Those who tow a TT - will gas prices influence your travels?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

stevenP

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Posts
641
Reaction score
621
Location
northern Indiana
Ram Year
2022 2500 Longhorn
Engine
6.7L Cummins
It definitely will stop me from taking any longer trips. Going to stay closer to home. Filled up the truck the other day with diesel...$169.00.
 

TinMan1984

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2022
Posts
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Forney, TX
Ram Year
2016
Engine
5.7L Hemi
I have a 37' GD TT. Was looking for RAM 2500 /3500 to tow it. Now just living in it, and waiting. Looking for both gas and truck prices to come down a bit.
 
OP
OP
Z

Zoe Saldana

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Posts
914
Reaction score
764
Location
california
Ram Year
2016
Engine
6.4l
Right now I'm boondocking in So. Colorado - gas under $5.00.

So, with boondocking and solar; I'm saving money.

A week in a RV park is about $300 or 60 gallons of gas or 600 miles.
 

Oyou812

Junior Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2021
Posts
26
Reaction score
24
Location
Texas
Ram Year
2022
Engine
6.7L I6 Cummins HO Turbo Diesel
We depart for Northern Montana later this week. We will also stopping at the Jackson Hole for a week on the way back. Reservations were made late last year. I bought three 5 gallon gas cans yesterday and I am filling them up with diesel to be safe just in case one of the gas stations I have mapped out to stop at are out of the fuel I need. Filling up the 50 gallon tank isn't much fun, but the memories make on these trips are worth it. Plus, it is starting to get hot here in North Texas, which I am getting more less tolerant of as the years go on.

We have a couple of more trips planned to get out of the heat this summer as well. Then in the fall we are traveling to Maine and Vermont. I am really looking forward to seeing the fall colors up there.

Texas weather is great about 8 to 9 months out of the year. Starting in Mid June through September I am out of here as much as possible. Life it too short to be stuck inside because of the high humidity and heat. LOL
 

fkingpsuce

Junior Member
Joined
May 13, 2022
Posts
26
Reaction score
17
Location
MD
Ram Year
2022
Engine
6.4
We have no plans to travel less. In fact, this being only our 2nd season, we plan to travel more. Especially once the new 3500 shows up.
 

mountainlion

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2021
Posts
36
Reaction score
21
Location
Anacortes
Ram Year
2022
Engine
6.7l I6
Will not change my holidays plans because of increasing fuel. Fuel is not a significant cost in the ownership of truck and travel trailer.
 

star_deceiver

Senior Member
Joined
May 18, 2019
Posts
559
Reaction score
948
Location
Airdrie, Alberta
Ram Year
2021
Engine
3.6 Pentastar
Fuel is not a significant cost in the ownership of truck and travel trailer.
Really? I beg to disagree.

My previous 6.4 Hemi’s 124000km lifetime fuel cost.

40A23FFD-06E7-4ACD-9470-EEF47EF6ED94.png

My previous 6.7 Cummins 168000km lifetime fuel cost.

FCC9CDB5-67FF-441F-91DE-0EA203FCE2D2.png

And those prices are at $1.18/L and $1.02/L.

Gas and Diesel prices today are double that!

I only towed 10-15% of the time. I may have money but I’m nowhere near rich. Those are significant costs.
 

62Blazer

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Posts
1,069
Reaction score
1,258
Location
Midwest
Ram Year
2016
Engine
6.4
Really? I beg to disagree.

My previous 6.4 Hemi’s 124000km lifetime fuel cost.

View attachment 495540

My previous 6.7 Cummins 168000km lifetime fuel cost.

View attachment 495541

And those prices are at $1.18/L and $1.02/L.

Gas and Diesel prices today are double that!

I only towed 10-15% of the time. I may have money but I’m nowhere near rich. Those are significant costs.
I think the comment is mainly geared towards the people who spend $50k on a truck to pull their $80k toyhauler that has a $30k SxS in it, then complain about the extra $150 in gas it costs this summer versus last for their weekend vacation.

However the biggest thing about the above lifetime fuel costs is that is not really the cost for the actual camping/towing part which is the basis of the original post. You say right in the post that only 10-15% of that is towing, so the lifetime cost for fuel while actually towing is only in the $2,500 range. Not sure how long a "lifetime" is for those vehicles, but even if it only took 3 years for that type of mileage that is less than $1k per year in fuel to tow a camper. Heck, if you financed all that stuff you would be paying more each month on loan payments than you would for a full year of the "extra" fuel required for camping trips. Also, if somebody didn't need a HD truck to pull a camper they could drive something that got a lot better fuel economy that other 85-90% of the time so the lifetime fuel costs go down quite a bit.

I completely agree that gas prices are crazy high and complain about them all the time, and people have the right to do whatever they want with their money. Guess it's just what your priorities are in life
 

star_deceiver

Senior Member
Joined
May 18, 2019
Posts
559
Reaction score
948
Location
Airdrie, Alberta
Ram Year
2021
Engine
3.6 Pentastar
Still, as a person who owns 1 do all vehicle, commuting, towing, dump runs, grocery getting, Starbucks drive through, ect. If towing a travel trailer wasn’t something I did, or enjoyed, I would have never bought a truck.

But I do enjoy traveling around, camping comfortably. I’m in the middle of a 2000km round trip right now. This will cost me $12-1300 in gas alone. 2 years ago it would have been a $500 trip, even with the gas guzzler 1 ton.

This is around $6.75/gal gas and $7.36/gal diesel $USD after exchange. Affording this is one thing, but I will never call this the new normal. This is Bull$hit!image.jpg
 

turkeybird56

Military Vet 1976-1996 Retired US Army
Military
Joined
Aug 2, 2018
Posts
18,760
Reaction score
42,962
Location
Central Texas
Ram Year
2019 Bighorn, 4 X 4, 3.21 rear, Bright Flame Red Pearl Coat, Mopar tonneau cover,Westin Bed rug
Engine
Hemi 5.7
So far not changing any trip plans and headed in a couple days. :cool:
Had no trip plans at all, just driving to town and back for necessary stuff. Went to town 4 times to get hay towing my stock trailer, which equals with hay 6,200 - 7,000 lbs, and back to house. Averaged right around 12.2 on tow haul. But that is just a trip to town, then back out to country to hacienda.

ADDED: I also try and use my MC as much as possible for little trips, but have to be done prior to 1100, as then too hot, especially on a 6 cylinder bike.



IMG_0418.jpgIMG_1188.JPG
 

wgreggking

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Posts
681
Reaction score
677
Location
rural Arizona
Ram Year
2017 4x4 offroad
Engine
6.4
Just remind myself that flying, car rental and nice hotels cost WAY more. But I an driving my most efficient vehicle for in town trips. 96 , 4.6L Mustang GT convertible way better than the 6.4. Fun too on the switchbacks on Yarnell Hill
 

CamperMike

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2019
Posts
418
Reaction score
460
Location
Peoria, IL
Ram Year
2018
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Just remind myself that flying, car rental and nice hotels cost WAY more. But I an driving my most efficient vehicle for in town trips. 96 , 4.6L Mustang GT convertible way better than the 6.4. Fun too on the switchbacks on Yarnell Hill
I do similar... my truck is only getting used when I need a truck. The rest of the time I take my 05 mustang GT. More fun anyway.
As for towing our rv.. we're taking our trips as planned. I did slow down a bit to conserve gas but that's about it.
 
OP
OP
Z

Zoe Saldana

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Posts
914
Reaction score
764
Location
california
Ram Year
2016
Engine
6.4l
In Australia right now 98 RON (not the same rating as US as US fuel is rated in MON or AKI I think, so probably 93-94 there) is $2.30 a litre (probably $US1.70 a litre). E10 (10% Ethanol, 94 RON) is about $2.05 per litre. There is 4.4 litres in an imperial Gallon but I think there is only 3.785 litres in a US Gallon for some odd reason! Certainly made it hard to compare MPG back in the days when Australia used Imperial measurements (changed to metric in the early 70's)!

I'd still rather buy petrol (in Australia not called Gas as Gas is LPG here) than put up with diesel (which is currently also about $2.10 a litre). I know diesels are more economical but most of the diesel vehicles here have these tiny little sub 3.0L diesels in them with massive turbo boost to get a decent torque peak, but in reality they just get less reliable, and as soon as you put a trailer on the back they are so slow it isn't funny. To get a decent diesel vehicle in Australia I'd have to buy a Ram 2500 or a Silverado 2500 and they are about twice the price of the 2021 1500 Classic I just bought, not to mention the extra size means they wouldn't fit in my shed. We did have the 3.0L V6 diesel available for a short time in the 4th Gen Laramie 1500 but they hardly sold any as the engine is too small for that size vehicle plus the towing capacity was reduced by 1000kg. They dropped it after a short while.

The cost of fuel will be hurting some though. Lots of people bought caravans during the pandemic so they could travel Australia - the country is almost as big as the USA or Canada but only has about 27 million population so lots of places to explore. In reality is probably has more to explore all year round as none of it ever gets covered in snow and ice other than a few mountains. But with fuel prices up 50% I reckon it will mean a lot of caravans and tow vehicles might hit the market over the next 6 months.

I've been to about 25 countries in my life. I've been to Australia two times. It is one of the most boring places I've been to in my life!

It is the UK without the history or charm.


It is like the USA without the guns, sex, drugs, rock & roll, food, etc.
 

HK1837

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2021
Posts
193
Reaction score
231
Location
Australia
Ram Year
2021
Engine
5.7
I've been to about 25 countries in my life. I've been to Australia two times. It is one of the most boring places I've been to in my life!

It is the UK without the history or charm.


It is like the USA without the guns, sex, drugs, rock & roll, food, etc.
Well good on you! Thank you for that wonderful piece of useless and irrelevant information.
 

SeaRefractor

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Posts
30
Reaction score
17
Location
Normandy Park, WA
Ram Year
2016
Engine
Hemi 5.7
Just finished a trip. While gas prices sucked, it certainly didn't stop me and my family. We don't do road trips because they are inexpensive, it's the journey, destination and all the side adventures together.
 
Top