Towing 4500-5000# camper - my experience

[Afsigma21]

I just bought a camper. 4100# UVW. 2026 Vista Cruiser 23tws.

I have a 2024 Lariat with the 2.7L. Front level kit, 1" lift block in rear. 275/65/18 tires.

I have towed it about 1200 miles in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky (so no mountains, but some minor hills) on a few trips and here are my observations.


65 MPH with 87 Octane - 7-8 mpg and I wont be doing that anymore

63MPH with 89 Octane - 10-11 MPG

63 MPG with 91+ Octane 12-13 MPG and this is going to be my norm for this.


High winds REALLY affected mpg as well, we had one day with a little bit higher wind and MPG was clearly affected. Power was NO ISSUE AT ALL even on 87 octane. Braking was smooth and controlled. Honestly I had 0 issues and it towed like a dream.


I am sure there are variables I am not considering, but this was my experience. Wanted to share.

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[Afsigma21]

I will start a new thread about this, but I plan to tow this camper with this truck to Alaska next summer. Approx 10k miles round trip.

 

[mhbell]

I just bought a camper. 4100# UVW. 2026 Vista Cruiser 23tws.

I have a 2024 Lariat with the 2.7L. Front level kit, 1" lift block in rear. 275/65/18 tires.

I have towed it about 1200 miles in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky (so no mountains, but some minor hills) on a few trips and here are my observations.


65 MPH with 87 Octane - 7-8 mpg and I wont be doing that anymore

63MPH with 89 Octane - 10-11 MPG

63 MPG with 91+ Octane 12-13 MPG and this is going to be my norm for this.


High winds REALLY affected mpg as well, we had one day with a little bit higher wind and MPG was clearly affected. Power was NO ISSUE AT ALL even on 87 octane. Braking was smooth and controlled. Honestly I had 0 issues and it towed like a dream.


I am sure there are variables I am not considering, but this was my experience. Wanted to share.

I pulled a 4500 Lb Camping Trailer 850 Miles with a 2024 XLT 2.7 L without a WD Hitch. It pulled like a dream in the mountains and canyons No problems I didn't know it was behind me unless I looked it the rear view mirror.
Mel

 

[AugPal]

I tow a 3500lbs Rpod 192 trailer with no issues.

Your octane finding makes sense. I have only used 91 octane in my truck due to the twin turbos. I had read in the past you're best off using 91 octane if you have a turbo

 

[ryanO]

I just bought a camper. 4100# UVW. 2026 Vista Cruiser 23tws.

I have a 2024 Lariat with the 2.7L. Front level kit, 1" lift block in rear. 275/65/18 tires.

I have towed it about 1200 miles in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky (so no mountains, but some minor hills) on a few trips and here are my observations.


65 MPH with 87 Octane - 7-8 mpg and I wont be doing that anymore

63MPH with 89 Octane - 10-11 MPG

63 MPG with 91+ Octane 12-13 MPG and this is going to be my norm for this.


High winds REALLY affected mpg as well, we had one day with a little bit higher wind and MPG was clearly affected. Power was NO ISSUE AT ALL even on 87 octane. Braking was smooth and controlled. Honestly I had 0 issues and it towed like a dream.


I am sure there are variables I am not considering, but this was my experience. Wanted to share.

Holy squat in the rear. That seems like a TON of squat for 500 lbs of tongue weight.

 

[Afsigma21]

Holy squat in the rear. That seems like a TON of squat for 500 lbs of tongue weight.

It looks worse than it is because there is a slight hill I am parked on. Its about a 2 inch drop and really close to level. I used a level on the truck bed on level ground to check.

ALSO in that pic is the truck bed fully loaded with all our gear because this was t

 

[ryanO]

It looks worse than it is because there is a slight hill I am parked on. Its about a 2 inch drop and really close to level. I used a level on the truck bed on level ground to check.

ALSO in that pic is the truck bed fully loaded with all our gear because this was t

What wheel and tire combo do you have? Looks great!

 

[John E Davies]

Do you have the Ford TPMS sensors in your trailer, if so, how is that working out? Any connection issues?

A 10k mile trip to Alaska is a big deal, have you thought about gravel protection for the front of the trailer? How about extra gas? Here is my Oliver, now gone. This is the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy in western BC, after rain and endless miles of fresh chip sealing. That ring around the collar is oil….

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Afsigma21]

What wheel and tire combo do you have? Looks great!

From my thread on the upgrade, IDK if the links are still good.

G-FX TR19 Rim 18X9 6X139.7 Offset +12 Matte Black (Ebay) $720.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/175676739954

I went kinda budget on the tires. I used these on my F150 and had good luck with them. I know white lettering is a polarizing topic but I like them. 275/65R18 (32”) $541 total
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M8KY548?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

[Afsigma21]

Do you have the Ford TPMS sensors in your trailer, if so, how is that working out? Any connection issues?

A 10k mile trip to Alaska is a big deal, have you thought about gravel protection for the front of the trailer? How about extra gas? Here is my Oliver, now gone. This is the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy in western BC, after rain and endless miles of fresh chip sealing. That ring around the collar is oil….

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

I dont have the Ford TPMS for trailer tires.
I am sure I have a lot of prep to do. Had not thought about gravel protection for trailer, I need to look in to that.

 

[John E Davies]

https://stonestomper.com.au/

The best in the world, without a doubt. You place an order with a full description of your tow vehicle and trailer, with lots of pictures, they make it for you custom and ship it in about five weeks. International shipping is not a problem, but you would need to research the cost and exchange rate.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[stemplar]

Holy squat in the rear. That seems like a TON of squat for 500 lbs of tongue weight.

That’s because they lifted the front which makes towing and hauling worse. Another point to consider is that the specs say it can carry 2000lbs cargo so that tongue weight will be higher as things get loaded in.

 

[Afsigma21]

I went to the scales when realistically loaded for a weekend trip and I was WELL under GAWR (I was under 10k), as long as the camper is evenly loaded, tongue weight will be well within limits.

 

[Cabose-1]

As long as your truck stays within limits per axle, stays under its gvwr, and you tow level these trucks are awesome. They tow better than they carry. Scales are your best friend. Tow safe and keep the rubber side down.
GEN-Y GLYDER Hitch
GEN-Y BOSS Torsion Hitch
Road Active Suspension
2024 XLT, 4x2, advance tow, elocker

 

[Lion77]

Turbo engines like high octane, period. That's always been true and in the "old days" with more simplistic control systems, you HAD to run premium because the knock sensing and fuel mapping wasn't advanced enough to pull enough timing to prevent detonation.

With factory ECU calibrations and the available precision of sensors, that's now very possible as evidenced above. The problem however is that in order to prevent detonation, fuel is used as a combustion chamber coolant, so the ECU runs the mixture very rich as the extra unburnt fuel cools the combustion chamber.

That's why high-power turbo builds with big turbos benefit from Ethanol blends, but you need to spray a LOT more fuel, the caveat is that the Ethanol provides better cooling (E85 or even more ethanol rich blends).

So, when towing, the ECU needs to use so much extra fuel for cooling the combustion chamber to maintain reliable operation that you end up with a NEGATIVE net benefit!

(1,200 miles / 8 mpg) * 4.35 dollars / gallon = $652.20 in fuel.

(1,200 miles / 13 mpg) * 5.35 dollars / gallon = $493.85 in fuel.

I took the best number from each case, but the math pans out the same way in either direction. That's why I personally decided to get the Pro cal for my Raptor. The fuel economy and performance really suffer on all turbo engines for any use aside from just driving around town during light load conditions. So why do I even need to be able to run 87? Simple answer is, for my use cases, I don't. My use cases are mostly high performance driving off-road and on-road, towing and family trips with a lot of cargo etc. and it's a 3rd vehicle that is our specialty vehicle, not a daily driver.

But with any performance vehicle or even truck I've owned or know of that uses Forced Induction, your fuel economy losses from lower octanes USUALLY negates any cost savings from the lower octane, so you're better off paying the higher price, getting the better fuel economy and performance and reliability under severe conditions (hot weather and high sustained loads at slow speeds up-hill with a heavy payload or towing, aka like TFL's Toaster Test they did on a Pro Cal tuned Ranger Raptor, had zero issues).

Now I'm not saying you need to do a Pro Cal, but if your costs and performance suffer from low octane that much in those use cases, why not just give up on low octane entirely an get the additional performance the factory cal MUST leave on the table to be able to run fuel grades lower than RON 91?

That's where the additional performance comes from with the Ford Performance Pro Cal's, that's what the factory COULD give you if they did not have a requirement to run on fuel grades below 91.

Now, there are use cases where lower fuel grades still make some sense, if your just driving around town at light loads, maybe getting groceries or going out to a movie or visiting relatives etc. and your truck is a primary vehicle where that's the bulk of your driving, there's not going to be any fuel economy difference between grades because it's not a high load high heat condition where the ECU needs to run very rich, so there's some cost savings in those situations to run 87 and it also prevents accidental damage if someone less knowledgeable fills up on 87, so it's not for everyone, I get that, but just some food for thought.

But if you tow a lot, load the truck up a lot and enjoy higher performance driving or drive at higher altitudes a lot or in hot weather, I say Pro Cal and 91+ all the way, all the time!

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