am i wasting gas in 3rd towing uphill?

If I am towing up a steep hill, am I wasting more gas trying to keep a steady speed in 4th? If I shift to 3rd and have more power but lower speed will I be wasting fuel? My trailer is an 8ft bike trailer and my bike weighs about 160 lbs. I have a curt III reciever. Loaded the trailer should weigh about 1600 lbs. I have a prerunner with aal and trd suspension. Are trd ratios different from a base prerunner? I have some trouble getting up some hills in 4th and have to shift to 3rd. Normal? I can maintain a speed in 4th most of the time but if I want to speed up I have to rev it in 3rd.

 

Better off shifting down.

 

I hear about people towing way heavier loads and getting up hills in 5th just fine.. I wonder what I need to change without messing up speed or gas milage. Maybe the hills I am on are steeper... hmm .

 

Can elavation effect it too? The hills I am speaking of are around 2500-3000 ft in the air.

 

I think most people just gas it hard?

I know though if you're driving fast(er) when you hit the hill you have more momentum to lose, obviously, I personally don't gas harder on 99% of hills I go up even not towing with an empty box I downshift on most hills if need be.

 

I towed an older 25ft camper about 80 miles or so and hit a few pretty good hills, or what we call hills in AL. I left it in 4 the whole time just to not mess anything up with that ~5k behind me and once I got up above 60 it never down shifted to my suprise.

 

Ya,I always thought lower rpm= less gas used... not the case apparently.

 

Nice! I wanna get a camper pretty bad.

Here in cali we have some gnarly hills. Long ones too.

 

Higher gear WOT, lower gear you can back off and keep the engine in the highest torque band.

 

Be careful what you wish for the 2.7 will have trouble with any kind of camper other then a popup in the hills.

 

Thats the case when your in the highest gear

 

About 3% per thousand feet.

 

Usually the best gas mileage is achieved when the engine is not being stressed. Get an ultra gauge or scan gauge and you may be surprised.

 

Never worry about gas mileage when towing, it sucks either way; and I know with the 4 banger that 3rd gear is the sweet spot for most hills. I've towed 2580lbs with mine in the past. Worst towing tank I've gotten is 11 and best is 15.

 

My post was assuming the 4.0 so if that doesn't apply disreguard my comment if need be.

 

What is that? Never heard of it.

 

I know I was meaning diff-tranny ratios. I have a base prerunner with modded suspension. (Trd front) heavy duty leafs and shocks in the back with about 3' of lift.

 

Its a 5 speed manual just for the record.

 

With a 4 banger?? Damn that's a pretty standard tank for me, ha.