I have an 02 Screw 4x4 with a 5.4. During the winter, I tow a 4 place aluminum snowmobile trailer with 4 sleds on it. My towing mileage is usually around 6-7 mpg. Unloaded, I get 13-15, but no better. I can live with the unloaded mileage, but the towing mileage stinks. It costs me too much to go anywhere. I traded my 01 F250 V10 in on this truck and think it was a mistake. With the V10, I would get 11.5 - 14 mpg unloaded and 10-11mpg with the trailer. What are others getting for towing mileage?


MJS

 

That sounds pretty low. I usually average about 9 MPG towing and that is with a full size trailer. It does not seem to be the weight but the frontage breaking the wind that slows me down and results in high fuel consumption. My calculations are with a 31 foot trailer I would think that the MPG would be higher pulling 4 snowmoblies being slightly lighter and breaking less wind. My tuck is not a 4x4 as that will make some difference.

 

The 6-7 MPG seems low. I pulled a 26 ft pontoon boat 500 miles and got 12 MPG. The weight should be the same, and the frontal area should be worse than in your case.

How fast are you going? I noticed that at 60 MPH I could get 13 or more, even with the 3000# boat. At 70 MPH the mileage dropped significantly. One tank I got 10 MPG.

I know you don't want to hear this, but my experience is that smaller engines take a bigger MPG hit when subjected to towing ... to a point. The only way to get it back to reduce the load to something closer to the engines efficiency range. My Father got 5 MPG towing a 7600# trailer with a 4.6l. He now gets 10 MPG pretty consistently with the 5.4l (same trailer, same trip). Of course he only goes 60 MPH on expressways while towing. He is just much closer to a reasonable operating efficiency range with the 5.4l. The 4.6l was at 90% max most of the time.

During the winter the "snowmobile guys" pass us like we are standing still. They are mostly going about 80 MPH on the way UP here in Michigan. If that is you in MN then your mileage is normal.

 

I agree, 6-7mpg towing is low. I used to tow a bass boat aroung 3000# and got 12-13mpg.

 

Hey Canadian Screw,
How do you get you link to your gallery be a link in your signature?
See how link comes out in my signature. No link.

 

I did that a while ago but I think I just typed in the link. It looks like the forum software added a "" before it and a "" after it. You may want to edit your sig and try adding the url stuff in square brackets minus the quotes. I just tried adding the link to this message and it works the same way.


https://www.f150online.com/galleries...ery.cfm?gnum=7

 

I bought a F-150 4x4, limited slip 3.55 ratio.

Do you have any problems launching your pontoon boat, I will launch my 21 foot pontoon this weekend. How far you have your truck in the ramp. Did your bumper touches the water, to get the pontoon to float? I tried this boat with a Ford Escape, and I could only get the 1/4 of the back of the pontoon to float because the wheel base on the Escape was to short. I know that my F-150 Super Cab has at least 3 more feet in the back in comparasion to the Escape. Any tips to launch the pontoon boat. You know the trailer is high and because the boat is flat you need to make sure when you launch the boat, the boat needs to float or it is not coming out of the trailer unless you push the front of the pontoon really hard.

 

You might want to do a gear change to the 4.10 or the 3.73. Also when your towing leave the overdrive OFF. Another possibility is to try a diffrent gas. What kind of gas did you use when you towed?

 

i just pulled over 600 miles last week my 4000 lb pop up with 2 bikes and a spare small refrigerator and 4 people to the Keys & back and got over 16.5 MPG ..............average speed was about 68-70 mph


I have got up to 18+ towing at 50 -55 mph with the 4 of us in the SCrew.

I love my Screw

mike

 

Looks like I will be taking the truck back to the dealer next week. I have been getting 11mpg highway mileage. Also, the truck seems like it is lacking power. I can't pull an empty 2 place snowmobile trailer (aluminum) down the freeway in overdrive. It will constantly upshift. My explorer pulls better than this piece of junk.

MJS

 

wengerda, any chance you could try a different ramp? A steeper ramp would help your problem. I launch in tidal water and at high tide I have a steep ramp and on/off is a piece of cake. At low tide the ramp is more level and it's a pain comin or goin.

(and at some ramps you ain't doin nothing at low cause there just ain't enough ramp.)

 

Well I believe with the F-150 I should not have any problem launching the pontoon on the water. But you are right, maybe on low tide, I will not have enough ramp to launch. We will see this weekend.

 

I've never had any troulbe launching. The boat is actually my Dads. I suppose some day I will give up the motorcycles, mountain bikes, and PWCs to get a boat. For now I just borrow once or twice a year.

Now back to launching. I never go in over 1/2 way up the rear wheel. I typically have the tailgate down (too see), and no water touches it. It is a full width trailer that holds the boat by the pontoons. The ones that hold the boat by the deck ladder frame seem harder to launch. The boat has to almost fully float before you can get the boat off.

Maybe my Kentucky and Michigan launches are just easier than what you are encountering, but its always been so easy it never crossed my mind I had a problem.

I hope that helped.

 

I only get 6-7 mpg when pulling my 30' trailer. It weighs about 6200# loaded. I get 13 mpg the rest of the time. Lousy mileage, but a great truck. My bigger tires and my need to drive 65 with the trailer help to lower my mpg, but those are choices that I make and have to live with the mpg.

 

I drove out to British Columbia with a nearly new (8,000 km) Supercrew last August. I have the 3.55 axle, 4 x 2. I have a Raider cap on my truck and have found it improves gas mileage. We travelled with a small tent trailer GVW of 3500 lbs and 2 adults, 1 teenager and 1 choc lab. I averaged between 18 - 21 mpg (cdn) I got one tank in Alberta where I got 24.1 mpg. And other times as low as 16, depending on the weather. I have the small V8 (4.6 litre engine). This past winter, I have consistently averaged about 17 - 19 mpg. I am very happy with this truck.