My towing mileage sucks!

[theclaw]

I have a 2021 XLT with tow package. I use it for towing my sportbike to/from the track. I have a V nose 6x10 enclosed trailer. With the bike and gear maybe it's 700lbs of gear. The bike is about 400lbs, easy up, tools, chairs. It's not much. I never checked before however last week I went to Barber Motorsports from Chicago and found I was filling up A LOT! At best I was getting 8-9 mph, in the hills, about 7mph. That's horrible. Is it just that this is a midsize? I'm not about to trade up to a F-150 (althought it's a good reason).

What kind of experience have y'all had?

Thanks,
Jeff

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[Flymac1]

I have a 2021 XLT with tow package. I use it for towing my sportbike to/from the track. I have a V nose 6x10 enclosed trailer. With the bike and gear maybe it's 700lbs of gear. The bike is about 400lbs, easy up, tools, chairs. It's not much. I never checked before however last week I went to Barber Motorsports from Chicago and found I was filling up A LOT! At best I was getting 8-9 mph, in the hills, about 7mph. That's horrible. Is it just that this is a midsize? I'm not about to trade up to a F-150 (althought it's a good reason).

What kind of experience have y'all had?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[harringtondav]

I tow my 4000# boat/trailer twice a year 110 miles, 66-67 mph. "Average", non-towing mileage is around 25 mpg. The Ranger doesn't know the boat is back there, still shifting to 10th on straightaways.
16 mpg w/o a head wind. That's a 9 mpg penalty.
The boat has it cover on, and sits fairly low, maybe 6" above the cab.
I don't know tall your 6' wide trailer is, but I suspect it is pushing more wind than my boat.

 

[Flymac1]

2019 xlt tow trailer 3000lbs empty plus truck bet loaded with firewood and camping gear maybe 7-800 lbs. get 15-17mpg run between 65-75 mph

 

[RuggedRanger]

Yeah something's not right. I got 7-9mpg towing a 7k trailer across the country. With my truck camper, I get between 14 - 18mpg.

It sounds like maybe the gears are too low and your rpms are right in the range for full boost, dumping fuel into the engine.

 

[dtech]

Currently on a trip towing 4200 lbs tt , 10.5 mpg, horrid, might not be much better though with a gas engine f150, the serious towers rely on the 6.7 powerstroke.

 

[subquark]

How long is the trip to the track?

My average 3-5 mile in town trips only get me 14-15 mpg (with no trailer!). My total, total MPG is only 16.7. =(

But on the very few all day trips I've done, it's gotten 25-26 mpg, but that's over 8 hours of driving for each trip.

Towing that FJ40 was only 11 mpg over a 25 mile trip (very rough estimate).

To anyone, what happens when you lock out upper gears, do the shift points move?

Like say I lock out 10, 9, and 8, will the truck space shifts differently?

 

[RuggedRanger]

Currently on a trip towing 4200 lbs tt , 10.5 mpg, horrid, might not be much better though with a gas engine f150, the serious towers rely on the 6.7 powerstroke.

Yeah, I rage about these ridiculous bans on diesel engines in the US. Everywhere else in the world it’s no issue. Great mileage and durability. But here in the US the nanny laws force us into janky gas engines simply because of negative perceptions that diesel is somehow dirtier than petrol.

 

[cfhgarza]

Probably more to do with he aerodynamics of the trailer than the weight of it.

 

[theclaw]

It could be my speed I'm going to speed limit or a little over which down from where I was it's 70 mile an hour Highway and I'm going 70 to 75 most of the time. Since the drag is a function of the speed squared if I'm adding 5 to 10 miles an hour then the drag on the truck is increased a factor 25 to 100 times.

Next time I'll try going slow er

 

[Tom_C]

Even with something tall in the bed, like a fridge, my mileage suffers.

 

[Msfitoy]

It's your speed...in general, as speed doubles-drag quadruples...so if you dropped to 65, you'll see a dramatic increase in your MPG...

 

[Grumpaw]

It could be my speed I'm going to speed limit or a little over which down from where I was it's 70 mile an hour Highway and I'm going 70 to 75 most of the time. Since the drag is a function of the speed squared if I'm adding 5 to 10 miles an hour then the drag on the truck is increased a factor 25 to 100 times.

Next time I'll try going slow er

Your biggest problem is the 70-75 mph speed.....lower it to 65 and you will see an increase. Also, if not doing so, tow in "tow mode". This will help with the trans not having to "search" for the best gear.
When towing our 7000 lb, 28 foot travel trailer we average between 10-14 mpg depending on the terrain.....flats vs mountains. This is running at 65 mph. Anything over that and mpg drops considerably, and fast.
And, the fact that the Ranger is "midsize" has nothing to do with it.....it's the itty bitty 4 cylinder turbo.....it has plenty of power and torque, but it's a turbo and to get the power, it will use fuel !!!

 

[RedRider]

I have a 2023 ranger with tow package towing a 21 foot Escape travel trailer. I have over 20,000 miles towing at 65mph average getting 15-16 MPG.

 

[Grandaccess]

I have a 21 XLT and have hauled some pretty big loads, I have never dropped below 17.5 and one I got a bad tank of gas I hit a new low... of 15mpg ....

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