Just returned from a trip to Fla. pulling a 14x7 enclosed trailer w/ 2 harleys , golf clubs and luggage . Pulled from Milwaukee to lakeland, Fla. Gas mileage was about 9.2 on way down but had a 30-40 mile an hour headwind. On way home it got better at about 10.2 Driving at 70mph at least. Power was just great. Have a 2011 F150 SCrew, max tow package 3.73 gears. Didnt even hardly feel it back there. Rides like a champ too.

 

Glad to read about a good story. I hope you continue to enjoy your rig.

 

Ouch! My 6.8L V10 Excursion would get 11.5 towing a 5,600# car trailer to Carlisle, PA and back. Granted, only averaged 10 MPG around town, but would also get 15 MPG highway when not towing.

 

10 mpg sounds about right when towing an enclosed trailer with a big frontal area. That's what all the people towing travel trailers also get, no matter of what truck or engine - it's between 8 and 12 mpg.
cficare, a car trailer will get you much better gas mileage. At highway speeds, it is the frontal area, and not the weight that hurts the most. For example, there will be very little difference in terms of fuel consumption at highway speeds between a 4,000 lbs 19 ft travel trailer and a 8,000 lbs 28 footer, given the same frontal area. Your car on a trailer is much more "slippery" .

 

Yes the frontal area is big and the wind really did a job. But the truck sure pulled it with No problem. Have 11,500 on it now.

 

I know there are a lot of trailers with the pointed frontal area..I wonder how well they do towing?

 

It has to be better than pulling a brick through the air.

 

Yep.. everyone is saying exactly what I experience with my over height cargo trailer. I get around 10 with it loaded at 8000 lbs and I get the same mileage with it empty! It's all about the wind drag.

 

I am not surprised at all. Once that weight is at the highway speed, it takes very little to keep it moving. But you keep on punching that huge hole into the air throughout the trip, which is what kills the mileage.
BTW, reducing the speed by even 5mph reduces the drag (and increases the mileage) drastically. I believe the speed goes into the drag equation as the cube (3rd order). So going from 70 to 60 mph reduces the drag by almost 40%! If you want to save money while towing - take it easy. I usually keep it at around 60 mph.

 

There are a number of more complicated formulas that take in to account the air density, etc but a simple one is:
F_{<small>Air</small>} = A/2 × C_{<small>d</small>} × D × v^{<small>2</small>}
with
A being the frontal area of the vehicle in m^{<small>2</small>},
C_{<small>d</small>} being the drag coefficient,
D being the density of air (1.29 kg/m^{<small>3</small>}) and
v being the velocity in m/sec.

Notice as mentioned before, drag--the resistance from the air--increases at the square of velocity. That is why it may take 4X the HP to go 2X the speed and of course a similar increase in fuel consumption with the same logic. Hope this helps.

 

It would just kill me to drive 60 mph...65 would be the lowest I could tolerate...lol unless I was worried about a LEO that is.

 

i just pulled a 31' jay feather bunkhouse about 600 miles that's about 7500# and at 65 mph i got 12.4 MPG by the dash and 11.1 mpg with my math. so i hope the OP's 14x7 trailer has less face so not to drag his mileage down.