The Nomadic Life

[PaMtbRider]

I would expect about a 30-40% efficiency hit pulling this trailer, depending on speed, elevation change and ambient conditions.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a 50% hit or higher. I have watched several Youtube videos of towing tests with Ford Lightning and Rivian and range was decreased dramatically. This test with a Ford Lightning the range was 1/3 of not towing.



The issue than becomes finding a charger you can access with trailer attached or dropping the trailer while the car is being charged. I don't really know much about the model Y but I would guess it's range is greatly enhanced by it's aerodynamics. Put a parachute behind it, even a small teardrop shaped one, and it is going to hurt.

[Saab2000]

I wouldn't be surprised to see a 50% hit or higher. I have watched several Youtube videos of towing tests with Ford Lightning and Rivian and range was decreased dramatically. This test with a Ford Lightning the range was 1/3 of not towing.



The issue than becomes finding a charger you can access with trailer attached or dropping the trailer while the car is being charged. I don't really know much about the model Y but I would guess it's range is greatly enhanced by it's aerodynamics. Put a parachute behind it, even a small teardrop shaped one, and it is going to hurt.

I’ve seen those videos as well. Those trailer are monsters. I emailed Vistabule about this exact thing and they sent me a newsletter that gets pushed out to the community. One owner drove their trailer behind a Model S and experienced anywhere from a 20% to 50% penalty, depending mostly on speed. I’m not a hyper miler when I drive so I’d expect a solid penalty but I don’t think it would be as bad as the TFL folks experienced with their testing. BTW, I love their channel and all the sub channels they have.

[Too Tall]

Well JIm, after you get that rascal and start wandering please come on down to Virginia and I'll set you up as a guest at our campground.

[bigbill]

We have a 33' trailer because it is our summer home. I am 6'1" and my wife is 6'3". We like the room. That said, yesterday was a good reminder of the hassle of a large trailer. Yesterday, I pulled it from Worland, Wyoming, to Grand Junction, Colorado. I'm at a KOA because they had pull-through spots long enough for the trailer and my four-door F-250. Yesterday was a good day with terrific weather that was cool enough to make the truck run well at 12 mpg. Just under 10K pounds, I'm good with that. Today, I will get home after nine hours on the road, but I get an hour back when I leave the Navajo Reservation. Monument Valley always impresses me.

[bigbill]

Got home yesterday in the late afternoon. I'm happy to say I backed the trailer into the sideyard in one try. I drove ten hours and 600 miles with two fuel stops. Monument Valley was rainy, with several construction sections with one lane and a pilot truck. Forrest Gump Point was packed with tourists standing on the centerline to take selfies. The truck did great with a 12 mpg for the trip. I paid $4.40 to $5.19 for diesel. I have a list of things to fix on the trailer, but it will wait a few weeks until the weather cools down.

[ides1056]

I've been working in Oregon for three months. I checked the national forecast for the drive home and decided to fly. Leave the van parked here in a barn and return in four months, head South to visit friends and family in CA and then home on 20.

Plans are made to be changed.

[Too Tall]

I've been working in Oregon for three months. I checked the national forecast for the drive home and decided to fly. Leave the van parked here in a barn and return in four months, head South to visit friends and family in CA and then home on 20.

Plans are made to be changed.

Being reasonable is a good option.

Love hearing about your adventure.

[ides1056]

The forecast is awful and there have been relatively benign weather events- eg Vermont and Mexico- that became disasters, which I think is the new normal we must adjust to when plotting a course. So freezing temperatures down into Texas in the next ten days is the best case scenario. No sense in pressing my luck, even a little.

[bigbill]

Not sure if this needed a separate thread. We are in a cold snap in NW Arizona with nighttime lows in the upper teens. Before the first freeze, I drained the freshwater tank. The black and grey were already empty. I opened the drain valves for the water heater and turned on the outdoor shower to drain the remaining water. As a precaution, I plan on running the fake fireplace (electric heater) for the next week until the nighttime lows stay above freezing. For the most part, having the trailer sitting in the sun during the day keeps it warm, but consecutive cloudy days with cold temps causing concern.

Before we use the trailer, the next trip is mid-March, I'll hook up a hose to fill the system, venting it via the outside shower (most remote from the pump) before I run the pump. I typically travel with freshwater at 1/3. We will be in a Navy MWR RV park in San Diego so I won't need the pump but I still want the system ready to go.

[Too Tall]

Bill, do you use air to blow out the lines? I'm a convert.

[bigbill]

I just bought a compressor; I'll look at the drawings this weekend and figure out places to ensure I get everything.

[Clyde]

I found a Gizmo that screws into the water tank fill that has a Schraeder valve fitting. Bought a Wally World pump, open the faucets and slowly pump out the remaining water.

[Too Tall]

I found a Gizmo that screws into the water tank fill that has a Schraeder valve fitting. Bought a Wally World pump, open the faucets and slowly pump out the remaining water.

Ding ding, that's it. I gets real simple. Set your compressor for 40psi than start with all valves closed and open a valve which is furthest from the compressor inlet. This is exactly what the Airstream yahoos at the factory do and I seems to serve them well. My take on this is to blow out all the water I can than I use one gal. of the pink stuff in the fresh water lines. Remember to bypass the water heater and geeze don't put pink stuff in the fresh water tank. I finish with a splash of pink stuff in traps and make VERY sure that the commode water valve is protected.

Knock on wooden head never had a problem doing the belt and suspenders approach.

FWIIW I have heard that some folks buy a gallon of rot gut vodka because it's less expensive than RV antifreeze!

[froze]

I’ve seen those videos as well. Those trailer are monsters. I emailed Vistabule about this exact thing and they sent me a newsletter that gets pushed out to the community. One owner drove their trailer behind a Model S and experienced anywhere from a 20% to 50% penalty, depending mostly on speed. I’m not a hyper miler when I drive so I’d expect a solid penalty but I don’t think it would be as bad as the TFL folks experienced with their testing. BTW, I love their channel and all the sub channels they have.

There is no way in hell would I drive a car with no hands, not alone a truck with a trailer, did any of you notice that trailer was swaying back and forth? If something bad happens in the sway and you're hands aren't on the steering wheel the auto steer is not going to be able to correct it; that shouldn't be doing that, especially with an aero profile trailer like the ATCs they were hauling. My 10 Toyota Tundra gets 12 to 13 mpg towing my 7,800-pound trailer dry weight at 70 (not sure what my trailer weighs with it fully loaded), and the gas job they had was only getting 7, that's only a mpg more than my old 94 F150 with a 302 did! For a new truck that GMC should have been doing better.

But the video did show the complete worthlessness of an EV truck.

The trailer they were using that particular model comes in a several different sizes, they were using one of the smaller versions of that design with the tandem and ball hitch; and the dry weight, depending on the model was between 7,000 to 8,000 pounds, not really a monster trailer. But the Toyota Tundra 5.7 has so much power and torque I barely know I'm towing a trailer! Not sure how good the new Tundra with the twin turbo V6, I have a mental problem using small engines with turbos to do heavy hauling, it would seem that the smaller engine has to work harder and the turbos put additional pressure on the engine to give it power, until these V6 twin turbos have been around a lot longer I can't make an intelligent assessment of they're durability and longevity. I know the Ford Ecoboost is having reports of going over 250,000 miles, but those people obtaining those higher mileages are not towing or hauling heavy loads; the other odd thing is that these twin-turbo 6s are not getting any better mpg towing than I am, the only time they get better mpg than me is when they are not towing, so for towing there is no advantage going with a smaller engine, and if fact are going to get a lower life expectancy. On forums the Ecoboost if used for towing falls apart at around 100,000 miles, those are forums and complainers will flock to them, but it does make sense that they won't last as long. Constant higher heat with the turbos running all the time when towing also means more frequent oil changes, and that "might" be the reason for early engine failures due to not changing the oil enough?

[bigbill]

I considered a gasser for a tow vehicle, I looked at GM's 6.6 in a 2500 and Ford's 6.2. We bought the trailer first and used my wife's 2007 Chevy 2500 with a 6.6 Duramax diesel. I found a used F250 XLT work truck which had none of the bells and whistles I'm accustomed to, but holy cow, that thing hauls a trailer. Diesels have the advantage in torque, efficiency, and durability in towing. My wife's truck is approaching 300K miles, and mine will pass 100K miles this year. Last summer, my truck had a recall for an ECM and TCM reprogram. The engine had a programming issue with, wait for it, emissions. The reprogram at the dealer took less than 45 minutes including the TCM. The transmission was an update based on what Ford has learned since the ten speed was introduced in 2020. I get 12-13 with a 9500 pound trailer and 22 without. Because of the size of the respective fuel tanks, when I'm towing the travel trailer and my wife is towing her horse trailer, I can go almost twice as far on a tank.

Traveling with a larger trailer, mine is 33', can be a hassle when you need to fuel. Most larger places near interstates such as Love's and Flying J have pumps set up for trailers, but we avoid interstates where we can because we aren't going to pull a trailer at 75-80 mph, the speed limits out west. I know the route between Kingman, AZ, and Worland, WY, and where I buy fuel. I can comfortably get 400 miles between fill ups, so I can plan my stops. There are stretches, especially across the Navajo/Hopi reservation, where either the fuel is very expensive or the stations are challenging to get in and out of. While in Wyoming, due to the abundance of agriculture, we have no issues finding easy diesel. Most pumps in Wyoming and Montana have three grades, red diesel is for ag equipment and will get you fined for using it in your truck, low sulfur #2 which is the standard, and #1 which has additives for winter use to prevent gelling. I add Howes to my fuel when I fill up. I have DEF and have no intention of deleting it. I get around 900 miles per gallon of DEF when not towing and 400-500 when towing. I've heard the argument about getting a gas engine so you don't have to hassle with DEF, but I can fill the 7.5 gallon tank and not fill it again for 3-4 months of normal use. I keep a box of DEF in a trailer compartment, but the low-DEF light comes on with 500 miles remaining.

[steve garro]

All these points are 100% spot-on


https://www.ovrmag.com/start-here/bu...Ztt_cKtY2uiUQA


- Garro.

IMG_3761.jpg

[Too Tall]

Garro gets it. We used tall skinny tires with cut down tractor trailer snow chains for the really deep stuff living in S. Wyoming.

We drove all kinds of back country with stock trucks and basic rescue stuff....the idea was to not use the rescue stuff ;)

[bigbill]

Garro gets it. We used tall skinny tires with cut down tractor trailer snow chains for the really deep stuff living in S. Wyoming.

We drove all kinds of back country with stock trucks and basic rescue stuff....the idea was to not use the rescue stuff ;)

Back in 96, I was stationed on a submarine in Bremerton, WA. On Christmas Day, we had 18-24 inches of heavy, wet snow. One of my guys, a North Dakota native, had an early 80s F250 extended cab 4X4 with tall skinny tires. He ferried people to and from work, and we eventually got him a shipyard pass so he could move equipment on the pier with his truck. He didn't need chains, as snow-vet, the bed of his truck had 1000# of bagged gravel.

[froze]

The problem with diesel is that it costs at least $1.00 per gallon more than regular, you're getting the same mpg that I am, I've taken my trailer up mountains without any problem from lack of horsepower or torque, and it cost more to maintain a diesel, plus they cost significantly more to purchase even used. Those reasons are why I never could see the benefit of a diesel.

A friend of mine bought the first year of the first diesel Dodge Cummins series, he claimed he got 21 mpg hauling a horse trailer loaded with machines for a machining business, he didn't know how much it all weighed but it took forklifts to put those machines into the trailer. It seems that diesel pickups are getting worse fuel economy than they used to, is this true?

[bigbill]

Diesel and Gas are about the same price now. I paid $3.36 a gallon for midgrade unleaded today. Diesel was $3.58. I get 22 mpg without a trailer in my 2020 diesel F-250 and 12ish with just under 10,000 pounds of travel trailer. My wife gets similar mileage with her diesel 2500 while towing her gooseneck horse trailer with about 4,000 pounds of horses and gear, plus the trailer's weight. If we didn't have horses and a travel trailer, there'd be no need for a diesel pickup. Both trucks have completely stock tuning and emissions. We spend the summers in Wyoming, towing everything north from Arizona while avoiding interstates as much as possible. Oil changes are more, but I get mine done at the Ford dealer which typically has a "Works" coupon for $99. I get two oil changes yearly, with fuel filters (2) every other oil change. My wife's truck has almost 300K miles, and mine is approaching 100K. Will a gas truck go 300K miles?

My wife is an equestrian, and we travel to events all over Arizona, Wyoming, and Montana. You don't see any gas trucks at those events.