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Thoughts on Towing a Uhaul 5'x8' trailer 1000 miles


onecrazyfoo4u

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Just took a trip back home from Idaho to California driving the DJ. Just recently installed the Curt class III hitch and wiring kit so this was my first time towing anything. The trailer itself was 900lb dry. I put a 800lb piano in it and a couple hundred other pounds...total was probably right at 2000lb. I towed it all 1000 miles going about 70mph average. Averaged about 19mpg the whole way. Was hoping for better considering I get 28mpg on this same trip with about 600lb of people and cargo in the DJ. Does 19mpg seem reasonable to 100% highway driving at 70mph pulling 2000lbs?

My impressions were it was a much bumpier ride than I had expected. Not sure if it was due to the crappy uhaul trailer, or if it's because I have a DJ crew without the towing package. I could easily feel every bump in the road and feel the hinging movement of the trailer hookup. I was getting bumped around pretty good. Is that what you should expect when towing in the DJ?

Overall I was hoping for better mileage and a better ride. But at least it got the job done and got the bohemith of a piano to my home! Do you all experience similar results when towing? I was wanted to get a little pop up camper trailer. But I'm re-considering after this experience. Unless a popup trailer gets better mileage and isn't as bumpy of a ride.

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For the mileage you also have to consider the drag that is created by the trailer. I'm assuming it was a closed trailer so there is a lot of surface area that is dragging through the air. Your issue with bouncing was probably due to too much tongue weight. Roughly 10% of the weight you tow should push down on the tongue. Too much tongue weight and you bounce, too little and the trailer sways... Either one of those is bad.

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Yeah, it could have been overloaded on the tongue weight. They only way to properly secure the piano (on rolling wheels) was to put probably 70% of the weight up front, or 500lbs or so I'm guessing. I didn't have any other option with that giant piano and being able to secure it properly. Hopefully I didn't hurt anything on the DJ!

It was the big enclosed trailer. Maybe a little popup camper with a lower profile would get better mileage then...and the weight would be distributed properly.

Edited by onecrazyfoo4u
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Yeah, it could have been overloaded on the tongue weight. They only way to properly secure the piano (on rolling wheels) was to put probably 70% of the weight up front, or 500lbs or so I'm guessing. I didn't have any other option with that giant piano and being able to secure it properly. Hopefully I didn't hurt anything on the DJ!

It was the big enclosed trailer. Maybe a little popup camper with a lower profile would get better mileage then...and the weight would be distributed properly.

Sounds like that's all it was... When I used to tow a 30' camper I had weight distributing bars on my hitch that would transfer some of the tongue weight over the front axles. It was a night and day difference over just having it hitched to the truck without them.

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I have a small pop-up camper that I have towed with my '99 300M and with the Journey. I could easily feel the camper when towing it with the 300M. The Journey handled it far better. The '99 300M has about 138,000 miles on the original shocks and has a lot more wallow in it under load as a result. I thought the ride and handling with the camper in tow was quite stable and non-intrusive. Plus, the extra two ratios in the tranny and extra HP and torque made the car much more responsive with the camper in tow than the M did. Our camper weighs 1200 lb dry. With my family and all our gear in the car we were easily over 2000 lb. I did not measure fuel economy. I would expect, as Lobitz68 pointed out, that your mileage will improve with a pop-up as the aerodynamic drag will decrease. Our Journey is taller than the camper and as such it breaks the wind over the top of it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Op so did it downshift every 2 minutes? Mine on the interstate seems to downshift when it even sees a incline coming! I couldn't even imagine what it's like with more weight behind it. Apparently the 3.6 with its high (Highway milage) gearing just doesn't have enough low end torque to support the weight. My 2005 Xterra with 33" tires had 280ftlb torque and that thing could keep gear and speed towing my quad and loaded down trailer & loaded back end up large Hills @ 75 mph. Anyone else notice theirs doing this?

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It wasn't that often, but when driving into a headwind or up slight inclines it would downshift all the time. I just used the manual shift to avoid it most of the time and to get better mileage. It was annoying how often it would downshift when not necessarily needed.

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  • 2 months later...

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