Camping this weekend with the 6.4

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Bollenball

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I suspect just aerodynamics. When I pull my TT, the front wall is considerably farther behind the back wall of my truck and I think the air might be flowing straight back over the roof and beginnig to drop down the bed and then it hits the brick wall and has to flow in all 4 directions again to get around it. A 5w is sitting much closer to the rear window so the wind never makes it back down to the bed, it's just a constant stream starting from over the hood, over the cab roof, and then over the 5w.

There is a youtuber I follow, slim potatoehead, who just has a tiny jeep and little boxy fiberglass trailer. He always has interesting experiments and tests, and he mounted a snowboad to his roof rack as an air deflector and I believe he said he got significant improvements, like going from 12 mpg to 16 mpg in one leg of his trip etc.
I believe you nailed it
 
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Firebird

Firebird

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Right at 9000-9500 loaded, pending gear.
That's not bad at all, I need to look at something like that, currently have a bumper pull. What brand and model is your camper, Grand Design?
 
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NH RAM

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My truck does at least as well as it did towing my 5w as it did towing my travel trailer for fuel economy- I would even say .5mpg better and that's after adding larger tires when I got the 5w that the speedo hasn't been corrected for. I got 9.2 and 9.3 per the evic on my last trip towing the 5w to Maine and back. With my tt I would usually fall just under 9, around 8.8-8.9. My trailer was gvwr of 7500# and my 5w is gvwr of 11,000. I hated towing the travel trailer- the 5w is far more relaxing to tow.
 

NH RAM

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Towed down to Lazy Days dealership and resort in Tampa this weekend, and the 6.4 did well. Driving down, I got 8.9 mpg, at 65 to 67 mph. The truck is stable, and the rpm's weren't that bad, as Florida is flat. Never saw trans temps above 170°, and it was a warm weekend. The 6.4 drives and responds very well, and the 8 speed continues to amaze me. Other than fuel economy not being that high, and the fuel tank being too small, this is a great tow vehicle!
View attachment 248415
Comparatively, the economy of these trucks isn't that bad while towing for a gas engine. A diesel may get a couple to a few more mpg's, but the smaller gas tank is the PITA. I've considered adding a 15gal aux tank just in case.
 

Bollenball

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Comparatively, the economy of these trucks isn't that bad while towing for a gas engine. A diesel may get a couple to a few more mpg's, but the smaller gas tank is the PITA. I've considered adding a 15gal aux tank just in case.
That was my biggest complaint.. the small gas tank was not fun towing you and down CO mountains. Not to worry anymore, I swapped that 6.4 for a 6.7 HO with a 50 gallon :)

Absolutely. Love. It.
 

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Bigdaddy

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Towed down to Lazy Days dealership and resort in Tampa this weekend, and the 6.4 did well. Driving down, I got 8.9 mpg, at 65 to 67 mph. The truck is stable, and the rpm's weren't that bad, as Florida is flat. Never saw trans temps above 170°, and it was a warm weekend. The 6.4 drives and responds very well, and the 8 speed continues to amaze me. Other than fuel economy not being that high, and the fuel tank being too small, this is a great tow vehicle!
View attachment 248415
Very nice setup it look like a nice campground.
 

barr0208

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I suspect just aerodynamics. When I pull my TT, the front wall is considerably farther behind the back wall of my truck and I think the air might be flowing straight back over the roof and beginnig to drop down the bed and then it hits the brick wall and has to flow in all 4 directions again to get around it. A 5w is sitting much closer to the rear window so the wind never makes it back down to the bed, it's just a constant stream starting from over the hood, over the cab roof, and then over the 5w.

There is a youtuber I follow, slim potatoehead, who just has a tiny jeep and little boxy fiberglass trailer. He always has interesting experiments and tests, and he mounted a snowboad to his roof rack as an air deflector and I believe he said he got significant improvements, like going from 12 mpg to 16 mpg in one leg of his trip etc.
yes i watched that also and he is now down east and bought a cabin have you watched his new videos?
 

ramffml

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yes i watched that also and he is now down east and bought a cabin have you watched his new videos?

Yep, subscribed a while ago, I love pretty much all his videos. The trailer experiments, the camping views, and now the cabin build. I admire his retired lifestyle, but not sure I could do it all alone like that. I would greatly prefer some company! I don't know if he ever mentioned why he's by himself, other than vague references about going where he wants when he wants, but pretty sure he was married at some point as he has a daughter.

He's probably going to have quite the place out there when he's done.
 

barr0208

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Yep, subscribed a while ago, I love pretty much all his videos. The trailer experiments, the camping views, and now the cabin build. I admire his retired lifestyle, but not sure I could do it all alone like that. I would greatly prefer some company! I don't know if he ever mentioned why he's by himself, other than vague references about going where he wants when he wants, but pretty sure he was married at some point as he has a daughter.

He's probably going to have quite the place out there when he's done.
yeah i get the impression ,he is a loaner. He mentioned a while ago about his trip to a big city i got the impression that was about all he could take.
 

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