Towing at altitude not as bad as I expected

[audibahn]

Finally had a chance to put the truck through its paces. Spent a weekend in a loaded truck towing a 5k camper up and down various passes in Colorado, including I70 through Eisenhower tunnel, Leadville, Kenosha Pass, and Guanella pass, with the highest elevations over 11k feet.

My truck is a Sport S Max Tow with 33s and stock otherwise.

Coming from the F150 with the 3.5 Ecoboost I had very low expectations for the tiny 3.6 Pentastar, anticipating to spend most of the drive with the truckers in the slow lane. The Gladiator was on the slower end of traffic but managed well for most of the trip.

Manual shift mode was a must for the entire trip unless I wanted to stay in 3rd gear with a screaming engine the entire time.

Truck power was at its limits on two occasions when cresting the passes at 11k feet. Had to downshift to 2nd gear and 45mph to make it over the hill on the final stretch. Not enough air up there.

Other than that, the truck was able to keep up with traffic going 55-65mph. I was in 3rd or 4th gear on steep inclines and 5th and 6th gear on straights.

Temperatures peaked at 224 for coolant 255 for oil, and 203 for transmission.

I was surprised to get over 10mpg average, about the same as my F150 towing the same camper.

I'm using an Equalizer 10k WDH and the truck was stable and in control with moderate winds and passing semi trucks.

I was disappointed in the Redarc brake controller and need to take a closer look to dial it in.

Overall, the Gladiator absolutely needs more power if towing was my primary use case.

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[RJinPV]

Do you know what your truck and trailer weights were? Did you weigh things on a CAT scale beforehand by any chance? I'd like to see how your experience scales to my Rubicon & trailer setup

 

[audibahn]

Do you know what your truck and trailer weights were? Did you weigh things on a CAT scale beforehand by any chance? I'd like to see how your experience scales to my Rubicon & trailer setup

I took my setup to the CAT scale with the results below. These are WITHOUT people in it, so I'd need to add 350lbs to get the full carried weight for the trip. The truck had gear in the bed that was included on the scale. The camper tanks were all empty.

Truck only:
Steer Axle: 2560lbs
Drive Axle: 2560

Camper hitched and weight distribution NOT engaged:
Steer Axle: 2180
Drive Axle: 3780
Trailer Axle: 4200

Camper hitched and weight distribution engaged:
Steer Axle: 2400
Drive Axle: 3440
Trailer Axle: 4320

The weight distribution removes 340lbs from the rear axle, moves 220lbs to the front and 120lbs to the trailer.

Per the measurements, my camper weighs 5040lbs with 840lbs tongue weight. I need to rebalance the gear in the trailer to lighten then tongue weight.

How does that compare to yours?

 

[RJinPV]

I took my setup to the CAT scale with the results below. These are WITHOUT people in it, so I'd need to add 350lbs to get the full carried weight for the trip. The truck had gear in the bed that was included on the scale. The camper tanks were all empty.

Truck only:
Steer Axle: 2560lbs
Drive Axle: 2560

Camper hitched and weight distribution NOT engaged:
Steer Axle: 2180
Drive Axle: 3780
Trailer Axle: 4200

Camper hitched and weight distribution engaged:
Steer Axle: 2400
Drive Axle: 3440
Trailer Axle: 4320

The weight distribution removes 340lbs from the rear axle, moves 220lbs to the front and 120lbs to the trailer.

Per the measurements, my camper weighs 5040lbs with 840lbs tongue weight. I need to rebalance the gear in the trailer to lighten then tongue weight.

How does that compare to yours?

With 2 adults in the truck and the weight distribution hitch engaged:
Steer axle: 2740 lb;
Drive Axle: 3520 lb,
Trailer axle: 5140 lb:
Tongue weight is about 680 lbs measured separately with a tongue weight scale.

So, you have an extra 600 or 700 lbs GCWR than I do and a trailer that is about 820 lbs lighter. I would likely not fare as well as you did. I was hoping you were heavier to give me some hope that I might be able to have similar performance at altitude. Thanks for sharing your numbers.

 

[audibahn]

Data overload. I made three changes to compare the towing experience:

1. Switched back to stock Dueler 245/75/17 tires from the 285/70/17 KO2s.
2. Changed my WDH from the Equalizer 10k to an Andersen
3. Moved cargo around in the trailer to reduce tongue weight from 840lbs to 760lbs

Results were interesting. The stock tires made a significant positive improvement to towing power. Did not have to use 2nd gear once and stayed mostly in 4th through 6th gear with the occasional 3rd gear up inclines. Getting up to speed was quicker and passing power increased also. Stock tires are 33lbs compared to 51lbs for the KO2s. Assuming 4:10 gear ratio on stock tires, the K02s give me an effective 3.94 gear ratio.

The Andersen hitch introduced slightly more sway during cross winds and transfers less weight off the rear axle compared to the Equalizer. It weighs only 50lbs compared to the 100lbs Equalizer and is much easier to hook up and handle.

Between these three changes, I gained an additional 230lbs of available payload and a better towing experience.

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