Better MPG without a WDH??

[Bunker]

Last weekend at a campground, a newbie lady camper said that she got better gas mileage without her WDH spring bars. I asked her why she removed them, and she said that when pulling up to a gas pump, one bar fell off the hanger and swung out, and she needed to remove them to turn..She said that the installing dealer told her to not back up with the spring bars in place!

Looking at her installation, with her Tundra and 5500 lb. TT straight in line, the end of the spring bars did not extend much past the center of the bar hangers.. A criminal installation, IMHO. She said they didn't make towing feel any differently to her without them, which is hard for me to believe unless they were most likely not set up right from the get-go. They were 10K bars, BTW..

But aside from that, she was adamant about getting up to 15% better fuel mileage..No altitude changes, wind direction or speed changes along the second half of her trip, she stated so very confidently..

Finally, my question...How is that possible??

[bikendan]

Anything is possible, to delusional people.[emoji2957]

[babock]

Originally Posted by Bunker

Finally, my question...How is that possible??

It's not possible.

[cboss]

The dollars you may save on GPM is not worth towing without a WDH!

[Oaklevel]

Maybe 15% gas mileage better without the WDH is possible....... if the trailer was gone too........

[Igave]

Adamant pretty well says it all. I’m betting you could talk yourself silly and not change her mind.

[IchLiebeBier]

I would think you COULD get worse gas mileage with them installed, if they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing. Either nose up or nose down, you'll change the airflow over the vehicles, resulting in a change in mileage compared to a baseline. Also, if you're getting less traction on the drive wheels, I would think that would lower the amount too.

Of course, this would mean it was seriously set up poorly. I'm not overly interested in testing the hypothesis.

[ronheater70]

Yea I think its very Plausible. I mean without WDH the rear would ride lower bringing the overall top of camper down, of course the nose of the truck would go up, and maybe send more air over top of the camper rather than into it reducing drag.
Would vary by truck and tongue weight, meaning a more softly sprung truck would sink more lowering the camper even more than something like a more heavily sprung vehicle.

Being A life long Motorcyclist its amazing what a small change in your windscreen does to everything above it.

Sure couldnt imagine 15% though.

[rsdata]

the first time the bars were off she probably towed with a tailwind thus making her believe the bars did the trick and not the wind...

[EdnKat]

Originally Posted by Bunker

Last weekend at a campground, a newbie lady camper said that she got better gas mileage without her WDH spring bars. I asked her why she removed them, and she said that when pulling up to a gas pump, one bar fell off the hanger and swung out, and she needed to remove them to turn..She said that the installing dealer told her to not back up with the spring bars in place!

Looking at her installation, with her Tundra and 5500 lb. TT straight in line, the end of the spring bars did not extend much past the center of the bar hangers.. A criminal installation, IMHO. She said they didn't make towing feel any differently to her without them, which is hard for me to believe unless they were most likely not set up right from the get-go. They were 10K bars, BTW..

But aside from that, she was adamant about getting up to 15% better fuel mileage..No altitude changes, wind direction or speed changes along the second half of her trip, she stated so very confidently..

Finally, my question...How is that possible??

Trying to convince her that she is??? My fuel usage on the computer average, coasting downhill will read 99 mpg.
Now you're getting close to religion and politics.

[EdnKat]

Originally Posted by ronheater70

Yea I think its very Plausible. I mean without WDH the rear would ride lower bringing the overall top of camper down, of course the nose of the truck would go up, and maybe send more air over top of the camper rather than into it reducing drag.
Would vary by truck and tongue weight, meaning a more softly sprung truck would sink more lowering the camper even more than something like a more heavily sprung vehicle.

Being A life long Motorcyclist its amazing what a small change in your windscreen does to everything above it.

Sure couldnt imagine 15% though.

Baloney, with the nose of the T V up, you're running uphill all the time. 🤪

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by ronheater70

Yea I think its very Plausible. I mean without WDH the rear would ride lower bringing the overall top of camper down, of course the nose of the truck would go up, and maybe send more air over top of the camper rather than into it reducing drag.
Would vary by truck and tongue weight, meaning a more softly sprung truck would sink more lowering the camper even more than something like a more heavily sprung vehicle.

Being A life long Motorcyclist its amazing what a small change in your windscreen does to everything above it.

Sure couldnt imagine 15% though.

I would think it's the opposite, the front of the TV goes up allowing the underside components to more directly interfere with aerodynamic forces, thus the wind resistance goes up along with fuel consumption.

[Dustyhd]

It is possible. Many hitch manufacturers mention turning off sway control on the vehicle because it may fight and work against the sway control of the hitch. What happens is the the TV keeps activating differential braking trying to correct for forces being created by the sway control on the hitch. It creates drag and therefore more fuel consumption. I’ve heard of this happening quite a few times.

[Chuck_S]

Many hitch manufacturers mention turning off sway control on the vehicle because it may fight and work against the sway control of the hitch.

Which ones? With a claim of "many" the list should be long.

-- Chuck

[Dustyhd]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Which ones? With a claim of "many" the list should be long.

-- Chuck

I know Blue Ox mentions it and I believe Equalizer does as well right off the top of my head. It can happen with sway control that stiffens the pivot point though.

[lewisra]

Guess I’d better reread the owners manual for my blue ox. And the Ford explanation of when their sway control kicks in. But hey if it’s on the internet it must be true.

[rsdata]

come on guys... 6 inch difference in height of trailer might account for 0.1 MPG difference... maybe, but I doubt it

[A2pfunk]

Originally Posted by Dustyhd

It is possible. Many hitch manufacturers mention turning off sway control on the vehicle because it may fight and work against the sway control of the hitch. What happens is the the TV keeps activating differential braking trying to correct for forces being created by the sway control on the hitch. It creates drag and therefore more fuel consumption. I’ve heard of this happening quite a few times.

On my last TV ('12 F150), I activated the sway control a few times in very windy conditions. It was VERY noticeable when the brakes started activating, the throttle was dumped, the pedal shook, and you heard the noise of the ABS. I would hope she would notice this and mention it as an "oh, but also, the thing tries to drive itself once in a while and everything goes crazy".

[babock]

I have an E4 and I keep the sway control activated. Never been in enough of a sway condition where I felt it. I went through the E4 manual and could not find ANY mention of turning off a vehicles built in sway control.

[Dustyhd]

Vehicle manufacturers will start pulsing the rear brakes long before the dash light comes on. A simple way to test for this is to check the vehicle rear brake temperatures. The next time you are a towing on a windy breezy day or any day for that matter check those temperatures with a non contact thermometer or use your hand but be careful not to burn yourself. If the rear brakes are pulsing your going to lose mpg. This was a big concern some years ago particularly on Fords f150 which seemed to be very aggressive with the stability control. A significant increase in mpg was reported by turning off trailer sway control.