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brownd View Drop Down
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Joined: 25 Jul 2010
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Posts: 36 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Gas Mileage
    Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 12:55pm
 

I purchased my R Pod 171 4 weeks ago. Overall I am very happy with everything except the mileage I get towing it. Before the Rpod I had a Jayco popup and got 17-18 mpg. Towing nothing I easily get 22 mpg. Due to the specs of the R.Pod, I figured I would get maybe at the worst 15. Actual mileage on 2 trips in areas of some but not a lot of hills was 11-12 mpg. My vehicle is a 2009 Jeep Grand Cherokee with trailer tow package and the 3.7 liter six. I did as the car manual said and auto shifted into 4th instead of drive to ensure that the overdrive did not try to kick in. The car stayed in 3rd almost the entire trip, would not shift into 4th except on dead level pavement with no wind or downhill and my RPMs were 2800 at 55 mph.

The Jeep is rated to pull 3500 pounds on a trailer with a frontal area of 40 sq ft. The R.Pod is well under the 3500 pounds with my added gear and options and according to Forest River the frontal area is between 12 and 25 sq ft. I have read all of the miles per gallon posts on this site and the R.Pod Nation user group site and most six cylinder engines are getting about the same as me. The most interesting posts somewhere on this site were the ones that seemed to show through computer simulation that there may be quite a vacuum forming behind the Pod that really hurts performance and mileage.

My questions are as follows:

Has anyone actually used air deflectors or foils on their vehicle or on the R.Pod and if so, did they help performance or mileage?

Has anyone successfully tried any other devices or techniques to improve performance or mileage?

Thanks
Dave
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popgoesweasel View Drop Down
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Posts: 49 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 7:10pm
The 173T has a small air dam on the back that was put there to ameliorate the vacuum problem.
R171 2010
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techntrek View Drop Down
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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Jul 2010 at 8:14pm
Welcome brownd!
 
popgoesweasel, do you have a pic of the air dam?  Haven't seen it yet.
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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popgoesweasel View Drop Down
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Posts: 49 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 11:29am
I saw it on a 173T at the KY roundup in June but did not take a picture of it.

Here are some links from googling rpod 173t photo  Notice the air dam at the top of the popout.
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brownd View Drop Down
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Posts: 36 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 12:17pm
Thanks for the replies.  The little airdam shows up real good in your first link.  It would be worth a call to forest river to see if mileage and handling is why they put it there or if it is to deflect rain when the extra bed is set up.  It looks like it is on the 2011 and not the 2010, but I can't be sure.  Does anyone out there have the 2011 with that little air dam and does it seem to get better than 10-11 mpg when pulling with a moderate size v6.  I sent them an email with a couple of questions and the one about mileage they refered to an engineer and they have not gotten back with me yet. 
 
I am still interested in hearing from the folks who wrote all the earlier posts that did the computer generated airflow tests to see if they ever had any luck or ever tried their air deflectors or not and if they made a difference. 
 
Thanks
 
Dave
 
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popgoesweasel View Drop Down
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Posts: 49 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 4:43pm
I had asked the FR engineer the question about air flow at the roundup.  He was the one who pointed me to the airdam on the 173T as their first attempt to reduce the vacuum drag on the rpods.
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brownd View Drop Down
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Posts: 36 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 5:26pm
Thanks,
 
That is good news that they are working on it and recognize it as a problem on such a light trailer.  I hope it works and they can make an after market one for those of us who don't have one built on.  As one of the individuals who did the computer airflow tests said it is as though at 55 mph the breaks go on.
Dave
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Posts: 49 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 7:19pm
Dave,

We used your airflow analysis to set our cruise speed at 55-60.

With the Tacoma set for towing ie with overdrive turned off on the gear selector, we got an average of 13 mpg on the recent trip to the roundup from FL to KY and back.  Our non tow milage is double that.

We really like the Tacoma.  Its V6 is more powerful than the V8 that I had in a couple of 60's 'vettes back in the day.  Our TV is the basic non 4x4 model.
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Posts: 9059 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jul 2010 at 8:52pm

 

Originally posted by brownd

it is as though at 55 mph the breaks go on.

Which matches what most of us find out on the highway.  Interesting that wind models show that too.  I might have to rivet on a big-rig air dam above the rear window! Big smile
Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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Posts: 315 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Jul 2010 at 11:46am
After towing the Pod with my 2010 Chevy 1500 Pickup (V8 6-speed auto trans) for about 1,000 miles I have found that I average 13-14 mpg in non-Tow Haul and 8-11 mpg with Tow Haul.  The Tow Haul acts like the 'overdrive off' command on my Jeep Liberty.  I average between 17 to 23 mpg  when not towing.  I was suprised that my mileage on the new pickup was only about 1-2 mpg better than with the 3.7L V6 Jeep!
My dealer suggested that I buy the 2500 model with turbo-diesel for much better mileage but the price difference was more than $8,000.  8K will buy a lot of regular gas so I went with the gas engine.
I am also wondering about the effect of an retro-fit airfoil for the Pod for mileage.  I suspect that Forest River re-inforced the rear of the new 2011 Pods if they are putting foils on at the factory.  I wouldn't want to install a foil on my Pod and have it pull the rear wall apart.
TIDALWAVE
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