How much will a heavy trailer hurt MPG's

[Diamondpilot]

Look at my real world comparison above and you will see you will lose about 1/3 your economy.

It is what it is....

Chris

 

[RPW]

I get about 16mpg combined. With 25ft 14k trailer empty I lose about 3mpg. Loaded depends on what I'm carrying. Truck is a 2007 3/4 ton (LMM) dmax.

 

[RickB]

Discounting the extra rolling friction (tire) which takes relatively VERY little extra fuel to overcome, and assuming we're talking about a flatbed trailer with little wind resistance, the only extra energy required is to accelerate the trailer up to speed and pull it up hills.

Now if you talking about a livestock, box trailer or camper trailer, then overcoming the extra air resistance takes the same extra fuel no matter what the trailer weighs and is only a function of your speed and additional surface area. Depending on the profile of the trailer, this can add a LOT of air resistance that needs to be overcome with extra fuel.

Imagine this: 2 trailers, same profile, same rolling resistance, but one weighs twice the other. If you were to drive 300 miles continuously on flat ground at the same speed with both, the only fuel difference would be what you used in the 1st 1/8 mile getting it up to speed.

Credible real life answers disagree. I'm not buying what you are selling, and my similar life experiences agree with the other side of this discussion.

 

[bdog]

My peterbilt weighs around 17k bobtail. Driving it home to Texas from Missouri I got around 9 MPG. Loaded at close to 70k gross it gets around 6 MPG. It surprised me the difference was only 3MPG with a 50k difference in weight and 8 more tires on the ground.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Back in December I went and picked up a 25+5 Gatormade gooseneck flat bed trailer and pulled it home with my 2015 Chevrolet 2500 HD 4x4 with a 6.0 gas motor, going up running 70 mph with no trailer I got 15 mpg, coming back with an empty trailer running 70 mph I got 13 mpg and couldn't really tell it was back there. Charlie.

 

[fordmantpw]

My peterbilt weighs around 17k bobtail. Driving it home to Texas from Missouri I got around 9 MPG. Loaded at close to 70k gross it gets around 6 MPG. It surprised me the difference was only 3MPG with a 50k difference in weight and 8 more tires on the ground.

The bigger the engine, the less the additional load will affect MPG (generally).

Heck, my Super Duty grosses at around 17k towing my fifth wheel, and I get about what you get empty. Your Pete is doing pretty well on fuel I think!

 

[RalphVa]

Mileage would prorate by weight on a given type vehicle. The trailer tires would add some more rolling resistance, but it would probably prorate pretty much by weight.

Many years ago, we engineers put together mileage from all our vehicles. We discovered for a given technology (was only diesel and gas back then, no turbo or fuel injection in gas) that the fuel mileage prorated by weight.

In a tractor, it'll prorate by hp.

Ralph

 

[LD1]

I go from 17-18MPG down to 12-13 when I tow my 25' GN 24k trailer. (6500#) empty.

Add my kubota ~5000#, and I loose another few points. Maybe 10-11.

A light ~2500# trailer, I would guess I would be in the 15-16 range empty.

But about the GN.......And weather you can "actually" use a trailer that heavy......What is your GWVR? I cannot seem to find it anywhere online. I know my dodge is a decade older, but If I were loaded to 10k like you, and only having a 12.2k gvwr........wouldnt really be able to use the trailer to its capacity and keep proper pin weight with only being able to put 2200# on the pin.

 

[bdog]

My GVWR is 13,025 and my truck weighs just over 10k empty. Well empty and full of fuel which includes my full 90 gallon transfer tank. I have roughly 3000 lb for pin weight if my trans tank is full or roughly 3,600 lb if empty.

I have a 18k backhoe and a 19k crawler but I wouldn't feel comfortable towing those with the pickup. Primarily the desire for the heavy trailer would be for stuff in the 12k range which would likely overload a 14k non dual trailer. I have some machines in that weight range.

 

[LD1]

My GVWR is 13,025 and my truck weighs just over 10k empty. Well empty and full of fuel which includes my full 90 gallon transfer tank. I have roughly 3000 lb for pin weight if my trans tank is full or roughly 3,600 lb if empty.

I have a 18k backhoe and a 19k crawler but I wouldn't feel comfortable towing those with the pickup. Primarily the desire for the heavy trailer would be for stuff in the 12k range which would likely overload a 14k non dual trailer. I have some machines in that weight range.

You may be fine for the 14k trailer. 14k is what the axles are allowed to carry. Deduct pin weight.

So if you have a 14k trailer that weighs 4k, with a 12k load, and 3k pin weight, you should be good. Or they make 16k trailers or even triple singles. But understand wanting a dual tandem.