpyroad]

was one trip against the wind? uphill? etc.
bumpy

[Danasdaddy2002]

Well I went to pick up my RV today. I wanted to calculate the extra cost in towing it.
The trip to the dealership was 220 km/136 miles.
as I left my home town I fuelled up. Just before I got to the dealership I fuelled up again. I used 27 Litres/7 Gal.
I drove back home and fuelled up again. I used 74 litres/19.5gal.
I was not expecting that.
It is normal to consume almost 3 times the fuel when towing vs just driving.
I drive a 2012 F150 3.7. My TT is 4500 lbs/ 2000 kgs. And 26 feet long.
I might consider getting a rv wind deflector.
Any thoughts guys.

[1oldtruck]

GMC Sierra goes about 180 miles before a refuel. 7.5-8.5 mpg

[nolra]

John&Joey wrote:
OP here, I guess I'm thinking small TT would mean small Tow vehicle, not a truck that can pull a 5'ver.

I don't think that's necessarily the case. One COULD tow a light weight trailer with less vehicle but the smaller the tow vehicle the more it has to be flogged to get down the road. I've never heard to many complaints about having too much tow vehicle but I've sure heard a lot from folks that had to little.

I love pulling a light weight trailer with a truck that can tow a 5er. There are so many benefits and I just can't think of any detriments. Range is definately one of the benefits (as posted earlier).

[EldIr]

Jacksons wrote:
no standard tv has a 14 gal tank. i drive a yukon, 31 gal tank. had a suburban it had a44 gal tank

Burb is 42, I got one. Most PU's and vans will have twin tanks. Don't know where that 14 gallons came from - my 93 Regal had a bigger tank.