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Trailer rigs/ fuel mileage?

Faster horses said:
We have a 2006 Dodge Ram Dually 4x4. 1 ton, 6-speed.

We get 13 mpg loaded (just checked it 2 weeks ago.)
We get about 17 empty.

But Mr. FH doesn't drive much over 65.

What kind of motor? What size and type of trailer?
 
Featherlite Aluminum 24 ft. stock trailer.

Cummins Diesel engine.

He also has it equipped with a jake brake. He says they have the
new outfits so they can go fast, but can't stop very well. So he gets
an exhaust brake put on them before we ever take them home.

He also would like a 2-speed transmission. He uses the pickup a lot to haul mineral to our customers. He uses a cart and a ramp to load the mineral into the stock trailer and then again to unload at the customers place. Works real good. Reason why I mention this, is because he really needs that much pickup. It hardly moves without the trailer hooked on.
He can haul up to 7 ton of mineral with it~or that is the limit to what he hauls because the axles on the trailer are 14,000 lb. axles.
 
Faster horses said:
Featherlite Aluminum 24 ft. stock trailer.

Cummins Diesel engine.
Nice rig :D
How do those alunimun trailers hold up when they get some age on them?
Ever weigh your trailer? What is the weight savings compared to a 24 foot steel rig?
Friggen trailer manufacturers never advertise the empty weights of there trailers.
 
This trailer is a 1999 and he pulls it a lot. I added to my previous reponse so I elaborated there how he uses it.

It goes down a lot of country roads. The only thing we have had a problem with is the back door. I'm not sure what is the problem, but has something to do with the latch and some trim fell off. He is thinking of replacing the sliding door with a roll-up door like a Wilson has.

We had a Wilson and had problems with the brakes and the rubber edge on the back of the trailer came off. The Wilson was too low to the ground, but we have seen Wilsons that aren't as low as ours was. We were getting the Wilson fixed and the dealership loaned us the Featherlite. We liked it so we just traded. That is not to say we didn't like the Wilson, we did. But the Featherlite had a better floor for using the cart and ramp to place the mineral in the trailer. No ridges like the Wilson.

Don't have a clue to what the Featherlite weighs but our neighbor who has a steel 24' stock trailer borrowed our Featherlite 2 days ago. When he brought it back he said there is a lot of difference in the two trailers, that the Featherlite is a lot lighter. Mr. FH thinks it might weigh 3600 lbs. but I think he is using the SWAG system. (Scientific wild-assed guess.)

For how we use one, he wouldn't go back to steel. I'm sure others that have steel wouldn't have aluminum. I'll bet 90% of the miles put on our pickup are from pulling a trailer. Very seldom does he go anywhere without a trailer of some sort.
 
What I have heard about alunimun is that when it gets ten years old and lots of miles on it that it starts to crack because it gets brittle.
You can weld it up but then it will just crack again a long side of the weld.
The duribility issue has kept me away fom alunimun but with the [price of fuel being what it is alunimun is starting to look good :)
 
I keep editing my posts and adding comments so I hope you were able to read them.

All I can say about the aluminum trailer getting brittle is that our neighbor in W. Montana got one of the first Featherlites to come out. He was really hard on his equipment and everyone was waiting and watching to see how it held up. That was 20 years ago or longer. I think he still pulls that very same trailer. It was amazing that it stayed together but it did and it looked good for a long time.

My husband just came in and I asked him his opinion and he said the main problems were by the back gate, around the hinges, etc. and they have improved them a lot.

He says they must not have too much trouble with them because all the big cow trailers are aluminum. FWIW~
 
Wow 3600lbs is light!
Well I know when I had my trailer advertized one of the first questions people would ask is if it was steel or alunimun. Everybody wanted alunimun.
 
'97 F250 Powerstroke, manual

We get 18mpg empty, and about 13 with a trailer. It doesn't seem to matter if we're pulling our little 16' Hart with a couple of horses, or a 26' stock trailer stuffed full of cows. Both are GN. (We've never pulled an aluminum trailer, so i don't know the difference)



'79 GMC 3500 (no idea what engine is in this thing, but it's gas), manual tranny

It gets around 9-11, empty, loaded or towing. :wink:



'74 F250 (390), automatic

Old Blue gets about 12 mpg empty. 10, loaded or towing.
 
I've went south loaded with bulls with Chevy's , Dodges and Fords and they all seem to get around that 12-14 loaded. I've seen some pretty old Wil;son aluminnums stand up pretty well for a long time.
 
We have a 2004, Chevy 4500. Duramax with a allison transmission. It gets 12 to 16 miles per gallon. It has exhaust brake on the engine that is really nice. After having this I wouldn't want another pickup type..
And a titan 24 ft trailier with the rubber floors again wouldn't want another type..
 
We usually use my 4WD pickup to pull our 16 foot stock trailer.

The trailer is probably as old as I am, the pickup is a 95 Chevy 1500. It gets about 22 mpg without the trailer, around 16 mpg with. Really, the only difference I notice about pulling the trailer, is you have to shift to lower gears to climb the mountains, than you do if you aren't pulling it.

That's the only trailer we've ever pulled with the pickup.......
 
2002 and 2004 Dodge Cummins
'02 gets 21 to 22 empty and the best loaded was 18. The '04 gets worse mileage. The 02 pulls like a house on fire, I just love it , until we go across the pature OH is that thing rough.
We pull a 22' Titan. As for a steel trailer out performing al. HA our trailer has more cracks then a convention of plumbers!! The bottom 6" has rusted thru because they Rhino lined the inside but not the outside. Looking around at some of the neighbors Titans' they are all doing the same thing. We are going allum. when we finally kill this one.
 
We have a Chevy dually with an allision and a duramax... 2005. Pull a 24 foot Exis trailer.. As long as we aren't driving through a huge headwind we get about 12-13 loaded but I do drive 65+ with it... If I drop to 60 or so I get much better milage. Unloaded and not driving like an idiot I get close to 20 mpg but it is usally around 16 or so for the tank as I do a lot of 2 mile drives and stuff like that. All I know is that at much over 65 mpg and unloaded it will shake your teath out... It seams to be getting better milage the more miles we put on it.. Heck, we only have 17k on it, still breaking it in.
 
1993 F350.......still kickin at just over 300,000 miles on it, she gets about 15 goin down the highway empty, and about 11 pullin a trailer. Whether that trailer is the horse trailer which is a 26ft S&H gooseneck, or the beat up ole cattle trailer that's a 20 ft.
I don't drive it much anymore since I got my lil toyota for my local runnin around.
 
I have 4.10 final drives so fuel economy little less. 10-11 loaded 14 empty.

Guy told me dont run your aluminum trlr empty & it won't crack as bad.

Big difference betewwn steel & aluminum. 16 steel featherlite..#4200. 20 foot Charmac...#3800.
 
Was in Ca. DVM today - - A friend that worke there said there is a run on people getting their single horse trailer reg. cheeper to pull - - Tomarrow I'll get in our junk pile for ours :) :help: :shock: :roll: :cboy:

No More Big Stocktrailer :gag: :hat: :cry2:
 
Well I have kind of decided on an alunimun Bumper pull.
Now I just have to decide on either a open stock or slant load and the size, example 12foot to 18 foot or something in between.
Im just wondering what will have the best resell value? Im thinking a two horse slant load with a tack room because you just dont seem to see many of the bigger bumper pulls going down the road anymore.
What are your thoughts?
 

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