Proper speed when towing trailer

[RogerR]

Having seen slower vehicles hit from the rear on busy interstates I like to at least come close to the speed limit. But to save fuel and wear and tare I don't go over 70.

Before I switched to Endurance tires I blew a few on my old popups as I never knew there was such a thing as max speed on a tire until a few years ago.

[Seann45]

You are getting many answers but remember that the faster you go the more fuel you burn AND the LONGER it takes to stop.....

[SmokerBill]

I just drove my truck home from an overnight, early Thanksgiving get together with my son's family. Even with just me and my truck, no trailer, I drove 61 mph along the entire 70 mph stretch of the interstate, about 40 miles. More relaxed, better mpg's. For the 80 mile trip I ended up getting a hair over 20 miles per gallon out of my old 2011 Ram. Even did a little hypermiling along the last 10 miles of 2 lane, 50 mph roadway.

[CAG]

I find it amazing that something like this question can generate three pages of responses. Fuel was not really the original question. Some people love to turn and burn but....



What do your tires say????

[Rustic Eagle]

Originally Posted by CAG

I find it amazing that something like this question can generate three pages of responses.....snip

Just a good JOF member turnout to help a new member

Bob

[Murff]

Correct speed?

Whatever speed S.W.M.B.O.* (aka navigaor, wife, spouse, etc.) doesn't cringe and complain about!

Murff

*She Who Must Be Obeyed

[Jerry713]

Agree it has a lot to do with your tow vehicle, trailer, weather conditions and traffic among other things. There's a reason why at least in Texas the number of campers pulled over on the side of the road with blow outs goes up ten fold in the hot summer months. Heat kills tires especially older ones.

Based on the comments in this thread I would guess we make up less than 5% of those who are pulling campers on roads (again at least in Texas). On a 200 mile trip I get passed at least half a dozen times by someone pulling a camper and I will run 65ish mph on flat highway when there is not too much wind. I will creep up to 72ish when dropping off a hill when I have a steep on coming hill to climb but that is my max speed. I pull a 38' TT that is 10,500 lbs loaded. On the interstate I often get passed by trucks pulling campers even when I'm not towing anything.

[mckincb]

I would highly recommend a Tire Pressure Monitoring system (TPMS). If you pull your rig in extreme heat (like we do in the deep south) your TPMS can tell you the temperature of your tires. If you need to let your tires cool down, all you have to do is slow down a few MPH.

[wordsmyth]

Originally Posted by mckincb

I would highly recommend a Tire Pressure Monitoring system (TPMS). If you pull your rig in extreme heat (like we do in the deep south) your TPMS can tell you the temperature of your tires. If you need to let your tires cool down, all you have to do is slow down a few MPH.

@mckincb is there a TMPS in particular that you can recommend?

[cekkk]

I think the only person that can answer that question is you. Your set up is unique. Nobody else is pulling with your tow vehicle and nobody else is towing your trailer. Take it out on the highways and experiment a bit. In my case, a diesel dually , I was pulling, approximately 10,000 pounds. my set up seem to operate best at 62 miles an hour, which is a reasonable speed should I need to take some sort of emergency action to prevent a collision. I don’t think anyone running down the highway at 70 miles an hour is somebody I want to be on the same highway with. So, rather than thinking, in terms of how fast you can go, think in terms of how comfortable you are at a given speed in any given moment, and how comfortable you are at the end of the day.

[2edgesword]

I don't think the question should be how fast can you tow but how fast can you stop. I towed at 60mph with an occasional increase to pass someone going even slower. I always left myself plenty of time to get where I was going with some daylight left to get settled when I got there. I wanted as much margin as possible for stopping in an emergency situation and also reduce the stress on the tires while traveling.

[bdreinv]

We to have an Eagle I think nearly 10k if you ever have to do a panic stop 63 seems really fast!

[Falcon67]

My 1/50th of a dollar - as said, your speed will vary a lot depending on conditions. We are getting a new 212QB, which seems to be a hair shorter to the ground than our ex Keystone 220RD. It "should" catch less wind. With the 220RD, I'd run 68~70 in light winds, light head wind, with the F-350. With the F150, around 65 was best. Mileage would average around 7 with the F-350, 5.5~6.5 with F150. Now - get a west Texas headwind and I would run 60~65. With the F150, stopping would be every 100 miles or so (24 gallon tank).

Fun note - the 220RD weighed 5800ish for travel. The 34' race trailer weighs 13,800 with the door car in it. The F350 gets 7.5 easy with that trailer vs 6.5~7 with the light and bouncy box. Go figure.

[gypsmjim]

The faster you go the harder to stop.

The faster you go, the hotter the tires get.

Accidents are proportional t the speed you go.

Here's a real life story....
My son just bought a new 30' RV. He got it from a dealer close to the family home. He lives an 11 hour trip away. He was in town for Christmas, hence the reason for the deal.

It added an hour to his travel, driving at about 60 mph. Nuff said.

Covid has turned us all (well some of us) into morons. Gotta go faster and faster. Get the heck out of my way. I'm going to tweet at 65 mph, cause its my right.

I just finished my Driver's safety course. Probably the 12th time I took it. Saves me $150 / year in insurance premiums. Take it every 3rd year. It's all silly, but common sense. Y'all should try it.

[Falcon67]

Here's an LOL for you

We used to pull the race trailer with a good old 1993 F-350 DRW with a 7.5L (460) gas engine. 5 MPG and the truck did best at 63 MPH / 2000 RPM in OD. Just loafing along, downshifting on every little rise in the road.

Pulling back along I-20 from Texas Motorplex on a Sunday after a race was like flying a space freighter through a Star Wars battle scene. Got in the 3rd lane over and just let it roll.

Lots of times, the rig will tell you how fast you should go, if you'll listen to it. Even the new F-350 DRW with all the fancy tech pulls different with the different trailers.

[JaycoLovers]

I've noticed (like others) a huge drop off in MPG when trying to tow at speeds above 65. There is also the safety factor to think about (like others have stated). Time to react, breaking distance, stability, emergency action at high speeds...all these are dependent on the speed you are going.
As a way of comparison, traveling 100 miles at 65mph will take 92 minutes. Increasing to 75 mph it will take you 80 minutes to cover the 100 miles. That's 12 minutes. I used to think the 12 minutes was worth it. As I get a little older (and perhaps wiser with 10,000's of towed miles behind me) I feel more comfortable at 65 mph. The campsite isn't going anywhere...and the people I want to spend time with are right there with me in the tow vehicle...so I'm not in as much of a rush as I used to be. Enjoy the ride!

[Falcon67]

I will run 70~72 if weather conditions allow for the RV, and same with the big trailer. Primarily on I-20 & I-40. On I-20 here, it's posted at 75 (until you are past Pecos, then it's posted 80) but people are running 80~82 most of the time. I drive 36 miles on I-20 every day, usually have the cruise set on 80 to keep from being tail gated much.

[USCcruisecrazy]

Originally Posted by us71na

I tow in that speed range as well. Gas mileage suffers when towing and it gets dramatically worse at 65 mphand up.

Some states restrict the speed when towing to 10-15 mph under the posted speed.

Curious, where would I find a list of speed restrictions while towing? Like what states have those restrictions?

[Kim Gass]

Originally Posted by USCcruisecrazy

Curious, where would I find a list of speed restrictions while towing? Like what states have those restrictions?

https://towstats.com/trailer-towing-...mits-by-state/


not sure how up to date it is. I just googled it.

[mckincb]

Apology for the delayed response. I have an older TST 4 cap model that works pretty good.