8 mpg

I saw a post on another forum where the guy said he towed a Hilo, size unknown, and only got 8 MPG. With a ford f150.

Did he forget to lower it?

We went about 1800 miles in April with ours behind a F150, averaged about 11.5 mpg. Mine is a 4X4 (maybe that should be $X$), and speed seems to kill mileage. I kept it in the 70 mph range, and am sure it would have been better at 60 or 65. Another thing is the fuel used, Son-in-law works for a Convenience Store Chain, and in some of their stores, they are backing away from Ethanol, because people are complaining about mpg. So I tested it a little on the trip (several tanks of with and without Ethanol), and there was a difference with the E-10 in the tank (about 1 mpg less), but a bigger difference when we bought some what appeared to be cheap gas (E-10) and the mpg dropped into the 8 mpg range, but came back up on the next tank full. Nothing scientific to back any of this up, just what I happened to notice. I still like Ethanol, but don't think there is enough price difference to make up for the MPG loss, but then again, we grow it here (mostly) and that is worth something.

I have the EcoBoost engine and on the way home from Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH to Pa on I80 it averaged about 16.5 MPG and back into the hills of PA it got about 15.3 MPG. That was towing the 2310H. 15.3 seems to be the average for most of the shorter trips.

I just got back today from a trip with my 2201tl , 97f150 4x4 with 4.6 engine and 5.55 rear end ( or something like that...). Averaged 10 1/2. Last trip I averaged 9.6 on the front end and 13.5 coming back.

In reading all the mpg threads it is clear that there are so many variables out there that the only things that come close to being "constants" are the trailers, themselves. Year of vehicle, model of vehicle, engine size, driving style, terrain, whats in the vehicle, tires, tire pressure, wind.......

I'm not happy with my mpg but I doubt i'd be happy if I were towing a kevlar canoe on dune buggy tires. For one- 4x4 adds considerable weight. So do my wife and I, and the dog, and the cooler filled with 20 lbs of ice plus food, and the chairs, jumper cables, tool box, clothes, .... and the smaller V8 does worse, my guess is, under load as it needs to downshift more often.

Most of what I read is people take a 3 to 5 mpg hit......the rest is dependent on what the vehicles gets without the trailer-----and all the gear people tend to take when they take the trailer along.

If I want better mileage---I need to get a newer vehicle with better gas mileage. My guess is I would get the same if I was towing a 2800lb super light 18 foot conventional trailer- maybe i would do better with a 2000 lb Casita- but I wouldn't be able to stand up in it or go to the bathroom without kicking the dog. If somebody got 8mpg in an f150 towing a hi-lo, my guess is they would get 12mpg if they unhooked it.

Rick

I actually get better mpg towing my 22' towlite then I did towing my 96 casita liberty deluxe. The casita is aerodynamic but still puts alot of surface area in the wind. I average 14mpg with the hi-lo and 12 with the casita with the same toyota tundra. Your final gearing is probobly 3.55 as 5.55 is super low, like what a dedicated rock crawling jeep that isn't street legal would use.

fireball-

yep, its 3.55 . 5.55 Seemed weird when i wrote it....Thanks for the correction. Also- I wonder how much tire size matters? The newer hi-los seem to come with 15 inch tires and my older one has 13s.

Rick

I just bought a 24' Classic from a man in Sumner, MI. I hooked it to my 2005 Roadtrek (google it) and drove it home. The Roadtrek normally gets 15-17 mpg. We averaged 13 and a very slight + all the way home. Cruise set on 60 and Interstate for all but about 200 miles. Very pleased with the mpg result.

i usually pull aroun 17 to 19 with my van