Questions on towing with the Jeep Gladiator, non diesel

[Heleri]

Hi Everyone, got some questions for all those that tow with the gladiator using the 3.6 Pent. Engine.
Freeway speeds?? How fast are you towing for best gas mileage?
What gears does your gladiator hood at?? Can you get to 6th, 7th, or even to 8th gear?? What is your gas mileage looking like??
i am towing a 16ft jay feather. And my gas mileage was pretty bad. I was at 16.6 before the trip and by the end of the trip does to 11.3 mpg. What recommendations do you have to improve mpg?? My gladiator really only stayed in 5th gear holding about 3500 rpm. Which really surprised me with an 8 speed trans.

thank you for your guidance in advance.

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[Farmer Fran]

11.3 is not bad. Did you try manual mode and upshift?

 

[Gvsukids]

Hi Everyone, got some questions for all those that tow with the gladiator using the 3.6 Pent. Engine.
Freeway speeds?? How fast are you towing for best gas mileage?
What gears does your gladiator hood at?? Can you get to 6th, 7th, or even to 8th gear?? What is your gas mileage looking like??
i am towing a 16ft jay feather. And my gas mileage was pretty bad. I was at 16.6 before the trip and by the end of the trip does to 11.3 mpg. What recommendations do you have to improve mpg?? My gladiator really only stayed in 5th gear holding about 3500 rpm. Which really surprised me with an 8 speed trans.

thank you for your guidance in advance.

If you want better mpg, buy a smaller camper or tow at slower speeds. I tow a boat at 65 in my Max Tow, and use manual mode to keep out of 8th gear. More power? Buy a diesel or bigger truck.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Hi Everyone, got some questions for all those that tow with the gladiator using the 3.6 Pent. Engine.
Freeway speeds?? How fast are you towing for best gas mileage?
What gears does your gladiator hood at?? Can you get to 6th, 7th, or even to 8th gear?? What is your gas mileage looking like??
i am towing a 16ft jay feather. And my gas mileage was pretty bad. I was at 16.6 before the trip and by the end of the trip does to 11.3 mpg. What recommendations do you have to improve mpg?? My gladiator really only stayed in 5th gear holding about 3500 rpm. Which really surprised me with an 8 speed trans.

thank you for your guidance in advance.

Mountain towing is tougher, if you are in mountains and higher elevations, you lose mpg and horsepower.

I tow 5,000 pounds - car on car hauler.
I will only drive 65, that's it.
I have gotten 13.9 on a round trip towing.
The gear keeps changing. I don't often see 8th towing unless going slightly down-grade or perfectly level with no wind.
I see a lot of 3300 RPM, and even 4300 RPM on the hills and grades around here.
6th gear isn't much problem.
Even my 2011 Silverado with LS V8 wound up to the upper 4,000s when towing in our hills.

 

[bleda2002]

I think you might have mildly unrealistic expectations if you think 11.3 is all that bad with that much wind resistance behind you.

That said i find 63 is my best mpg, with me in manual mode keeping it around 3K rpm's. I'm in the 9-10 range with a 4600 lb 7.5' wide 23 foot camper, but i'm also on 5.13's and 38's so for me i consider it not all that bad.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I think you might have mildly unrealistic expectations if you think 11.3 is all that bad with that much wind resistance behind you.

That said i find 63 is my best mpg, with me in manual mode keeping it around 3K rpm's. I'm in the 9-10 range with a 4600 lb 7.5' wide 23 foot camper, but i'm also on 5.13's and 38's so for me i consider it not all that bad.

Yeah, pulling a big sail matters. Not just weight.
I figured going in that if my JT can match my Chevy towing mpg numbers, I'd be really happy. So far the JT has met or exceeded that.

 

[Idlethunder]

Yeah, pulling a big sail matters. Not just weight.
I figured going in that if my JT can match my Chevy towing mpg numbers, I'd be really happy. So far the JT has met or exceeded that.

Same here coming from a Ford F150 3.5 ecoboost. I've towed the same trailers with both and depending on the wind I get 1 to 3 mpg better with my Gladiator. Being smaller and with a much lighter tow capacity, I also drive 5 to 10 mph slower with the Jeep which accounts for the better fuel mileage.

 

[JTGuy]

I have a Ram 2500 2014 diesel and have towed a 8500 pound d TT thousands of miles in every kind of weather. I still have it but not the TT. I would not want to tow a TT over 4K pounds and less than 24 ft. Wind and issues would make towing with the JT a white knuckle time.

 

[DylanM]

I'd call 11.3 mpg with the 3.6L pulling a travel trailer pretty good. For perspective my previous tow vehicle was an Expedition with the Triton 5.4L that averaged little more than 6 mpg pulling a Fleetwood 180CK at 65mph... I would have been ecstatic to get double digit mileage.

 

[JTGuy]

My towing problem is solved. I find a nice hotel that takes dogs, pack a bag, eat at restaurants and don't spend thousands for a TT. I did the TT thing for over 20 years and I am just over all of it. $250+ a night for a nice hotel is fine with me. Many RV campground have cabins also. Traveling in the fast lane works for me.

 

[RJinPV]

My trailer is about 5800lbs and I keep speeds at 55 mph, 58mph tops. I feel I am at the max for the Rubicon. I let the auto transmission choose the gears for the most part. I never see 8th gear. On level ground it’ll occasionally be in 7th. Hills will cause it to downshift to 4th, sometimes 3rd gear for the steep grades. My mileage is between 10 and 12 mph depending on the hills. As everyone else has said, your mileage is typical while towing. If you want better mileage need a lighter trailer and a trailer with a small cross section such as a folding camper.

 

[PuddleJumper]

generally with towing on the heavier side and the draggier side. you don't wanna cruise in your overdrive gears 7 and 8. You can try and manually shift to them but it'll bog immediately and safety kick you back down some gears. Your glady is already tuned to run efficiently as possible with whatever load is on it. If your heavy on the skinny pedal cus you wanna do non towing speeds, yeah your gonna be in 10s real quick. I wouldn't bother with manual mode except to hold the lowest gear possible for your desire speed when doing a descent at a serious grade. When i tow, I don't bother to go past 65 mph unless i got a downhill to assist. There's really no point in towing fast anyways. lots of mountain grades will also kill your mpg, not much you can do about that. If you must go 70 plus no matter what. Get a bigger truck, but there's no solution for mpg, unless you go diesel.

 

[IamPro2A]

There's plenty missing from the equation. Is your JT bone stock? Does it have the max tow option (which has different gearing than a regular Sport S)? Lifted? Different tires? Re-geared? If the tires or gears are not stock, has the computer been reprogrammed with the correct tires/gears?

Your profile pic looks like your tires are much larger than stock on a Sport S, and your only other post was a recent one about regearing. Larger tires on stock gears, especially if they are the base Sport S 3.73 gears (as opposed to the 4.10s on the Sport S Max Tow) are gonna suck really bad for towing. If you have larger tires and have not reprogrammed the computer, it's gonna suck even worse.

 

[Osteodoc08]

Your MPG is as expected. Slow down, take your time and enjoy the ride.

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