Quote:
Originally Posted by tru
please dont try and make a little vehicle into a "capable" tow vehicle.
there is more than just grunt of an engine involved in rating tow capacities
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I'm aware of that, and it depends on the vehicle, the trailer, the driver and the conditions. I should note that there are many 'common' warnings like dont tow more than the weight of your vehicle, which are obviously disregarded by semi drivers, and superduty drivers. (look on the trailering boards, people pulling 13 tons with a dodge cummins for instance is not uncommon... is it safe? Well.. in part it depends on the vehicle, trailer, driver and conditions! They haven't had accidents, and some do it for a living. The smaller vehicle's mileage vs what normally requires a semi is what makes it profitable for them.)
I'm not the only one planning to use this information but this is an example of what I already have in my info file:
An acquantance of mine regularily hauls a 3500lb trailer with a Saturn SL2 through the mountains. It's been specially modified, the guy is a CAD engineer and its a weight distributing hitch with connections all the way to the front of the vehicle. It does "emergency avoidance maneuvers" with the trailer, and braking BETTER than any SUV he's tried from the factory unmodified because he REALLY knows what he is doing. (the trailer was also specially made and modified I should add) I'm hoping to get a hitch from him and do some of the same modifications he did. He's done more than 100k trailering miles without a hitch including on icy roads and switchbacks. I know of NO other compact which can handle over 2000lbs of trailer, that normally requires a midsize car just to match that, which get worse mileage. For that matter I know of no other midsize car or small SUV that can move over 3500lbs.
An El Camino was factory rated to tow up to 5000-5500lbs stock just like RWD full frame cars of the era. (like a 96 Chevy Caprice) In that weight class, it's either a RWD full frame sedan/camino, or a small pickup - up to 6400lbs in a 2000 S10 with the 4.3 V6 (higher than all other years including new v8 pickups) though other mini/midsizes also exceed 500lbs. I'm not sure which has the better mileage, they both seat 2 roughly and neither pickup bed is 8ft long. You can swap in a 6.2 diesel in the el camino or caprice probably more easily than the minitruck due to more underhood room but both should be doable. Other diesels like the 4bt would be even more efficient if loud. The midsize pickups don't really pull any more.
Above 6500lbs up to 10,000lbs is where i'm trying to get more information basically, how feasible it is. Currently it seems pickup territory. New 1/2 tons properly outfitted do this, but not with good mileage.
Old pickups were worse though, requiring a 454 seemingly to even be rated this high and typically being a 1 ton. I dont want to haul two cords of wood at 8mpg or it starts to defeat the point. (and reasons for even heavier towing is that - if I can haul 4 cords at 6mpg thats an improvement, etc) I'd love to know whether a fullsize sedan or minitruck or midsize truck could be safely modified to pull something more in this region without the loss of aero for a full size, because I assume it's mostly aero and not weight causing the loads.
Over 10,000lbs i'd like to research but due to the extra hassles (CDL, commercially licensed trailer even for private use) I fully expect to be pickup-only territory. However there are lots of people already doing this on conventional trailering forums so I don't need to research that here. So that mostly leaves the 7000-10,000lb class without a fullsize pickup being a target, if possible. :P
For reference older pickups which came with a 6.2 and similar diesels werent rated to tow over 6400lbs anyways that I can find.
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larrybuck how do you get nearly 30mpg with a 4x4 suburban?? I rarely hear better than 22mpg reported for 2wd.