Biggest Travel Trailer?

[ctechbob]

Another thought occured to me today.

When a check engine light is set the ECU captures freeze frame data, IE engine parameters at the time the problem happened. If you do grenade the motor, that data is going to show the Octane Adjust Ratio as being positive (low octane), a larger than normal throttle opening (assuming it lets go under load), high boost for the speed of the vehicle, and every other parameter that will show that the truck is under higher load than if it were just driving around hauling people. I don't know if the ECU records anything trailer plug related, but that's not outside the realm of possibility.

Again, this would be IF something happened and IF it went south. I could see them denying warranty coverage in that case. It's not like they're not going to look if they think they're going to be on the hook for a motor.

Just additional food for thought. I'd say the chances of it happening are slim, but still........

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[Pinecrestjim]

@Grumpaw, how are you able to travel 200 miles between fuel stops, especially if you are refueling at appx 1/3 tank? Your Jay Feather must be quite a bit lighter than my 2109s. I have to plan my fuel stops at 120-150 miles and can be as low as 1/4 tank.

@ctechbob, there are no statements in the 2019 owners manual requiring anything above 87 octane for towing. The only reference to higher octane is stated in the Fuel section:

For best overall vehicle and engine performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using premium fuel is most noticeable in hot weather as well as other conditions, for example when towing a trailer. See Towing (page 215).​

​

(There are no references to fuel octane in the Towing section of the manual.)

I would agree that a higher octane will provide better performance from the engine. It just isn't needed for towing my RV on Florida's flat highways. When we venture out west into the higher elevations or into the Appalachians, I will be running 91+.

 

[TheDo114]

@Grumpaw, how are you able to travel 200 miles between fuel stops, especially if you are refueling at appx 1/3 tank? Your Jay Feather must be quite a bit lighter than my 2109s. I have to plan my fuel stops at 120-150 miles and can be as low as 1/4 tank.

@ctechbob, there are no statements in the 2019 owners manual requiring anything above 87 octane for towing. The only reference to higher octane is stated in the Fuel section:

For best overall vehicle and engine performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using premium fuel is most noticeable in hot weather as well as other conditions, for example when towing a trailer. See Towing (page 215).​

​

(There are no references to fuel octane in the Towing section of the manual.)

I would agree that a higher octane will provide better performance from the engine. It just isn't needed for towing my RV on Florida's flat highways. When we venture out west into the higher elevations or into the Appalachians, I will be running 91+.

It's right there in your quote, for best performance use premium fuel in situation like towing.

It's not worded in a way that says please refer to the towing section to know if you should put premium, it was addressed earlier.

 

[Big Blue]

It's right there in your quote, for best performance use premium fuel in situation like towing.

It's not worded in a way that says please refer to the towing section to know if you should put premium, it was addressed earlier.

You do understand the difference between "recommended" and "required"?

 

[Grumpaw]

@Grumpaw, how are you able to travel 200 miles between fuel stops, especially if you are refueling at appx 1/3 tank? Your Jay Feather must be quite a bit lighter than my 2109s. I have to plan my fuel stops at 120-150 miles and can be as low as 1/4 tank.

@ctechbob, there are no statements in the 2019 owners manual requiring anything above 87 octane for towing. The only reference to higher octane is stated in the Fuel section:

For best overall vehicle and engine performance, premium fuel with an octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended. The performance gained by using premium fuel is most noticeable in hot weather as well as other conditions, for example when towing a trailer. See Towing (page 215).​

​

(There are no references to fuel octane in the Towing section of the manual.)

I would agree that a higher octane will provide better performance from the engine. It just isn't needed for towing my RV on Florida's flat highways. When we venture out west into the higher elevations or into the Appalachians, I will be running 91+.

I probably over estimated my fill up ranges...probably my fill ups are around 160-175 miles.
I usually do not check or care what my mpg is, but this trip for giggles I've kept track via truck and my Scan Gauge. From Va to upper NY then east into Vt, via xways and secondary roads, average has been 13.1 via the Ranger and 13 via the Scan Gauge. This while towing around 7000 lbs at speeds from 45 to 65 mph.
On the way back down I'll keep track of my mileage between fillups and mpg. Usually run around 300-350 miles a day.

 

[Pinecrestjim]

Your getting 13.1 mpg is excellent for pulling a 7K RV, especially in the Appalachian hills. My camper is 8' wide x 10.5' high, creating a huge frontal area of wind resistance. I expect yours is similar. I believe you also have a 4x2 which will give better mpg than a 4x4, usually 1 mpg.

On my return trip, again 400 miles, I used the speed control set for 60mph. We ran thru one heck of a downpour just south of Fort Pierce, then rush hour traffic with more rain for the last 50 miles, both requiring much reduced speeds. While I expected the stop and go to really kill the mpg, the eliminating 80+sqft frontal area of air resistance must have been an offset. The return trip average was 11.9 mpg, again hand calculated as total miles divided by total gallons from start fill up to final fill up at home. Also, the initial fill up was blending 87 octane into a 3/4 full tank of 93 octane.

 

[clutchdude]

Yes, electronic trailer braking systems aren't without issue, but If you are sizing your trailer based on what the tow vehicle can safely stop, you probably shouldn't be pulling over 2,000lbs with a Ranger.

I echo this - I had a #800 brakeless trailer with a #1200 stump grinder loaded on it. The ranger did fine but you needed to give plenty of room to slow down and you could feel the trailer there as you slowed.

 

[Friday yet?]

I agree some pretty impressive rigs being pulled. But, and I will probably get slammed for this, the one number nobody talks about is GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating). This is a number the towing guides specifically tell you NOT to exceed. For our trucks this number varies depending on cab style a if it is 2 or 4 wheel drive. It goes from 12150# to 12500#, with SuperCab 4x2 the lowest and SuperCrew 4x4 the highest. The 7500# max tow rating also has a footnote to it stating that it is for an empty truck with a single 150# driver.

I would love to see CAT scale slips for some of these huge rigs loaded for travel with all passengers showing you are under the GCVWR for your truck.

This 7500# max rating is not a hard number no matter what you have done to you truck or how much stuff you have in it. It is a sliding number based on a lot of factors.

Bingo.

 

[ControlNode]

I echo this - I had a #800 brakeless trailer with a #1200 stump grinder loaded on it. The ranger did fine but you needed to give plenty of room to slow down and you could feel the trailer there as you slowed.

Manual says the max towing with tow package without trailer brakes is 1,650lb. Odd thing is there is not mention of this limitation with the 3,500lb bumper tow limit. To me the 1,650lb limit should apply to all cases, and with no tow package and trailer brake controller you would have to have surge brakes on the trailer to get to the 3,500lb, or 7,500lb with tow package only, limit. I called Ford a while back about this and have heard nothing back to clarify the wording.

This weekend I'm planning to pick up the biggest RV I've towed yet, 27ft 6,000lb, right as the remnants of Nichole should be hitting SC. My last tow was a 22ft at about 4,000lb, from Fayetteville to Uwharrie area. Windy is currently forecasting 13-15 MPH winds with gusts to about 30MPH in the area of Lancaster to Kershaw. Not ideal but should be fine. The pickup location is only about 30 minutes (normal driving) from where I have to pull it, so if it takes me 60-90 minutes to get there due to conditions it's not a big deal.

 

[ControlNode]

This weekend I'm planning to pick up the biggest RV I've towed yet, 27ft 6,000lb, right as the remnants of Nichole should be hitting SC. My last tow was a 22ft at about 4,000lb, from Fayetteville to Uwharrie area. Windy is currently forecasting 13-15 MPH winds with gusts to about 30MPH in the area of Lancaster to Kershaw. Not ideal but should be fine. The pickup location is only about 30 minutes (normal driving) from where I have to pull it, so if it takes me 60-90 minutes to get there due to conditions it's not a big deal.

Follow up: the box on this RV was 27ft, the total length was just over 30ft. Online site was showing tongue weight at 475lb, but when dropped on my hitch I was seeing about 700lb. Had to move a little over a 100lb from the truck into the RV before we departed to keep under the payload limit of the Ranger. It was pouring rain and I was driving into a mild head wind from Nicole. was going 40-45 most of the way, less in areas as there was standing water and limited visibility. Sunday evening the return drive was much nicer, 55mph was OK, the Ranger did great. If I tow this big again, I will likely give a WD setup a try. But if I get to the buying phase I would likely look smaller for my own that I would be pulling the full trip. For pulling the last 30 miles or so to a destination this was fine.

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