Tow Vehicle Pics Thread

[Ewok]

My 1500 was squatted bad (maybe the susp was worn out cause it towed all its life). When the susp is to soft for the load it gives an odd floating feeling. (maybe cause the front is higher than the back). The brakes would stop it just not very well. (i could tell this boat was much heavier than my 2008 BU VLX)Acceleration the truck had plenty of power IF you where at or above 3k RPM. (and that made the truck down shift all the time)It would hardly hold speed on flat growned with no wind at 60MPH. The wide tires on my trailer may add to it being harder to tow also.

Thanks, I'm not disputing that a diesel would tow better, that's a given. I was wondering about the unsafe feeling and this answered it. The squat is why I put helper springs on my 4Runner and it tows much better when it is level, which addresses most of the issues above. For towing my owners manual directs me to use set the automatic transmission to 4th gear instead of drive, which has the 5th gear. This prevents the transmission from jumping up and down gears. I also don't use cruise control when towing, I could not find anything in the owners manual that says don't do use cruise but my grandfathers old chevy said not to use cruise and I haven't used it to tow ever since I've been driving.

[kx250frider617]

2003 dodge ram 1500 4x4 with the little hemi. I would much rather tow with any diesel. I get 8mpg towing and the tranny is constantly shifting.


Towed the same boat with a 02' 7.3 power stroke and a 11' 6.7 cummins and the boat feel non existent behind them. All you guys towing with small vehicles have no clue what safe is until you need to swerve or slam on the brakes. Sure they do fine when everything is perfect but once something gnarly happens you would wish you had a bigger tow vehicle.

My 1500 is perfect for the 21ft boat, any bigger I would wan't a 2500.

[skippabcool]

Heading out for the weekend I had to slam the brakes when a little car cut in front of me then had to stop because all the other cars had stopped. Glad I was in my truck and didn't get pushed around. And I wasn't going very fast.

[Ewok]

My 2003 Avalanche wasn't up to the task either for the 60 mile each way tow. It said it was rated to 6k lbs but even with the sweet 4 wheel disc surge brakes, it still took more than my diesel does to stop it. On Monday I learned the importance of having the right brakes when my surge brakes failed and all I had was the Allison transmission and truck brakes to stop the 6k lb load behind me from 75mph in a VERY short distance. Wow, scared the crap out of me! I'd say the newer 1/2 ton trucks are up to the challenge of these heavy RZ2's/4's but the early 2000's trucks were definitely not. The mfr's definitely got into a towing capacity war with the 1/2 and 3/4 tons and we all benefited.

Heading out for the weekend I had to slam the brakes when a little car cut in front of me then had to stop because all the other cars had stopped. Glad I was in my truck and didn't get pushed around. And I wasn't going very fast.

I've been there too. Discovered that the trailer brakes didn't work coming down a hill to traffic stopped at a red light. Luckily the light turned green and I missed the car in front of me by inches. That was towing my last boat with my grandfathers big'ol station wagon, not fun.

[2thdoc01]

I had a patient in yesterday that was telling me she tows a 30 ft travel trailer with her trailblazer! I bet thats a flipping trip riding shotgun with her! Holy crap that has to be one wild ride when its windy!!!!

[2thdoc01]

Thanks, I'm not disputing that a diesel would tow better, that's a given. I was wondering about the unsafe feeling and this answered it. The squat is why I put helper springs on my 4Runner and it tows much better when it is level, which addresses most of the issues above. For towing my owners manual directs me to use set the automatic transmission to 4th gear instead of drive, which has the 5th gear. This prevents the transmission from jumping up and down gears. I also don't use cruise control when towing, I could not find anything in the owners manual that says don't do use cruise but my grandfathers old chevy said not to use cruise and I haven't used it to tow ever since I've been driving.

The GM trucks have the tow haul mode...which is supposed to change the shift pattern....but mine still hunted for a gear on the interstate. It def was in a lower gear from a stop, but one you got rolling the rpms were down like 500 over norm.

This diesel tows at like 1600 rpm at 70 mph towing.....never bats an eyelash with a grade...and I feel much better going down the country roads bouncing all over the place in this thing thats fo sho!

[racerdave]

I wish I could make the Denali get the gas milage the boat gets

[Fiveflat]

nothing beats a diesel towing period.. HAving a truck thats heavier than the load its pulling is huge. THey brake better they pull better they handle better... =)

My F-350 Dually doesn't weight near the 14K lbs it hauled on a regular basis.
My F-250 doesn't weight near the 9-10K lbs it tows on a regular basis, although I'm slowly getting out of the ranch business so I won't be hauling that much anymore, hence the desire for the F-150 Ecoboost.

A Peterbilt with a 400 Cummins weighs in at around 25-30K lbs., but GVWR is 80,000lbs.

I get what you are saying, but lets keep it real, being a diesel has nothing to do with being heavier than the load.

[Iwndr]

EcoBoost!!!!!!!! Crap my bed is always full of chit anyway, my bed liner is 10 gauge, pack a generator in there when we are camping, four coolers full of ice, an auxiliary fuel tank with boat gas and the Zee follows wherever I go.....

And its never wagged me....


I don't care if you burn gas or diesel, just be using one or the other and I'll keep finding new supplies for ya, drill baby drill

[Nobody]

Clearly you're just a troll, but what you don't know probably on account of ignorance is that there is some truth to this. Particularly for just a boat towing vehicle.
If I didn't have mine paid off, I would probably be looking into getting the Ecoboost in the F-150. Hard for Ford to screw up a gasoline motor.
I'm sick of these small truck diesels constantly breaking down.

I know little about ecoboost, but I did own a diesel and thought at the time it was cool, but there just wasn't a payoff. Would rather have a new truck every 4-5 years and let someone else to monthly repairs.

And no, I'm not a troll. I'm working on a video project to show you a comparison between iPhone and iReality just because you asked.

[robert theisen]

I tow my boat less than a 1/4 mile to the boat ramp and back. I have a 4wd diesel in case of high winds or loose gravel! Also a steep boat ramp!

[Wickedcummins]

My F-350 Dually doesn't weight near the 14K lbs it hauled on a regular basis.
My F-250 doesn't weight near the 9-10K lbs it tows on a regular basis, although I'm slowly getting out of the ranch business so I won't be hauling that much anymore, hence the desire for the F-150 Ecoboost.

A Peterbilt with a 400 Cummins weighs in at around 25-30K lbs., but GVWR is 80,000lbs.

I get what you are saying, but lets keep it real, being a diesel has nothing to do with being heavier than the load.

Not what I ment.. What I was getting at Is I want a Heavy a$$ truck that handles heavy loads better due to its not a 1 lbs truck pulling 1000000000 lbs and the load over comes the truck!

[What she said]

Tow haul on the chevy 1500 changes **** points. (shits at higher RPM)
It also down shits early, but the problem with tow haul... well lets start with the "4L60E transmission" its a 4 speed with lock up (lock-up lowers RPM in over drive. Now to the probelm- in tow haul it goes strait to 4 gear LOCK-UP, and that lowers the RPM, and makes it down shift all the time. Why does it do that??? My guess is because in 4th gear NOT LOCKED UP you have slippage under a load, and we all know slppage= heet, and heet kills transmissions.

[What she said]

One more thing, lock-up acts kind like 5th gear under normal driving. If you watch your tach you will see it drop when you are in high gear and it go into lock-up. Its great for driving, but sucks for towing!

[kx250frider617]

Do any of your guys with 1500 have the problem where the truck constantly up shifts and starts lugging, your speed drops then it down shifts to 4th and speeds up then upshifts and starts the whole cycle again.

That is what really pisses me off about my hemi. It has all the power to tow but the tranny just doesn't know what to do. Then with O/D off the rpms are at 2500-3000 doing 55 sucking the gas.

I just love how my dads 7.3 will tow in O/D, a hill comes up and the turbo spools up. No downshift or anything.