Alright, time for a fun word problem. My wife and I are moving from Raleigh, NC to Salt lake City, UT. The distance is right around 2200 miles.

My wife and I are moving out there a few weeks apart and I want to see if it's worth pulling her accord on a trailer out there when I go and have her fly out when she comes, or whether I fly back to NC and drive with her in the Accord.

Basically I have these questions:

1. What is the difference in highway mileage from having no trailer, and pulling 5500lbs(Trailer:2000, car:3500)? I have the 5.4L and 3.73 Diff.
2. U-Haul wants to charge me $721 to rent their car trailer. Does anyone know of a less expensive means of renting a car trailer with surge brakes?

I haven't driven my truck on the highway very much at all, so I don't really know what the mileage is. It's about 13MPG around town.

 

I would rent a car dolly and put the Accord on that. Its front drive so no driveshaft dis-connect issues and way lighter. Uhaul car trailer is approx 2200 lbs plu 2800-3000 lb car equals heavy! A dolly weighs nothing and much easier to pull. Just my .02

 

p.s. used to pull a 4500 lb enclosed kart trailer with my '04 f150 5.4 3:73 gears and got 10 mpg at 70 mph. Truck got consistent 16 mpg on daily commute no trailer.

 

Yeah I considered the dolly, but I'm really enamored to the surge brakes that the trailer has. The car weighs in at 3500 lbs and that kind of dead weight will make things really interesting going through the rockies.

 

BTW thanks for the mileage info.

 

For $721 (plus tax, wiring plug adapters and whatever else those thieves can tack on the bill), you can practically buy a trailer sufficient to haul an Accord. With a 5500 lb load you can expect about 9-10 mpg. Look at other trailer rental options as well as used car dollies for sale. If you are willing to go through the hassle of selling the dolly after the move, you can probably use it for next to nothing.

Oh, the 435 miles across Kansas is about the most boring stretch of road I've ever had the misfortune to traverse. About 2/3 of the way across the state the highway jogs to the right and about 60 miles down the road it jogs back to the left. Other than that you got nothing but corn fields and highway patrol. Get gas where you can because you can literally go 100 miles without a gas station.

 

Your welcome but i really think you'd be ok without surge brakes. I pulled that same trailer several times before i got a brake controller and it was no problem to stop it. Just an idea though and good luck on the trip.

 

1. What is the difference in highway mileage from having no trailer, and pulling 5500lbs(Trailer:2000, car:3500)? I have the 5.4L and 3.73 Diff.

Answer: 16 MPG with no trailer 8-9 MPG with trailer, as low as 6 on hills.

2. U-Haul wants to charge me $721 to rent their car trailer. Does anyone know of a less expensive means of renting a car trailer with surge brakes?

Answer: U-Haul Flat-Bed trailer is a great way to do it. The One-way surcharge is a killer. I would do it the way you are doing it.



[/B][/QUOTE]

 

Surge brakes are illegal in most if not all states.The U-Haul dealers around here have electric brakes on all there trailers.They also have nice light weight aluminum trailers so you would probably be towing about 1000 lbs plus the car.Good luck.

 

Just pulled my boat from Maryland to South Florida and back last week and averaged 11 to 12 mpg depending on the wind. This is at 75-80 mph. I covered the 1050 miles in 14:45 with only 2 stops to fuel up and drain the lizard. It's mostly flat from Va. south except for an occasional overpass. If I keep her under 70, I can get 13 mpg. But I don't.

The rig weighs approx. 4000#. I'm running the Superchip 1714 tuner with the 87 octane program. My previous trip down was before the tuner and the mpg was exactly the same.

 

The roads between Raleigh and Salt Lake are not that severe. If it were me, the dolly would be used...Kevin

 

Well the dolly would cost $360, which is consideralby less. I suppose that if things were real hairy we could unhook the car and drive it. For the most part the area between the Appalachians and the Rockies is nothing but flat stretches. So those are some strong arguments....

I had no idea this was an issue. I checked with U-Haul's website and sure enough it describes the trailer having hydraulic surge brakes. I wonder why they would offer that when it is illegal. ..

 

The comment about surge brakes being illegal is completely false.

 

For $720 I'd fly back to NC and ride with her in the Accord. I dont see how it could cost you anywhere near that in air fare back to NC, gas, food and hotel to drive to Salt Lake City. Now if you can get the dolly for $360, then you probably would come out about even either way on that one.

 

I pull a 6500# travel trailer with 5.4L and 3.73 LSD rear end. I get 7-8 MPG towing.