Posted this in the 7.3 room as well.


Just did a 900 mile Travel Trailer pull down to Gulf Shore State Park.
Our truck did an Awesome job and had no issues!


I was disappointed in the mileage of 8.5-9 mpg though. Expected 11 mpg. Truck gets around 16 mpg unloaded here in town.


Camper is estimated at about 9500lb loaded and 35ft long total. A lot of rolling hills basically the whole ride there and back. So that effected economy I am sure.


Truck has 217,000 mi and is bone stock. I will post pic of how I had WD hitch setup below. I may need to adjust that as well. First pull with my Equalizer.


Can you share your MPG's with similar loads me please.

 

 

Not bad, maybe tighten those bars a bit and see if you can bring a little closer to level.

 

I responded to this post in the 7.3 forum. My mileage is identical to yours and made the same comment Scott has made about the bars.

Steve

 

Thanks Guys. Sorry for the identical post.

 

My suggestion is to get an accurate weight of that trailer loaded and the weight of the truck loaded. I would guess you are close to 20k combined.

 

I've got a 2002 v10 excursion that I pull a 33 foot travel trailer that weighs in at 8600 lbs. my last trip which ran from Indianapolis to Columbus we averaged a hand calculated 8.8 mpg. Our speed stayed consistently between 65 and 70 miles per hour.

 

I pull an Airstream (7500#) and get 11 to 12 with a gas engined F150.

I would suggest you add a washer to the head of that Equalizer to get some more weight distributed to the front axle of the truck. The trailer looks fairly level in the photo but as you know the rear of the truck is squatted. Your handling should improve when you get more on the front.

As is, does it porpoise on you?

Scales will get it tuned spot on.

 

Petrokiller, I have been thinking about this for a few days. Does your truck have the original injectors? With the amount of miles you have on the truck the injectors may be worn and not injecting the proper quantity and quality of fuel needed. Poor atomization would increase fuel usage. Just a thought.

 

Yes I added a washer and dropped my ball down a hole on the shank. Will a pic in a few.

 

CGMKCM I have also thought about the injectors too. Not in the budget now for sure. I hope to get the ebp tube inspected sometime this week.

 

I still need to maybe move L brackets up a hole next.
Time ran out to recheck measurements off tongue height and ball height. Had to get the beast back over to storage from driveway.

 

Setup looks great! You want the trailer perfectly level or slightly nose down. You have 1000+lbs of tongue weight so you can expect to have some sag in the rear of the truck. Get out there and enjoy!

P.S. If you don't use it already, get some Diesel Kleen additive. I use a little bit with every fill up. It's suppose to boost cetane plus clean and lubricate your injectors...

 

Trailer looks good but nose of truck still up. Are your equalizer bars parallel with the A-Frame/tongue of the trailer? If so, you likely do not want to raise your brackets. Use another washer to get some more transfer to the front of the truck.

 

I was under the impression that having the trailer nose-down caused excess pressure on the front axle of multi-axle units and increased the chance of trailer sway. Nose-up for trailer was supposedly the "safer" condition when level was not attainable.

I also use Diesel Kleen on a regular basis.