kltk1
Senior Member
I see this question asked occasionally about towing with the 3.6 Pentastar and thought I'd take a moment to tell my first experience with towing a travel trailer with my 2016 1500 Pentastar 3.6 QC, 3.55, 4x4 Big Horn.
Unexpectedly, after a fantastic road trip with our grandkids this summer AND after purchasing my truck last December, we found ourselves in search of a travel trailer. If a TT was anywhere in sight when I bought the truck, it most certainly would have been a Hemi or ED. As a motorcyclist, our original plan was to get a small toy hauler to accommodate traveling with the motorcycle and our grandkids. As I'm a bit OCD I wanted to stay well within the 12,800lb GCWR limit of my truck, preferably to the tune of 15-20%. This proved to be difficult in a toy hauler in a size we were comfortable with (Jayco Octane 222 was high on the list at 5300lbs) and in the end, settled on a Flagstaff Micro Lite 23LB at 3800lbs. We stopped at a Flying J to weigh the setup so we'd know what we were working with. As loaded our total weight came in at 9720lbs. The truck weighs 5860, trailer weighs 3860. We went with the lighter trailer to accommodate towing the trailer with a motorcycle in the bed on occasion as well as traveling with the grandkids which will only add weight. The trailer weight will go up over time as we add contents, but we don't expect this to be more than a few hundred pounds.
We took delivery of the trailer this weekend (Used 2014) and towed it 860 miles home to NJ from Lebanon, TN. After this trip, I think we made the right decision to keep it light. The truck pulled the trailer great, no issues whatsoever and feel very confident we're not going to have any issues pulling this trailer anywhere. Traveling I-40 between Lebanon, TN, and Knoxville there are several steep mountain passes providing a really good indication of the trucks capability. I'm very happy to report, we had no trouble maintaining 65mph on every mountain pass. There were occasions where the trans shifted down allowing the engine to run up to 5000rpm to maintain speed, but that was the exception and not the rule and were always able to maintain 65mph. Transmission temps never went above 207 degrees with the vast majority of the time spent below 200. Oil temps never went over 228, Coolant temps never over 217. I'm pretty happy with those numbers. Ambient temp was cool at 48-57 degrees.
As I was testing both the capability of the truck and for fuel mileage, I used cruise control in hopes of keeping throttle application as consistent as possible to track fuel mileage at 55, 60 and 65mph across three tanks of fuel and was surprised to find fuel mileage between the three were remarkably close. Starting with 65mph I got 9.5MPG from the first tank. The second tank was at 60mph and only saw MPG jump up to 10.1. The last tank at 55mph, where we filled up in Winchester, Va., came away at 12.2. However, from here north on I-81 to I-78 it flattens out significantly compared to I-40 and I-81 through East Tennessee and Virginia and I think were I to run the high mountain passes at 55, Fuel mileage probably would have dropped into the 11's. That's pretty close and we're likely to settle in on 60mph going forward.
In the end, we're happy with our decision and hopes this helps others researching the Pentastar.
Unexpectedly, after a fantastic road trip with our grandkids this summer AND after purchasing my truck last December, we found ourselves in search of a travel trailer. If a TT was anywhere in sight when I bought the truck, it most certainly would have been a Hemi or ED. As a motorcyclist, our original plan was to get a small toy hauler to accommodate traveling with the motorcycle and our grandkids. As I'm a bit OCD I wanted to stay well within the 12,800lb GCWR limit of my truck, preferably to the tune of 15-20%. This proved to be difficult in a toy hauler in a size we were comfortable with (Jayco Octane 222 was high on the list at 5300lbs) and in the end, settled on a Flagstaff Micro Lite 23LB at 3800lbs. We stopped at a Flying J to weigh the setup so we'd know what we were working with. As loaded our total weight came in at 9720lbs. The truck weighs 5860, trailer weighs 3860. We went with the lighter trailer to accommodate towing the trailer with a motorcycle in the bed on occasion as well as traveling with the grandkids which will only add weight. The trailer weight will go up over time as we add contents, but we don't expect this to be more than a few hundred pounds.
We took delivery of the trailer this weekend (Used 2014) and towed it 860 miles home to NJ from Lebanon, TN. After this trip, I think we made the right decision to keep it light. The truck pulled the trailer great, no issues whatsoever and feel very confident we're not going to have any issues pulling this trailer anywhere. Traveling I-40 between Lebanon, TN, and Knoxville there are several steep mountain passes providing a really good indication of the trucks capability. I'm very happy to report, we had no trouble maintaining 65mph on every mountain pass. There were occasions where the trans shifted down allowing the engine to run up to 5000rpm to maintain speed, but that was the exception and not the rule and were always able to maintain 65mph. Transmission temps never went above 207 degrees with the vast majority of the time spent below 200. Oil temps never went over 228, Coolant temps never over 217. I'm pretty happy with those numbers. Ambient temp was cool at 48-57 degrees.
As I was testing both the capability of the truck and for fuel mileage, I used cruise control in hopes of keeping throttle application as consistent as possible to track fuel mileage at 55, 60 and 65mph across three tanks of fuel and was surprised to find fuel mileage between the three were remarkably close. Starting with 65mph I got 9.5MPG from the first tank. The second tank was at 60mph and only saw MPG jump up to 10.1. The last tank at 55mph, where we filled up in Winchester, Va., came away at 12.2. However, from here north on I-81 to I-78 it flattens out significantly compared to I-40 and I-81 through East Tennessee and Virginia and I think were I to run the high mountain passes at 55, Fuel mileage probably would have dropped into the 11's. That's pretty close and we're likely to settle in on 60mph going forward.
In the end, we're happy with our decision and hopes this helps others researching the Pentastar.
