[Captainmal]

Have never been able to drop below posted 70 mph speeds or higher while towing on the Interstates. Well for the past two days I had all that time to go just 700 miles. Tried it.

Normally I get somewhere around 12 mpg towing the toy hauler. Now that does mean it can be 11.8 - no more than 12.2-12.4 mpg. The past two days I kept it mostly under 68 mph and tried to stay at 65 mph. Sure a couple times I went into the 70's. Just happy I could stay 68 or lower mostly. My ego is the problem.

13.3 mpg.

That's about as good as when I towed the same toy hauler with my Ecodiesel. Pretty happy with that.

 

[MAS]

Towed our old 30 foot 7500 lb box trailer with a 2004 duramax it averaged around 12 pulling the trailer 65 mph. One trip we blew 2 tires, which wasn’t the end of the world because we had two spares, but with no spares left and all the tires the same age we drove the rest of the trip no more than 55 mph. On those two tanks of fuel we averaged 15.5 mpg. Wind resistance grows with speed and travel trailers are sails.

 

[Crash68]

slow down not only for fuel economy but safety.
Traveling at 60 mph your covering 88 feet every second or just over a football field in 4 seconds. To stop a typical vehicle it can take about 170 feet and add in the reaction time and that makes it close to that football field distance again. This is for a typical vehicle on the road, now factor in the added weight of towing a trailer and those stopping distances can almost double. Similar thing happens as you go faster, the distance to stop starts to exponentially gets longer.

 

[MAS]

Curious how stopping distance changes empty/loaded when trailer has brakes and properly set up weight distribution etc?

 

[Bounty Hunter]

Curious how stopping distance changes empty/loaded when trailer has brakes and properly set up weight distribution etc?

I have yet to see any trailer brakes work efficiently enough to compensate 100% for the added weight when it comes to stopping distance. Have you?

 

[Patroller8D]

I would think the trailer brakes would have to be set pretty aggressively to get to 100%. I can definitely feel the difference if I use the manual slider if I have to stop in a panic.

 

[MAS]

Never measured or had a true panic stop towing a trailer with brakes.

 

[Captainmal]

The braking and tire issue has come up and I have opinions.

Two years ago I got upset with the brakes on the toy hauler. Through E- Trailer I bought four completes sets of hubs and brakes for my trailer. When I took the old ones off I also bought new seals, inside and out. Seems squirting grease in to the hubs pushed grease out the back seals and onto the brake shoe area of the hubs. My braking sucked in the grease. The new brakes are beyond the super for my stopping. Just two days ago I had to do a fast stop on a steep downhill mountain road. Effortless. Good brakes on a trailer are very important. Average or poor brakes significantly increase stopping distance and effort needed to stop.

Just bought new Goodyear tires for my trailer. No blowouts the last 1600 trailer miles. Not even a hint of wear I could see when I put the trailer away yesterday. Sounds silly but those "China Bomb" trailer tires most buy or are on most trailers new sure can be trouble. When they blow, and they do often, they also can take out parts of your trailer fender wells. Think about that when buying trailer tires.

 

[sourdo]

This fellow I know, he lives in Arizona, told me this tale of towing his very heavy RV trailer heading south on I-17. It gets steep. He had NO trailer brakes, his truck brakes overheated, and he had to hit the runaway lane. What an idiot. I don't call him a friend, but an acquaintance from my work days. I don't think I'd share that story too much with anyone.

Why he had no trailer brakes is once he told me he didn't need them.

 

[sourdo]

When I can I like to drive while towing about 60 mph. 58 is optimum for towing. In California, it's 55 mph for any towing vehicle, and I like it. I can look around a little more without fearing for my life, relax and enjoy the trip better.

Above 65 mph, for me, is asking for it when towing. RV tires like to explode when they are hell hot and above 70 mph. I keep a good eye on tire pressures, especially when it is hot. Say I fill my tires to correct pressure in Alaska, where it's cooler, say 60 F. or so. Then head south (we did this trip in 2019, Alaska to Florida and back), somewhere in Texas I checked the RV tires, holy shit! let off some air pressure, it can climb when those tires are 100 F plus, they get warm just from driving, let alone a scorching hot paved road that can be well past 100 F.

I used to have a CDL in my working days, and drove dump trucks with pup trailers for some time back in the 1980,s. For those big rigs, speed will get you into big trouble fast. I have no problems driving at a slower rate.

@Captainmal, you mpg towing is pretty close to my CTD, it's right in there at 13 mpg give or take a couple of tenths.

I've pushed grease past the seals myself with those Dexter EZ-Lube axles. One of my trailer axles has no brakes, just hubs, and you can see some grease on the insides of the wheel sometimes. The trick is before greasing, do it on a nice warm day, put your grease tubes and grease gun in the sun, let them get warm first. Then the grease flows like hot butter, and it works pretty good. I had problems doing this on a cooler days, ie, springtime in Alaska it's not too warm yet. Cold grease is stiff and don't flow good.

And carry lots of spare parts, hub caps(they fall off from time to time), bearings (Timkins only, made in the USA) and seals, spare nuts, locks, etc, everything. I have a large thread die I can chase the threads for the spindle, along with a good file. When you burn up a bearing, it is likely you will spin the bearing race, and your axle will never be right when it takes a file to get the new bearing on. I also carry a set of bearing and seal drivers and a good ballpeen hammer.

Ask me how I know this, Lol.

On the side of the freeway somewhere in North Carolina. We had just gotten on the freeway from a pit stop. I had just walked around the wheels too, I look at them all the time, give them a good wiggle to check for looseness. I'm talkin just a few minutes, when they go they go fast and right now. The grease melts, the cap falls off, grease flings everywhere, and those bearings get red hot and that's all folks. The last two times this has happened, I could smell the hot grease right before I pulled over, even from back there on the RV at 60 mph. I could also hear the bearing noise, this strange grinding sound. If you're paying attention, and are quick about it, you can save the axle if caught soon enough. A trucker tooted his horn at me pointing to the smoking bearing, thanks dude! But I did smell the hot grease right before he hit his horn. RV,s can be a PITA. I always carry two trailer spare tires. Just in case.

 

[ncskibum]

Great that you got a great wide shoulder and parking area to work on. Not always the case on most of the NC and SC interstates.

 

[Cletus]

.

 

[Dieseldragon]

.

Hi: Cletus... There's someone else on this forum with nothing to say!!!
Hi: sourdo... Next time you're down there, say one for me!!!
Dieseldragon North shore of Lake Erie.

 

[TexasJoe]

@sourdo
That's a close call glad you were able to get to a safe spot to repair the hub. I'm always leery of driving in the rural parts of my state and seeing kids (20 somethings) flying down a state hwy at 75+ mph pulling flatbeds with backhoes or other heavy equipment like it's nothing. They have no clue or concern how much damage any object flying off at 70 mph can cause to those around them.

Take comfort in knowing that wheel is something that you won't have to deal with and enjoy the current lower fuel prices and the rest of the trip. Safe travels 🍺

 

[ncskibum]

I noticed a lot of people not caring about speed or improper set up on my trip to and from Iowa this summer. I'd set my cruise at 72 with the bikes hanging off the back of my VW. Not many big rigs passed me but a lot of travel trailers did. Some you could see the backend of the truck was down a few inches and others you could see the trailer just starting to wave. At least they all slowed down in the torrential rain.

 

[TexasJoe]

I noticed a lot of people not caring about speed or improper set up on my trip to and from Iowa this summer. I'd set my cruise at 72 with the bikes hanging off the back of my VW. Not many big rigs passed me but a lot of travel trailers did. Some you could see the backend of the truck was down a few inches and others you could see the trailer just starting to wave. At least they all slowed down in the torrential rain.

Yes sir well said.

 

[sourdo]

These Youtube videos of RV,s and the sway of death should be mandatory watching for anybody who tows. It was before Youtube how I got my education. I had bought this old camper trailer, no WBD, but I had brake and a controller. I was coming down a long grade, and I picked up some speed. I was just about 70 mph when it started, the wag.

A quick tap on the brakes straightened me out. But I now know I was on the verge of destruction.

And every year I see the same scenario. Half ton pickups tied to a long trailer, no WBD, the box is packed with coolers and fishing gear. And the front tires look like any good bounce and they'd come come off the ground.

 

[RansomT]

One of the "musts" I learned over the years with my motorcycle race trailer (typically over loaded with 2 race bikes, track bike, spare engine or two, generator, 6' tall tool box that's crammed full) all packed in a 6' x 12' single axle, is to use quality synthetic axle grease. Years ago, while towing back and forth to Northern Maine (1500 miles one way), I noticed that the typical axle grease would turn into black runny goo. I switched over to Amsoil grease and that ended. Haven't had a single issue since.

 

[TexasJoe]

These Youtube videos of RV,s and the sway of death should be mandatory watching for anybody who tows. It was before Youtube how I got my education. I had bought this old camper trailer, no WBD, but I had brake and a controller. I was coming down a long grade, and I picked up some speed. I was just about 70 mph when it started, the wag.

A quick tap on the brakes straightened me out. But I now know I was on the verge of destruction.

And every year I see the same scenario. Half ton pickups tied to a long trailer, no WBD, the box is packed with coolers and fishing gear. And the front tires look like any good bounce and they'd come come off the ground.

If you notice in the video there is also a 3/4 ton and extended length van its not only the 1/2 tons its the driver and towing setup, the biggest factor is speed as a trigger you have no control over a crosswind or dust devil but you do on the speed, i've seen 1 tons flipped last time I drove to the coast a brodozer with a 12"+ drop hitch was bumper pulling a bayliner cabinboat at 75+ mph flew past me while darting in and out of traffic. Hell we used to pull ranch equipment at 50 mph with half tons never once did we have an issue. I just don't get where the mythical race is about or if it's about making a statement.

 

[sourdo]

One of the "musts" I learned over the years with my motorcycle race trailer (typically over loaded with 2 race bikes, track bike, spare engine or two, generator, 6' tall tool box that's crammed full) all packed in a 6' x 12' single axle, is to use quality synthetic axle grease. Years ago, while towing back and forth to Northern Maine (1500 miles one way), I noticed that the typical axle grease would turn into black runny goo. I switched over to Amsoil grease and that ended. Haven't had a single issue since.

In my experience, black grease means metal bearing wear, and not on every wheel either. Usually the spindle nuts aren't tight enough, the slop is hard on the bearings. When I see that, I'll pull off the wheel for a good look see.

I use the red lithium grease too, good stuff. Chinese make wheel bearings are suspect too. Not all are bad, but some are down right shitty. I just go with Timkins. They aren't much more from Amazon. Those Chinese bearings come piled up in a loose tote. No individual wrapped packaging.

The extra cost is much less than replacing an axle.