First towing experience with my R1T. Uhaul 5X8 and camper shell installed.

[jjswan33]

So plenty of towing reports out there, today I had the opportunity to pick up a sectional and didn't want to take three trips so I rented a 5X8 U-Haul trailer.

The novel part of my case is that the 5X8 trailer almost perfectly fits within the slip stream of my truck with the camper on it. The width is almost identical to my camper and it is also shorter.

Overall very little hit on my efficiency in my short test. Caveats I didn't spend a ton of time driving greater than 60mph, mostly ~50mph, trailer was only loaded for half of the loop and some rain wind during the last 15 miles or so. Overall the result is very minimal loss of efficiency. My recent history I am averaging about 1.7mpk and with the trailer I averaged 1.6mpk.

My estimate is with more time on the highway it's at most a 10% hit on my efficiency.

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[moosetags]

Great report. Thank you for taking the time to share this information with us.

Brian

 

[COdogman]

That sectional is already covered in Kooper fur isn’t it?

 

[jjswan33]

That sectional is already covered in Kooper fur isn’t it?

He is working on it.

 

[R1TruKaLa]

He is working on it.

????‍??

 

[KootenayEV]

So plenty of towing reports out there, today I had the opportunity to pick up a sectional and didn't want to take three trips so I rented a 5X8 U-Haul trailer.

The novel part of my case is that the 5X8 trailer almost perfectly fits within the slip stream of my truck with the camper on it. The width is almost identical to my camper and it is also shorter.

Overall very little hit on my efficiency in my short test. Caveats I didn't spend a ton of time driving greater than 60mph, mostly ~50mph, trailer was only loaded for half of the loop and some rain wind during the last 15 miles or so. Overall the result is very minimal loss of efficiency. My recent history I am averaging about 1.7mpk and with the trailer I averaged 1.6mpk.

My estimate is with more time on the highway it's at most a 10% hit on my efficiency.

I'm towing a 4'x8' behind my R1T with tonneau in a few weeks about 1000 miles - I'll be very interested to track my efficiency and see how it compares to a 1000 mile trip I just got back from this weekend that is largely the same route with my naked truck (only 25% in Conserve, rest was AP on Standard).

 

[jjswan33]

I'm towing a 4'x8' behind my R1T with tonneau in a few weeks about 1000 miles - I'll be very interested to track my efficiency and see how it compares to a 1000 mile trip I just got back from this weekend that is largely the same route with my naked truck (only 25% in Conserve, rest was AP on Standard).

Nice.. interested to hear how it goes. I guess you will see a larger efficiency drop than I did but I suspect you will end up seeing a better efficiency than I did overall.

 

[KootenayEV]

Nice.. interested to hear how it goes. I guess you will see a larger efficiency drop than I did but I suspect you will end up seeing a better efficiency than I did overall.

I think so too - I'll report back. Part of the reason I went with the 4x8 instead of 5x9 was an effort to get it more within the slipstream (about a 1' smaller in width/height).

The other thing I tow is a 20' Airstream which is 8' wide and 9.5' tall. I've been considering what kind of 'topper' might help to deflect air around the trailer as a unit, yet still allow us to put our 4 bikes in the bed on trips. I wonder how much of a difference it would make.

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