Several years ago a friend of mine told me about his two trailers and how differently they towed, with the same tow rig. His open trailer, a two car gooseneck, and his enclosed, a 26 foot race trailer, got vastly different mileage using his 2500HD Duramax powered Chevrolet crew cab and very different towing experiences. With a Camaro and a Mustang on the open trailer, and a Mustang and a golf cart in the enclosed, the 2500HD Crew Cab Duramax would get better mileage pulling the two cars and heavier trailer, than it did with the lighter load and an enclosed trailer. It makes sense, but I don’t think folks think about it much.
When we recently rented an enclosed trailer to produce the livestream for Rocky Mountain Megaweek, and used a rented Ram 2500HD Crew Cab to pull it. The trailer was 7 feet wide, 14 feet long, and was almost 9 feet tall. With all our gear, apparel, and ice cream in it, this thing weighed less than 3500lbs. It was a V Nose trailer, with a mini split condenser bolted onto the front, which wasn’t helping the aero any I’m sure. Our 2500HD Ram Crew Cab was Hemi powered, and had ZERO issue pulling the weight of this small enclosed trailer. However… it didn’t like it one bit while going down the freeway.
If we were going 60mph, it wasn’t a big deal, but if you were going 70 or faster, this thing could not maintain speed in high gear. And we’re talking about flat ground in Texas and Oklahoma. For the entire trip, this Hemi Ram got 7.8-7.9 miles per gallon. Ouch! It was a very expensive gasoline bill for the week, that’s for sure.
So when I saw this video comparing two single car trailers, both weighing in at 6,500 lbs, and both being pulled on the same route, by the same truck, on the same day, I was interested in the difference.
You will be too. Check it out.
