Towing w/ truck topper

[steamboatscott]

Thinking of ditching my truck topper and curious if anyone has personal comparisons of towing a travel trailer with and without a topper. I'm assuming most started without and then got a topper. I'm wondering if airflow is better with the topper, possibly resulting in better gas mileage, less sway, etc.

[Canonman]

If we still had our Wildwood TT, we'd still have our topper. Did not notice any difference towing and no change in milage when we took the topper off to upgrade to the 5th wheel. I do miss having a hard cover over the generator and other misc. camping gear we carry in the truck bed. Had to settle for a trifold bed cover for when the Cougar is parked.

[cabldawg]

It's not an exact comparison but towing with my 2000 Excursion 7.3 gets better mileage than my 2000 f250 7.3. Same gears.

[JRTJH]

When we were towing our 34' Holiday Rambler travel trailer with our 93 F250 7.3l diesel 8' bed, we had a wedge shaped fiberglass shell on the truck. Our fuel mileage with the shell on was about 3/4 to 1 MPG better. The shell helped flow the wind over the front of the trailer and acted as an airfoil to improve mileage. That shell was "markedly taller" than typical "wedge shaped" covers. Today's "shorter shells" likely wouldn't work as well as that shell, but that's only an opinion, I've not towed with the current "not as tall" shells to have a direct comparison.

[kjohn]

We have a topper. Everybody and his dog doesn't need to see what is in the box.

[cookinwitdiesel]

I will be pulling my trailer with an Undercover Elite on my truck. Just a lid, not a full topper. Truck bed security was my main driver (generator, gas, spare propane, grill, other odds and ends will all be in the truck bed a lot of the time).