Hello all, first time posting here. I've done some reading and lurking, but that's it. I've owned my 2005 Durango SLT 4.7L V8 AWD/FWD with the towing package for four and a half years and love my beastie! One of the things I bought it for was to eventually pull a small camping trailer. I've been looking into buying one that is roughly 5500 GVW, up to 6500 GVW max at the outside. The information on the factory installed hitch receiver says that it can tow 6500 up to 7500 with a weight distributing hitch, but I'm not really wanting to go over 6500.

My questions are:

What kind of fuel economy you folks get with similar setups?

How does this particular setup do heading up grades?

If possible, I'd really like to hear about some personal experiences of others before I invest in a trailer, only to find out there's not enough power under the hood to get the job done or that I could get better fuel economy with a motor home and dolly my Durango behind it as my towed car until I can get a Jeep Patriot or Liberty.

 

I have an 04 Hemi 4x4 so not super relevant but i figured i'd chip in. I tow a 7k car trailer around the front range of colorado without a problem. Normally around town i get 13mpg and with the trailer i believe i estimate roughly 7-8mpg, until i try to cross the divide then i stick her in 2nd gear and take my time but there is plenty of power (HEMI POWER). Since 60% of my driving is with a trailer i have done a couple mod's to help, the two best are the rear towing bags, and the E-Fan, i also have a BullyDog GT that allows me to monitor almost all of the data from my PCM (including trans-temp).

 

Thank you kindly for answering! And, yowch...is that 7-8 mpg in the city, or out on the highway while pulling a trailer? If that's highway mileage, I'm afraid I'd be better off with a motor home than pulling a travel trailer with my Durango. I figure you pulling 7k with your Hemi would be about like towing 6k with my 4.7L.

 

I tow a 19ft extra lite. 7000 lb max loaded rating. Weighs in around 5000 real life at the scale.

With an 04 hemi, tows ok (3.55 gears). No big tow yet but probably 8 or 9 mpg on a slow side highway.

When I had an 04 1500. Quad 4x4 with 4.7, 3.92 gears I got about 9mpg on the highway. Rolled along ok, was slow on highway grades. In flat land with any wind it could just keep highway speed an that was it. You can expect similar with the Durango. It's the wind that kills you. You have to push through that air regardless. The 4.7 is a good motor, just not a speed Nd power machine when towing. Expect to rev it to get up hills.