Pulling a trailer

934x4

934x4

New member
Pulling a single axle 12 foot v-nose haulmark trailer drops my mileage from 21 mpg to 13. Anyone care to comment? I'd like to compare, 4R's and other vehicles.

And I thought the cruise control was jumpy without a trailer. With a trailer, unless it's perfectly flat road with no headwind, it is constantly up and down. Annoying enough to deactivate. It's the worst thing on the 4R.
 
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934x4 said:
Pulling a single axle 12 foot v-nose haulmark trailer drops my mileage from 21 mpg to 13. Anyone care to comment? I'd like to compare, 4R's and other vehicles.

And I thought the cruise control was jumpy without a trailer. With a trailer, unless it's perfectly flat road with no headwind, it is constantly up and down. Annoying enough to deactivate. It's the worst thing on the 4R.
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how much does the trailer weigh?
 
934x4 said:
Pulling a single axle 12 foot v-nose haulmark trailer drops my mileage from 21 mpg to 13. Anyone care to comment? I'd like to compare, 4R's and other vehicles.

And I thought the cruise control was jumpy without a trailer. With a trailer, unless it's perfectly flat road with no headwind, it is constantly up and down. Annoying enough to deactivate. It's the worst thing on the 4R.
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seems about right for a v6 truck that weighs close to 5,000# and shaped like a brick that makes its peak torque over 4,000rpm...its just not the best set up for towing.
 
I get around 13-15 MPG with my camper behind me. It is about 3000# loaded. Its a pop up but its lifted quite a bit as well as the truck so there is some stronger wind resistance. Your cargo trailer has that much more, so I'd say that's about right.
 
Yup. Towing my 2200# popup will get me 14-16 mpg, and that's on mostly flat terrain. I don't even bother with the cruise control, it's such a PITA.
 
934x4 said:
Pulling a single axle 12 foot v-nose haulmark trailer drops my mileage from 21 mpg to 13. Anyone care to comment? I'd like to compare, 4R's and other vehicles.

And I thought the cruise control was jumpy without a trailer. With a trailer, unless it's perfectly flat road with no headwind, it is constantly up and down. Annoying enough to deactivate. It's the worst thing on the 4R.
Click to expand...
I have only done about 50 miles with my similar trailer with the 4runner, but have done about 20K miles with it and a 2007 Tacoma.

Highway without the trailer MPG was 18-19, with the trailer 8-12, and no, don't even bother with the cruise control, it will only frustrate you.
 
brockeverly said:
I get around 13-15 MPG with my camper behind me. It is about 3000# loaded. Its a pop up but its lifted quite a bit as well as the truck so there is some stronger wind resistance. Your cargo trailer has that much more, so I'd say that's about right.
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How bad is it running a long mountain climb? My wife and I are looking at a similar set up in the near future. I'm wondering if I'm going to just end up pulling the camper with my Cruiser.
 
Corbet said:
How bad is it running a long mountain climb? My wife and I are looking at a similar set up in the near future. I'm wondering if I'm going to just end up pulling the camper with my Cruiser.
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Your 80 Series has the same tow rating, more power, but more weight. I recently pulled my trailer fully loaded to around 3000#, 300# on the roof, and probably around 1000# in people/cargo. Their were several LONGGGG 10/12% grades that I feel really made the 4R work hard. I had no issue, but I definitely knew that I had some weight behind me. I did find that the RPM drop from 2nd to 3rd was a bit much as I would start slowing down, downshift to 2nd and hit 5k, upshift to third and drop to 3500 and start slowing down again. All in all, it was not bad, just have to get used to seeing some higher RPM.
 
That sounds about like my 80. I'm hoping a future new 4Runner for the wife will do a little better but it sounds like the same program. For the record the 80 has less power on paper(212hp/275ftlbs) but probably a stronger torque curve off idle;): If her future 4Runner does not do the job I'll just have to force feed my 1FZ about 8psi.


brockeverly said:
Your 80 Series has the same tow rating, more power, but more weight. I recently pulled my trailer fully loaded to around 3000#, 300# on the roof, and probably around 1000# in people/cargo. Their were several LONGGGG 10/12% grades that I feel really made the 4R work hard. I had no issue, but I definitely knew that I had some weight behind me. I did find that the RPM drop from 2nd to 3rd was a bit much as I would start slowing down, downshift to 2nd and hit 5k, upshift to third and drop to 3500 and start slowing down again. All in all, it was not bad, just have to get used to seeing some higher RPM.
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Simple physics: you're in a brick, towing something else more or less brick-shaped. The front of what you're towing matters, but the back of it also does, since you're trailing a huge vacuum bubble with anything that's flat and vertical on the back.

Once you hit 50 mph wind resistance begins to increase at a higher rate as well. It won't matter what you tow with, you're going to need the same amount of energy to move what you're towing. So mileage will be about the same, as a percentage of tow vehicle mileage, no matter what gasoline engine you tow with.

A friend with a Tundra towed our camper once, and got pretty much the same mileage. Friends of ours tow a similar camper with a Suburban, and surprise, get about the same mileage. The difference is when we unhook the trailers, we're getting 20 mpg.
 
Trailer shape physics

Hello, Everyone! This is my first post here. I'm about to begin building a trailer for work and camping. I will build it on the frame of a flatbed utility trailer. The one I have is 14', and the plan is to make it 8' x 14' or so. I may not use this trailer, though, since it has no brakes nor the mounting plates for them.

I know that the front and rear of the trailer affect drag tremendously, but I don't know the best solutions for either. I guess that round is best, but that's not really an option. Right now I have the following beginning questions:

1) Where can I go to learn about the effects of various trailer shapes on drag?
2) What is the max weight (fully loaded) you all would suggest for the trailer? (2000, V6, Limited, 4x (awd), Automatic; 200K miles, still runs great)
3) What's the collective wisdom on brakes? I feel the 4R's brakes are barely adequate as is.

Thanks!

Paul
 
scan gauge

I have been running a scan gauge to monitor the tranny temp. Keeping the tranny in 4th keeps the temps down and in control. I suspect this is due the TC locking up in 4th and not in 5th.
 
tlflow said:
I have been running a scan gauge to monitor the tranny temp. Keeping the tranny in 4th keeps the temps down and in control. I suspect this is due the TC locking up in 4th and not in 5th.
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Pulling a 12% grade for a few miles in second gear with about 3000# behind me and 750# in cargo i saw temps up around 240 with my tranny cooler. I shudder to think what the temp would have been without!
 
934x4 said:
And I thought the cruise control was jumpy without a trailer. With a trailer, unless it's perfectly flat road with no headwind, it is constantly up and down. Annoying enough to deactivate. It's the worst thing on the 4R.
Click to expand...

Was just reading the manual regarding towing and in the section where it lists out all of the cautions it says "Do not use cruise control when towing".
 
DiggetyDan said:
Was just reading the manual regarding towing and in the section where it lists out all of the cautions it says "Do not use cruise control when towing".
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Yes youre not supposed to use it for the reasons listd in the quote. On flat ground with the tranny not searching its just fine.
 
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