Found the one thing this brick is good at

[comptiger5000]

Apparently, the Jeep gets decent mileage when towing. Yesterday, I towed a 6x12 uhaul trailer home from college (about 3000 lbs loaded). I filled up twice during the trip, but not at the end, so I only have mileage numbers for about 3/4 of the 350 mile run.

On the first leg, which was reasonably flat, with some mild hills, and about 20 minutes of very slow moving traffic, I got 12.8 mpg. However, on the second leg, with a lot more hills (mostly long, moderate hills, a few mild ones, and a few steep ones), I got 14mpg. Keep in mind, I typically get about 17 - 17.5 on those same hills without a trailer, and 18 - 20 on flat ground, and 18 - 21 on mild hills. I had the cruise set at 60 pretty much the whole time.

Looking at those numbers, I probably could have seen 14 - 15 mpg on the first leg if I had let the Jeep use 4th gear (I kept it locked down to 3rd to avoid having to downshift for every hill or to accelerate, as it could do little more than hold speed in 4th). Tranny is a 4 speed auto, and it held 3rd gear and TC lockup up all the hills no problem.

Overall, I'm quite impressed. I was expecting no more than 12 - 12.5 mpg on the run, but the Jeep beat that by a good margin. The total weight of the Jeep, passengers, trailer and cargo was in the range of 7500 - 7800 lbs.

[ChiefsBuggy]

Nice work! Glad you are watching the gauges!

If you want to improve something, measure it!

My Jeep (1977 - CJ7) used to love towing light payloads. She behaved better and got better mileage (back then I didn't measure, but it was improved). The handling was the big improvement... until I towed a boat trailer that was nose heavy! CRAP!

Remember, COG should be 1" in front of trailer wheels for every foot of trailer.

[comptiger5000]

I might have been a hair nose heavy when loading the trailer, but I think I was pretty close. Based on how far the rear suspension dropped, tongue weight was in the 300 - 350 lb range. She was stable as a rock on the highway though. Oh, and I had the A/C on the entire time too.