Idaho Guy

I was able to sneak away from work and town this past weekend and take my daughter on a quick one-night camping trip (Mom and son stayed home). Our destination meant that we had to travel an hour on the interstate and this was the first time I had driven at 70mph with the camper on the truck.

Now, I realize that there was ~4000lbs on the truck and my wind profile had **SIGNIFICANTLY** increased with the TC. But I was a bit disappointed in the performance and mileage, and wanted to see if other TC owners on here have similar results. At 70mph, I only averaged about 12mpg. I was hoping to be around 14-15mpg -- even at freeway speeds.

TC owners: do these numbers jive with what you are getting while hauling? Would a performance box in any way help out the mileage figues??

blacksmoke

The only way to increase mileage is to slow down.

CTD NUT

I'm somewhat familiar with the 811 - frontal area is huge on that camper. It will create tremendous wind drag for sure. More than many 5vers. At that point, every MPH counts. I would not at all be surprised if you hit 14-15 mpg on the highway if you backed it down to 60 mph. Depending on where you are driving, I know that can be painfully slow but at least try backing down to 65 and see where that takes you. You could easily pick up 1-2 mpg going from 70 to 65.

Spooler

Yeap, that sounds about right at that speed.

AlCorr

Yes, That does sound about right. I just took a 4 week trip from Massachusetts to Key West FL. and back, 3,700 miles. Doing 70-75 mph towing a 10,000lb 5er, hand calculated, I got 11.7 mpg. When I'm unloaded driving to work and back daily, I'll get 19 mpg, keeping it under 70 mph. I've gotten as much as 20.5 mpg keeping under 65 to 60 with no load.

DRD

With a 10' slide in towing 20' ski-boat, 11-12 MPG was all she got. Combination of mountains/prairie.

Fueling around

I've gotten as low as 9 mpg and as high as 19 mpg with my camper. They're all as aerodynamic as a brick. I'm only about 2,500 pounds fully loaded.
I get much better fuel economy with a bumper pull trailer.

Slow down. Speed kills literally & figuratively.

n2moto

My wife gets 14.?? I get 12.?? The camper is 4k on my 97.

CD in NM

You have to face it if you want to haul a camper that turns our normally aeordynamic small barn into an aerodynamically big barn. Just be glad you are not driving a gasser, you can cut the fuel mileage you are getting in half.

Lowering your speed will get you a 1-2 mpg improvment. So now you have a choice, get that 1-2 mpgs at a lower speed or drive her they way you want to and forget the mpg's.

I get better mileage towing my TT than I do towing my 5th wheel My TT is as tall as my 5th wheel in height and also is heavier than my 5th wheel, but that 'bunk' over the bed close to the cab must create a greater barn effect. The difference is 2-3 mpg's and I drive both of them the same as far as speed and shifting.


CD

Idaho Guy

Thanks all for the replies. Looks like my mileage figures are well with the distribution of others.

diesel96

I have the same problem as you. I carry an Arctic Fox 1140 on my truck. I get about 12 mpg travelling at 55 mph. The problem I see, is the large frontal area of the camper, plus the large space between the top of the cab and the bottom of camper. I have a 8 in. space in my rig. This must create a hugh air dam.

I would like to place some kind of a wind deflector in this space to help decrease the drag. If anybody has any ideas on how to accomplish this, please chin in.

I don`t know what gearing you have, but I feel that driving at about 1600 rpm, would be about ideal.

Fueling around

Doesn't quite match the marketing claims of the salesperson at the RV shop?

Install the RFG and enjoy the drive.

Fueling around

Most women have an RFG standard equipment

TonyB

I went to Bridgestone Duravis tires and picked up ~1.5mpg. Used to have Gerneal Ameritrac's.

Now, I get about 12-13mpg with the camper on. Was solid 11mpg with the generals.

Oh, and I have always ran ~65mph on the freeway and through the hills.

Tony

Timmer

i would think duct tape would be cheep enough.