Excellent. We all overlooked this. An old tablet with torque pro and an obd2 adapter is a cheap investment also.

 

Nothing of real import here, just my observations from car-hauling on Sunday evening. Also, not nearly the same load as the OP's (or most of you other guys).

Anyway, I just ran about 300 miles towing two different vehicles on a car hauler for a max loaded trailer weight of about 6K lbs ('04 Xterra in one direction and '06 Outback in the other). I averaged about 12.5 mpg while running in the 65-70 mph range (mostly in OD) with 3.73 gears. I would let the RPM drop down on long uphill climbs, but when it got down to about 55 mph (roughly 1500 rpm), I could hear the turbo starting a little "chuffa-chuffa" routine and would drop off the OD until I could regain level or downhill terrain again. I could definitely tell that the engine was its happiest in the 1950-2100 RPM range.

I'm also running 285's on stock 16" rims, and had the rear at about 60 psig with the front at about 58 psig. No fifth wheel... just a straight tongue hitch.

 

Thanks Brother Les, it's a 2017 forest river grey wolf, it has trailer brakes, but I don't know anything other than when I plug in my brake controller they work!!!!!

I did notice one of my 4 tires was low on PSI, so I think that may have had something to do with it..... I will check the brakes also because some jackhole made a left turn from the right hand lane in front of me on a two lane 55mph road, I had to slam so hard I thought I was going to ram in into next tuesday, I've had some rough stops with that trailer, so I may need to check brakes...... also incidentally when you said that, I also noticed my ebrake might be dragging also....


Honestly I think that's a good place to start, because when I pull off the gas (even with the trailer gone) I get this stopping feeling like the ebrake is engaged

 

I have an old tablet, but I don't have an obd2 adapter, is there one you would recommend?

Also I started googling torque pro, what gauges should I look at??

Also will torque pro give me live MPG readouts??

Sounds like torque pro is just the ticket

 

I towed a 29 foot Forest River Wildwood (about 7K empty) from Tucson to Northern NM and back in July with my CCLB 4X4 on 285's no lift no tuner and averaged around 12 MPG. Drove between 55 and 65 the whole way, mostly 60.

 

OBDII tools link in my signature, plus you can search for "2017 Torque Pro PIDs".

 

I do believe that you do have forward adjusting brakes on your camper and you should look into how tight they are adjusted up and may need to back them off.... But... if you "feel like the ebrake is engaged".... 'even with trailer gone'.... is a different animal issue. You may very well have one of your brake calipers stuck and not retracting. I have had this issue on my back drivers side, twice. You may have a truck brake dragging. Look into greasing the caliper slide pins, easy to do. Also, what is the ratio of your camper brake VS truck brake? Camper should be about 53% to truck 47%. Camper engaging first, but not 'heavy' at all, to align the truck/camper, with a slight backward 'tug' from camper, when stopping. Any more than a slight higher percentage on the camper and the camper brakes may lock up... and you do not want that to happen.


I would also suggest getting a Tire Minder System. I have the TST 507.
https://tsttruck.com/


I have four sensors on my tow vehicle and four on my camper. This will show you the PSI and also the tire Temp. With the 7.3 pulling an RV, you can go down the road for miles and not even know that you have a flat tire and end up thinking that you had a 'Blow Out'... when the whole time it was a slow leak, until you are down to the rims and the tire is shredding. You will also notice that the tire pressures on all eight tire will go up when traveling 6-10 psi.


Any questions. let me know.


As stated by Bigb56.... you should 'average' around 12mpg with a trailer. that is close to my average.


You may be interested in this thread https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...on-thread.html

 

You put the horsepower in the gas tank fellas. Big tires turn hard and the lift allows more drag at highway speeds. IMO a lifted vehicle is not the ideal tow vehicle.

 

I'll agree with you there, raising the center of gravity on a vehicle not exactly nimble in the handling department to begin with can make for bad juju when something unexpected happens while towing.