Chazmanian

I need to buy a larger trailer this year. I'm looking at a 16 footer probably the 7 foot wide unit. tandem axles of course and all the hoopla but here is my quandry...

To "V" or not to "V". Can I expect a significant fuel savings by going with a V-Nose trailer over the standard flat front? I will be pulling it about 25,000 miles this year so if the V-Nose will indeed raise my economy by say 2 MPG??? Then it would pay for itself in a short time frame. The trailers that I really like arent V-Nosed. I have looked at a few V-Nosers and they are typically in the $5500 price range but they are the lower quality kind where-as I have found several very sharp high end nice units with the flat front for less than $5500.00. I know that you buy cheap and you buy twice as thats what I'm dealing with right now. I bought a cheap trailer flat nosed single axle and its junk and all the bolts are falling out of the siding and the lights stopped working! Lonestar trailer from texas. Cheap junk.

Now I'm looking at Haulmarks and Pace stuff and I'm really impressed by the quality and stoutness. The V-Noses seem to be really expensive in the upper end trailers and I dont want to spend 8000.00 on a painting trailer that will get thrashed in one year. I also need to get decent MPG with my Cummins this year as fuel will be well over $4.00 and Diesel has been .25 cents higher than unleaded anyhow.

So...V-Nose? Do you think my Cummins Ram will get much better mileage with one over say a Haulmark with the flat but slightly concaved front panel???

Thanks!

dawgone

I Have Pulled Both Type And To Tell You The Truth Unless The Ceiling Height Is Over 7 Foot I Would Say That You May Not See 1 Mile Per Gallon Difference. I Never Did Now After You Pass The 7 Ft Heightit A Whole Different Ballgame.

Chazmanian

Thats what I needed to know! So a 6" ceiling height on say a 16 footer isnt gonna hurt me if it aint a V-Noser getting pulled behind my 05' QC 4x4?

carl48

if celing height is not over 7 foot you are not going to see hardly any difference and even the tall trailers will not make two miles different more like one mile per gallon

kshimizu

A true flat front, which usually comes with a bullnose and flat top roof will usually result in lower mpg. We sell Cargo Express trailers and the majority of what we sell is the round (curved) front with round roof. Most folks that buy a wedgefront from us need the extra space up front or are looking for a ride off ramp in the front for snowmobiles or atvs. Most folks don't haul their trailers enough to look at it from the mpg perspective. Under ideal conditions (no wind) a wedge front should increase mpg. Depending on wind direction, a wedge front can act in the same manner as a flat front and you may lose mpg. Like someone else mentioned the height can be a big factor. Most 7x16 trailers will be either 6' or 6'6" tall inside. A trailer that is over 7' tall interior height will have more wind drag. I too would agree that there is probably less than 1 mpg difference between the two styles. On another note, you mentioned having to paint the trailer. If you're looking at aluminum skin trailers you will not be able to just give it a paint job since the skins go through a different paint process than steel. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me.

Chazmanian

I dont actually paint the trailer we use the trailer to paint out of. I own a parking lot striping company and in the past two years we went from doing little local jobs to servicing a slew of national retail store praking lots all across Texas and the west coast! So much work that I quit my day job last year and now focus just on the painting and I plow snow in the winter.....



I started off back in 2006 in a little tacoma which was my daily driver...Put 26K on it in one year and was simply disgusted by its inability to pull my little cargo trailer! 10 MPG wheezing and coughing its way out to the west coast...Very poor performance from this truck!


That being said last year I traded the Tacoma and $2,000 for a new 4x4 QC Hemi 1/2 ton. I also had to hire two employees who drove this Hemi 1/2 ton 4x4 25,000 miles in 4 months pulling our crappy little 5x8 Cargo parachute loaded to the gills with our two striping machines and a bed loaded with paint cans. Truck was essentially destroyed and during the course of its destruction it got about 11 MPG on the Hwy pulling this little trailer!! Did night and day better than the sorry little Tacoma but still....No good. Poor economy and cant be turned out to plow in the winter!


I sold it for 2 grand shy of what its payoff was and bought a 2005 CTD to do our dirty work!! It will also be put into plow service next season and being that its already 3 years old I wont feel as bad when it gets thrashed and beaten as it seems much more up to the task than did my 07' Hemi truck.


So now its time to ditch the little girlie 5x8 trailer that started my company behind a derned Toyota and buy a real trailer to hold lots of cargo and make lots of money!! We will drive 25-30K this year just striping so a fdairly high quality unit IE: Haulmark, Pace, United should fit the bill....I bought cheap the first time and now I'm buying again and dont want to make any dumb mistakes.

V? or just a good flatnose?

Chazmanian

This trailer would match my "Silver Surfer" Ram to the "T". I want to hate it but cant...Its Hot!!




14' Long in the Box and 3' in the V-Nose (17' Overall)
Pewter Color
Tandem 3500 lb Axles
Electric Brakes on BOTH Axles
Safety Break-Away Kit
Dual Cable Assisted Rear Fold Down Ramp
36" Side Door with RV Latch and Keys
A Very Thick 7/16" Inner Wall Liner
3/4" Plywood Floor Painted Grey
Roof Vent
12 Volt Dome Light with Wall Switch
Aluminum Diamond Plated Stoneguard
Aluminum Diamond Plated Corners
Four Brand New 15" 6 Ply Trailer Tires
Three Piece Tongue
Through Frame Triple Hitch
E-Z Lube Axles
6'6" Interior Height
13 Clearance Lights
2 Tail Lights with Reverse Lights
All DOT Safety Tape and Lights
2 5/16" Coupler
1 Year Limited Warranty

snoyes

I don't think you will see an increase of 2 MPG, but if you tow highway alot, you will see slightly better fuel mileage. I pull a Haulmark 8.5 x 27 V nose weighing in at 4500 lbs empty (6 K axles, 12 K trailer). I have not been overly impressed with the quality of the trailer, but it did the job. I will most likely look elsewhere on the next cargo trailer I purchase, probably interstate, wells cargo, or featherlite. On a 16 foot trailer you will lose some box space in the front if you choose to go with a V-nose. Big selling point for me was the V nose because of the snowmachine/ATV door that came with the V-nose.

Chazmanian

Wells cargo, Interstae and Featherlight are just too much Moolah for the abuse it will have to endure...Paint and tuelene slopping around for months on end....Constant banging about and wayward employees who just cant seem to give a **** about my property!!

Anyhow....I would like to find a used wells cargo or equivilant but dern it they are next to impossible to locate!!

I'm thinking the trailer above at $4500.00 may make it through a few seasons?

My Lonestar trailer is a bad joke. The bolts are all falling out of the siding and the floor is cracking. The jack is bent to hell and one of the wheel bearings just went south. 40K on a 3K trailer I suppose I got my moneys worth though!

screamn56

What about a Carmate trailer??? They are very well built. I have a 28' enclosed that is 8 years old no bolts falling out of it.

MikeyB

Can't really say if a V-nose will help that much. But I get around 14mpg at 65mph pulling this thing (8'x8'x22').



MikeyB

Adaminak

You might try getting in touch with Morningstar Trailers in Montrose. They were really good to me when I bought through them, and they can find and deliver just about anything you want. Their big stores are in TX somewhere, but they happened to have what I wanted on the lot, so I made the drive over the hill to pick it up, and it was well worth the drive from the Springs. I think they still carry H&H trailers, which I've hauled up and down the ALCAN with only one broken spring (my fault), and no other problems whatsoever.

P.S. Is that Bott Park I see in the background on one of your truck photos?

Chazmanian

My guy out in Black Forest ran off to Costa rica...They sell those crappy Lonestars anyways....

I'm gonna call the guys in Montrose this morning!

Found lots of stuff in Texas and for some reason there is a place in Georgia that advertises what seem to be a decent unit on E-Bay for as cheap as I have ever seen a trailer anywhere!

I wouldnt mind a drive down to Texas though...that silver trailer is one I'm bidding on from E-Bay...

The photo of the Tacoma was actually at the top of the hill out in Utah at the badlands. I honestly thought I was gonna blow the motor on that little truck as it was running real hot and the only way to keep it going 60 MPH was to have in cranking at 4500 RPM and it was pure hell. Gramma and granps would pass me in their cummins' and Strokes and wave as they sailed by at 75 MPH with the windows up and the AC blasting.....I was sweating like a hog as I couldnt run the AC and maintain any speed at all!! That was a long hard drive to LA.

Thanks for the Montrose tip!!

cscott67

Well, my 50cents is that you go ahead and get a 20 or 24ft trailer. You will not pay much more, and you will be happy you have something bigger when you need it. The v-nose doesn't matter that much, Scott

05 CTD2500

nice truck, looks almost same as mine. you should swap out the mirrors for the towing mirrors though.