Travel Trailer

I am a new owner of a 14 Tundra Crew Max. We rented a camp trailer and had a great time, but the gas mileage was WAY worse than I expected...7-8 mpg. I know Tundra's aren't the best, but this seemed awfully low. The trailer was about 6500-7000 lbs or so, plus a little bit of gear. Anyone own a great family trailer, preferably with bunks, that they have had luck with? Any help much appreciated!
Also, gas light goes on and says I'm on empty...put 20 gallons in. Is this normal? I thought the tank was 26 gal?

 

running the 38 gal tank here and there is a thread on how people seem to have a light go on with plenty left in the tank. i just think that this is Toyota being conservative with their low fuel warnings. you could take a 5 gal gas can with you run it to the absolute low and report back. my guess is with a 6500-7200 lb tt 8 mpg is right on the cusp on normal. low yes but normal maybe. my g.f is buying a 22 tt this coming Friday and will be about 4200 lb. i got tasked with hauling it and excited to see how it does. i will report back

 

Looking forward to your report. We have kids, so need a bigger trailer, probably 26-30 ft with bunks in back so may have to sacrifice some mpg's.

Good call on the 5 gal gas can. I'll try that.

 

One thing I learned growing up. Research the areas you want to camp before buying a camper. You want to make sure you buy one small enough to fit in all those areas. Lots of campgrounds have max sizes on trailers

 

thats a very interesting point... we will be heaidng down to Traverse city Mi for the 4th. that will be a headache

 

My parents didn’t learn from the 28 ft trailer. We couldn’t fit in a lot of max 24ft campgrounds in the sierras. Then they made the error again getting a 40 when tons more places maxed at 37....lol

 

Did you average 7-8 both ways? I just recently got 9 heading to the beach and 12 coming back (not hand calculated).

 

It's been a while since I had this setup, but I seem to remember my '08 5.7 getting between 8-9 mpg when pulling this trailer. I don't remember the weight, but I'm pretty sure it was around what you were pulling.

 

Grey Wolf 26BH here. Love it. Rear bunks. I'm still only around 9mpg loaded, all highway, some hills.

 

I've got the 28BH. Love this thing.

 

Just pulled my 24' bunk house this morning 200 mi., dual axle max weight 7,700 (actual likely around 6,500). Got 8.5 mi/gal. No significant hills, vast majority highway. I would consider my driving "spirited" as I believe tirerack puts it... I could've gone 5-10 mph slower the whole way, but the weight was packed correct/low wind/no sway and my wife was grumpy.

Had a '14 CC before my '18 CC tundra and realized that the 38 gal tank is a must for me. I get twitchy when I see the range go below 100 miles. As @Toyokuhl said though there is a good size reserve. Tonight I had a range of 65 miles (which I rarely let happen) when I pulled into gas station. It only let me put in 26ish gallons in my 38 gallon tank. Shows you what I had left in a nut shell.

I'm not suggesting you run out of gas, but with my '14 if I was making a long trip towing I packed a gas can. This is my 4th time out this year with TT, and it's glorious. My family hasn't looked back yet... Love to hear how it turns out for you - lots of good info from the guys and gals on this site.

 

Lots of variables.

Wind, terrain, trailer profile etc...

Towing a ~4500-5000 lb load (payload and trailer combined) I got about 11-12mpg heading from Riverside, over the mountain to Tucson last week.

I did a run from Tucson to Yuma this winter with the Tacoma and got 15mph!! Helluva tailwind! Heading back a few days later 8mph into headwind!

I keep it at 65mph max in 4th. No OD!

Smaller Airstream and a tonneau cover may contribute to aerodynamics...

LOVE towing with the Tundra!

GM

 

Is there a thread on pop up campers? I could not find anything in that regards. TIA.

 

We have a 5,500 lbs. dry weight 5th wheel and we get 9.5mpg on level roads running 60mph and 8mpg going 75mph. Pulling up steep grades, headwinds, and excessive speed can really cut into your mpg.

 

I tow a 6000lb Trailer with about 1000 lbs gear/water. I get anywhere from 8 to 11 mpg. So many factors but a large one is wind drag. The faster you cruise, the worse the mileage gets due to increased wind drag. Go max 65 and take you’re time getting to speed.

 

I have right about 11,000 miles on my 7500lb travel trailer (keep a log on phone) 8-9 mpg is what I get but who cares truck is working its ass off while you get to chill in the a/c. Plus tundra tows like a beast

 

Its not the weight as much as the air resistance, my travel trailer is only 21ft and weighs 2800lbs dry but I can only squeak out 10.3mpg, last trip on the way home I got 11.3 somehow. Its just the nature of the beast when towing mpg is going to suffer.

 

Here's mine for example, much smaller then the others posted above and I'm not getting much better or the same mpg. The small tank is a killer, my range is terrible now that we got a travel trailer.

 

Not a farmer but tilled ground for food plots. 2 miles an hour and a disk in the ground makes that fuel mileage plummet but you have dirt flying. You shoud see the mpg when I bump it up to 2.5 mph lol

 

Yes the tundra sucks on gas. And it sucks even worse when towing. 8 to 9 mpg towing a 6000lb trailer sounds about right from everything I've seen/read. I have 1" larger tires and towed a 3500lb 21ft trailer got about 9mpg.... so it is what it is.

 

I was around 10mpg pulling my 5000lbs dry weight TT under 65mph.

 

Im headed to NY from OH tomorrow for our first trip in our new 22' travel trailer. Its dry weight is 4300 lbs with a gvwr of 7500 lbs. Trip is just over 250 miles with mostly level roads. Ill let you know what kind of gas mileage is when I get there. Our camper is a forest river cherokee greywolf 22MKSE. It has a queen bed at the front and 2 full size bunk beds in the back next to the bathroom.
http://www.forestriverinc.com/rvs/travel-trailers/grey-wolf/22MKSE/3718

 

I just towed our 19ft trailer (3500lbs) through central Alberta to the Montana Border and averaged 28L/100km (8.7MPG). I was expecting better when I upgraded from my 2006 Tacoma but considering we don’t tow too often it doesn’t bother me.

 

I tow a Winnebago 1700BH and get ~8mpg. At one point on our trip last week to Yellowstone, the "Miles Until Empty" read 15 when we rolled into the station. The smaller tank size kills.

That being said, the "Miles Until Empty" has never been able to adapt to when I'm towing. It will always read ~297 miles when full, then it'll fall extremely fast. It's probably closer to 180 or 190 total until empty while towing.

 

Kinda interesting that people are getting the same mpg with a trailer with stock and bigger tires.

These 5.7’s are extremely load sensitive

 

Yeah its almost like you get to about 8mpg and that's the bottom of the barrel -- it wont get much worse from there no matter the load?

 

I average 9.7mpg at 65-70mph going from 4,800 ft to 1,550 ft and then back up to 5,300 ft (S AZ to Prescott, AZ and return). Travel trailer weighs about 6,600 loaded. Worst mpg ever was in W Texas hill country on I-10 with very strong head-winds...got 4.8mpg.

 

Wow, love this forum! Thank you all for the responses. Taking a different trailer next weekend, about 2000lbs lighter. Doubt I'll see much of a difference, but it'll sure be fun to find out!