Pulling enclosed trailer

I have a 6×12 enclosed trailer that I use to haul my ATV or Snowmobile and flip shack for fishing. I pull it with a 2021 f-150 Lariat (3.5 ecoboost). My question is with gas mileage. Staying “around” the speed limit I am seeing mileage of about 6.5-8 miles per gallon. Normal???

I try to always have the weight forward (atv/sled) to center (over axles), had the trailer serviced last year (bearings, grease, new tires). I do notice that with my truck the trailer does fit with the tongue up a bit…maybe I need to get more of a drop hitch to further balance this part?

The problem is obvious. The truck is all wrong. You need a 3.5 ton with a 10.6 liter Hemi Powerstroked Duramax.

Could be normal.
You need to factor in wind and hills.
When loading trailers you should have 60% of the weight in front of the axle and 40% behind the axel.
You trailer should be as level as possible.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Could be normal.
You need to factor in wind and hills.
When loading trailers you should have 60% of the weight in front of the axle and 40% behind the axel.
You trailer should be as level as possible.

Spot on.
Sounds like drop hitch may be a good idea. But enclosed trailers are just wind sails any ways.

acarroline wrote:

I have a 6×12 enclosed trailer that I use to haul my ATV or Snowmobile and flip shack for fishing. I pull it with a 2021 f-150 Lariat (3.5 ecoboost). My question is with gas mileage. Staying “around” the speed limit I am seeing mileage of about 6.5-8 miles per gallon. Normal???

I have the same setup, except I have a 2017 model year. Same results. I have an extended insert with a 4 inch drop. Levels out the trailer nicely and I can crank a tighter radius when backing up without jack-knifing the trailer into the truck’s rear bumper.
Under 60mph I can get around 10mpg. At 75mph it drops to 7mpg on the open road. Driving short local runs (30miles) in traffic about 7mpg.
Yep, dragging that light load around in a big box, gets expensive at the gas pump.
Two things that make it worth it for me; (A) the trailer is my on AND off season storage for my ATV and gear. (B) My equipment is safe and CLEAN when I arrive where I’m going.

Anyone that tows knows wind resistance pulls harder then weight. If your trailer has extra height it will even pull harder. A truck driver would always tell me a load of open tubes on a trailer pulls hard. Probably the nature of the beast what speeds are you towing this trailer 65+ you could see those mpg.

Welcome to real life of the eco-boost.
Pulling weight kills the fuel mileage.
Also the colder it gets below freezing it gets the worse it gets.

Try to set up your hitch drop so the trailer frame is level with the ground.

You are probably one of the first people to be honest about the actual fuel mileage when working an eco-boost…

Just curious. Will the 3.5 Ecoboost or the 5.0 get better mileage pulling this type of a trailer?

hell i get 9-10 with my super duty with a 6.2 pulling my 8×16′ ice house. i thought the 3.5’s were better than that

Heres a tip on those ecoboost engines, The air filter isnt hardly big enough for a naturally aspirated V-8 let alone something with twin turbos in it.
If that air filter gets anywhere near being 1/4 restricted the fuel mileage will drop off right at 3 MPG.
Remove the air filter, most often you will see one corner of it dirtier than the rest of it, that is where oil vapor collects and most of the dirt will stick to that area.

fishthumper wrote:

Just curious. Will the 3.5 Ecoboost or the 5.0 get better mileage pulling this type of a trailer?

ecoboost has more tourque not sure on the mpg

fishthumper wrote:

Just curious. Will the 3.5 Ecoboost or the 5.0 get better mileage pulling this type of a trailer?

5.0

mark-bruzek wrote:

Pulling weight kills the fuel mileage.

You are confusing “weight” with “pulling resistance”. I get better milage pulling my loaded boat, which is 2.5 times the weight of my loaded enclosed trailer.

Just interesting but my chevy v8 does not suffer catastrophic loss of mileage when I pull my 2-place enclosed hybrid sled trailer. I dont know what the mileage is and I havent pulled it in a while but Im fairly certain of that.

mark-bruzek wrote:

Welcome to real life of the eco-boost.
Pulling weight kills the fuel mileage.
Also the colder it gets below freezing it gets the worse it gets.

Try to set up your hitch drop so the trailer frame is level with the ground.

You are probably one of the first people to be honest about the actual fuel mileage when working an eco-boost…

2015 3.5 and the above seems to be what I experience too.
I don’t think it’s weight so much as the air drag from the trailer. If I tow anything that blocks the air, my mileage is bad, maybe 10 or less. Pulling my glass boat that is a little less wind resistant and my mileage is better, maybe 13-15.

If I towed an enclosed trailer a lot, I wouldn’t own my current truck and 3.5 Eco.

Pulled a 24 ft glacier last weekend for a buddy and got 12 mpg with the 6.4 hemi. I thought that was pretty good.

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mark-bruzek wrote:</div>
Pulling weight kills the fuel mileage.

You are confusing “weight” with “pulling resistance”. I get better milage pulling my loaded boat, which is 2.5 times the weight of my loaded enclosed trailer.

I have a 2014 3.5 Eco, I get 12 to 13 pulling my covered boat, lucky to get 12 pulling my atv on a 10ft aluminum trailer with a full gate/ramp on it. Its all wind resistance that knocks down mileage

Went I bought the truck, they let me test drive the truck I got and also the same truck with the 5.0 with the boat hooked to each. There is a big difference in pulling power – the salesperson on the ride along was the first to say holy sheet when we took out the 3.5 Eco after going for a ride in the 5.0

In the end, towing anything in general will know down mileage, but we need a truck to tow our toys

To answer the OP’s question, that does seem a bit low unless you were bucking a heck of a wind. Enclosed trailers do make these Eco’s thirsty. No lack of power, just thirsty. I average 13-15 towing an 18′ windshield boat, but drop to 10ish pulling a moderately loaded enclosed trailer or camper.

Good thing I didn’t buy the 3.5 for the fuel mileage!

I think the OP’s mileage is a bit low. I have an 18 with that engine. The worst I’ve seen pulling an enclosed trailer is 9 mpg at 80 mph into a headwind.

My 12’ enclosed trailer empty sucks way more gas with my ecoboost than pulling my full loaded fiberglass boat.

I have a ’19 Ecoboost with the heavy trailer package. Pulling an empty enclosed trailer with a V-nose is far better than a square front. That said, I may as well have my 14′ very heavy dump trailer on as far as gas mileage.

10 mpg is normal when trailering even at higher speeds for me. Never seen much lower towing anything. I get 19 highway no load at 80 mph. I’ve owned a 5.0 before this… maybe better gas mileage, but a pooch for trailering in comparison.

I’ve heard the same as what Iowaboy said…. air intake is huge on this engine… keep a clean filter in there.

Good info, thank you. My trailer is a square nose and tall…so yes it’s a sail. I do get a little better mileage when pulling my 18.5 ft boat (12-14). I’ll also check the air filter portion and look at a 4 inch drop hitch with extension.

I just got a 16 3.5eco and when I towed my 8×17 ice castle and a weekends worth of gear and 5 people in the truck I got just over 10mpg. I’m used to getting 8-9mpg with my 99 2500 gmc and 6.0 but that eco pulled the ice house like it wasn’t really there where with my 6.0 I’m constantly reminded it’s back there.

A buddy of mine once commented after pulling an enclosed trailer “That trailer pulls like a chisel plow”!

Yep, mileage sucks when pulling tall/flat fronted trailers, even totally empty.

Ever pick up a piece of plywood on a windy day?? The force is incredible.

Your best friend for mileage is the right lane…

Set the cruise to a slower but reasonable speed (say 65 in a 70, instead of 75 in a 70) and it will buy the beer for the day. It’s still gonna suck, but it will suck less

It is amazing how hard enclosed trailers tow into the wind. I have a 8.5X12 enclosed snowmobile trailer that with two snowmobiles probably weighs about 1600-1800lbs with two snowmobiles in it. I think it is rated for a max of 2200lbs and I run way worse mileage pulling that than a flatbed with 14k on it. Now if that heavy trailer was being pulled up a lot of hills that would even out. If I pull the snowmobile trailer at about 70MPH I get about 10mpg. That is with my current truck a 3500 ram with a 6.4.

I’ve got a 5.0 and picked up a covered trailer from the cities for a neighbor a couple of weeks ago. It was 18′ long and not that heavy, but still had the windsail effect. As said above, a few mph makes a big difference. The difference between 60 or 65 & 70 or just over is substantial in fuel consumption while towing.

I know I get ~10mpg pulling our 23′ tritoon at about 60mph after the wife is done loading it with her “necessities” for vacation. If I bump that up to even close to 65 on the highway, It goes down in a hurry. The guys towing at over 70mph are just dumping fuel out as they go for the time savings of a few minutes regardless of what their half ton setup is.

B-man wrote:

Set the cruise to a slower but reasonable speed (say 65 in a 70, instead of 75 in a 70) and it will buy the beer for the day.

But that other guy is going to get there before me!!! B man you are correct it is just so hard to do. My 19 Ram hemi gets 8-10 pulling my Castle and it is better pulling the boat, my problem lies in the heavy right foot I was born with.