Does Anyone Ever Look At-

[Cliffy]

Does anyone ever look at the maximum frontal square footage allowed by their tow vehicle?

My F-150 lists 60 square feet as a maximum. Don't know what the others have.
So an 8' wide by 9' tall TT will exceed the maximum allowed frontal area for my truck (9 X 8 = 72 square feet).

Just wondering if anyone looks at it for control and drag going down the highway?

[tuffr2]

I never see frontal area mentioned much. I mention other trailers like flat bed or even boat trailers are easier to tow than a travel trailer. I mention that bow waves from semi's will push the trailer around. Even TFL use trailers with very little frontal area.

It is like a big cover-up when Ford says tow rating is 9,500lbs on one of their F-150's. They do not mean a travel trailer but a flat bed trailer with weights.

Even now with the 350/3500 series trucks towing 30,000lbs. It is a flat bed goose neck trailer loaded with lead bars. It is not a towering 5th wheel that is 5' or 6' above the cab of the truck.

It drives me nuttier to read 'my truck has tow rating of 9,500 lbs so I am looking at a 36' travel trailer'. And I say for a travel trailer stay 7,000lbs or less and I get push back.

Again, the Frontal area is seldom mentioned and should be mentioned a lot more.

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Does anyone ever look at the maximum frontal square footage allowed by their tow vehicle?

My F-150 lists 60 square feet as a maximum. Don't know what the others have.
So an 8' wide by 9' tall TT will exceed the maximum allowed frontal area for my truck (9 X 8 = 72 square feet).

Just wondering if anyone looks at it for control and drag going down the highway?

I have seen it before and looked at it for myself. It is not a spec that is always easy to find, if at all. It SHOULD be in the trailering section of all owner's manuals.

[1bigmess]

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Does anyone ever look at the maximum frontal square footage allowed by their tow vehicle?

Not since I bought a 3/4 ton diesel. There may be a limit, but I don't need to know it right now.

My F-150 lists 60 square feet as a maximum. Don't know what the others have.
So an 8' wide by 9' tall TT will exceed the maximum allowed frontal area for my truck (9 X 8 = 72 square feet).

Just wondering if anyone looks at it for control and drag going down the highway?

I bought too much pickup truck for my trailer, and it was a bit of an accident. I don't regret it at all.

[Itchytoe]

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Does anyone ever look at the maximum frontal square footage allowed by their tow vehicle?

My F-150 lists 60 square feet as a maximum. Don't know what the others have.
So an 8' wide by 9' tall TT will exceed the maximum allowed frontal area for my truck (9 X 8 = 72 square feet).

Just wondering if anyone looks at it for control and drag going down the highway?

Where do you find that number? I never even knew it was a number that manufacturers put out.

[Arch Hoagland]

Never knew it existed.

Good thing they don't have it for motorhomes.....or do they.

[Gavenger]

Would there also be a calculation for how much of that Frontal Area is mitigated by the Tow Vehicle? As in, X% of Frontal Area is mitigated by a Truck with an open bed or Tonneau cover? Versus a truck with a Shell topper would mitigate a larger % of the Frontal Area? I have not previously seen this spec and if it does exist, it should be listed in the trailering section of all vehicles.

[tuffr2]

I agree, a tonneau cover or truck cap/shell would change aerodynamics a lot. How about the shape of the front cap of the trailer also. I do not know the formula if the front of the trailer is slanted back or curved back like a Lance trailer.

Also manufacturers are making their solo trucks a bit more areodynamic with duck tails off the back edge of the cab and on the tail gate. Is that better when towing or does it make it worse?

[jjackrash]

Originally Posted by 1bigmess

I bought too much pickup truck for my trailer.

No such thing.

[Cliffy]

Frontal area is frontal area regardless if the truck is in front of the trailer.
It is somewhere in the Owner's Manual but you have to look for it.

Heavy towing specs are done with low boy trailers and weights and NOT high and wide 5ers.

Stick your hand out the window at 70 MPH and see how much drag that causes then multiply that by 100 or more and see how much work your tow vehicle is doing at that speed. It ain't the weight that is the problem (only structural) but the work done by the power train is directly proportional to the drag experienced.

More drag, more work required, faster wearing out of the drive train.

Item to think about- think about the pressures on the gears in the differential at high speed/drag operation and the heat generated by same on the rear end oil. New trucks with tow packages have tranny oil temps as standard equipment but no one looks at the rear end temps. Ever try to touch the rear end after a long pull? OUCH!

[kdauto]

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Frontal area is frontal area regardless if the truck is in front of the trailer.
It is somewhere in the Owner's Manual but you have to look for it.

Heavy towing specs are done with low boy trailers and weights and NOT high and wide 5ers.

Stick your hand out the window at 70 MPH and see how much drag that causes then multiply that by 100 or more and see how much work your tow vehicle is doing at that speed. It ain't the weight that is the problem (only structural) but the work done by the power train is directly proportional to the drag experienced.

More drag, more work required, faster wearing out of the drive train.

Item to think about- think about the pressures on the gears in the differential at high speed/drag operation and the heat generated by same on the rear end oil. New trucks with tow packages have tranny oil temps as standard equipment but no one looks at the rear end temps. Ever try to touch the rear end after a long pull? OUCH!

A rear end gets HOT, myself, I never gave it much thought until I burnt my fingers on one. I now replace my rear axle oil more often when doing tougher,long trips. There are videos explaining the engineering behind rear pan design and oil/cooling flow. Some rear end covers are designed for better cooling and have fins.

[tuffr2]

Trucks are amazing.

Maybe the next big thing with be a rear differential cooler.... but How often do the differentials fail vs other components?

All you need to do is tow with the wind one time then tow against the wind to see the big difference in areodynamic drag and MPG and how hard the truck works.

This would be asking for too much but manufacturers could say:

Flat bed trailer - 10,500lbs.
Cargo trailer - 9,000lbs
Boat trailer - 8,500lbs
Travel trailer - 7,000lbs.

Maybe boat and cargo are backward.

[mtofell]

I'd theorize that the reason it's not more of an issue is most people run out of payload long before they run our of pulling power. We all know it's virtually impossible to actually realize the "10,000# towing" rating that the manufacturers love to brag about with the half tons.

[Rhagfo]

LOL!
Our 1989 F250 with 460 had it listed, we then went to our 2001
Ram 2500 CTD and no frontal area listed! ��