Towing with 07 Nissan Frontier.

MyFrontier · 04-25-2011, 03:05 PM

We bought out trailer new in 2010, a year ago now. I have had it on both long trips and local ones. The trailer pulls fine but I definately know it's back there when going up a hill, although I can maintain 60 + mph going up any grade sometimes I choose not to for the sake of preserving the trucks transmission.
I checked the trailers loaded weight, full of water and all of our camping gear for four people. It weighed in at exactly 3500 lbs over the trailers axles. I'm not exactly sure about the tongue weight but i'm certain it's around 500 lb's when loaded.
Gas mileage at it's worst was a little over 6 mpg's and best being just a hair over 10 mpg's average. Those figures were obtained when I was running factory steel wheels with toyo mt 10 ply tires.
For this year I went with aluminum wheels and toyo HT 4 ply tires.....curious to see the difference......I have a trip planned to lake tahoe.

indieaz · 04-25-2011, 07:58 PM

Interesting mpg results. We've only managed one trip in our FF so far before weather got cold in winter, and it was a 300 mile trip from 2,600 feet above sea level to 9,500 feet. On the way out i got about 9mpg battling a 10-15mph headwind, the way back with calm winds i got about 13mpg, for an average of about 11mpg with our grand cherokee. Not bad considering we only get around 18mpg hwy without towing, and get around 14mpg city driving.

Still running original factory tires on trailer.

What engine is in your frontier?

We'll be heading out for a much longer ~1,700 mile trip in late August and i'm anxious to see how we do then. I keep speeds around 60-65mph.

MyFrontier · 04-26-2011, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indieaz

Interesting mpg results. We've only managed one trip in our FF so far before weather got cold in winter, and it was a 300 mile trip from 2,600 feet above sea level to 9,500 feet. On the way out i got about 9mpg battling a 10-15mph headwind, the way back with calm winds i got about 13mpg, for an average of about 11mpg with our grand cherokee. Not bad considering we only get around 18mpg hwy without towing, and get around 14mpg city driving.

Still running original factory tires on trailer.

What engine is in your frontier?

We'll be heading out for a much longer ~1,700 mile trip in late August and i'm anxious to see how we do then. I keep speeds around 60-65mph.

I have the 4.0 v-6 with 265 hp and 283 pounds of torque.
My speed varied during our trip to Yellowstone from 55-75 mph

I presume you have a HEMI in your jeep, if so that's why you're getting much better results while pulling a load. the bigger engine doesn't have to work nearly as hard to stay in the power band.

indieaz · 04-26-2011, 10:52 AM

IT's actually the 4.7L HO V8 - not the hemi, it predates the hemi by a couple years. The HO version puts out 265hp and 330 lb-ft.

I'm scared to take it to 75mph, i think the fastest I went was around 70 going down a steep hill on the interstate, and it felt squirly (didn't have my anti-sway setup on, trailerwas hooked straight to the vehicle's hitch). Additionally, I"m guessing your frontier has a longer wheelbase and higher curb weight as well, which helps. Our Jeep only comes in at 4,300 lbs curb weight.

MyFrontier · 04-26-2011, 03:45 PM

75mph was going through Montana, long straight stretches of freeway, I personally did not feel that I was pushing it. I use weight distribution bars (when not using airbags) and sway control and that helps tremendously with stability. I would not put my family or my self intentionaly in danger by being reckless. With that said, had it not felt confortable or if I felt that the vehicle was unstable I would have said screw the speed limit but I'm doing 60.

webslave · 04-27-2011, 07:39 AM

The only thing "pushing it" was the tires...the ST tires on travel trailers are only rated to 65 mph. I'm not a member of the "speed police", but, please be aware that as you go over 65 mph on ST tires that you are increasing the odds of a catastrophic tire loss and the potential for damage to your trailer from flying debris

I am often amused, on other forums, of the members vehement opinions of Chinese made ST tires; then you see in another posting, their "bragging" about doing 80 mph through the desert on cruise control for hours on end in overloaded trailers and 5th wheels. While traveling, the biggest dangers to your tires are overloading, underinflation and excessive speed. Just be careful out there

MyFrontier · 04-27-2011, 10:10 AM

Thanks for your input, honestly I never thought aboiut it that way.