Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

hey guys, i'm in the market for an old used 4x4 with better fuel econ than my 454. whats the minimum engine size you would want for occasionaly towing a bass boat or pontoon?

Flat or hilly a small v8 like a 4.6 in Ford, high hills and mountains a Hemi or 5.4 +
All with a minimum limited slip and towpackage with plenty cooling

Brandon,

shoot for an f150 v-8 KC- Craigslist!

http://kansascity.craigslist.org/search ... catAbb=sss


I love my sport trac but dont take to many hills with it.

If you find one in KC let me know I'll look at it for ya!

I concur on the Ford F-150 with 4WD and 4.6. My '99 has 134000 miles and still looks and runs great. Best 6,000 I ever spent (bought it on eBay in '06).


The Party Cruiser makes it look kinda small though

My V-6 sport trac does fine with my 20' Harris but we don't really have any hills here. The highest point in Florida is 346 feet and I have 600 miles to get up there.

Another Sport Trac!!! We have 3 in our family Love em!!!

I disagree with the small Ford V8. I bet you would not get much of an improvement over the 454 while towing. I say you can't beat a Chevy 5.3 for economy and light towing. I have had a 5.7 hemi and a 99 and 96 454 chevy along with a 03 5.3 GMC. The 454 would get 11 mpg towing, the Hemi got 10 and the GMC while having the hardest time keeping speed and pulling hills gets almost 12. The 454 while not towing gets only 12 the Hemi 18 and the GMC almost 20. Is your 454 a 96 or newer? Personally I think it is the best non-diesel towing motor, they just suck in day to day driving. That is where the 5.3 is so good and still has plenty of towing power. My brother has a newer 5.4 Expedition and it will only get 15 not towing. Another friend with a 01 4.6 F150 says even towing a 4 wheeler is tough.

I have a 06 ram 4.7 2 wheel drive, it pulls my 24'er no problem and gets about 13mpg without a load I get about 17......I wouldn't drive anything but a dodge....but that's just me

I do all my towing with my 1998 Toyota Sienna Van from 28 foot on down-have been doing so for over two years.
http://picasaweb.google.com/shootmor/Fi ... ampingTrip#
Click on the individual pics to enlarge them

We have towed ours with both a 5.4 V8 Expedition and a 4.0 V6 Explorer

The Explorer tows as well or better than the Expedition, and gets 11-12 mpg while towing in very hilly conditions, and 19-20 when not towing.
The Expedition gets 9 -10 towing and 15-16 when not towing.
The only plus to the Expedition over the Explorer is towing in a heavy cross wind, you feel it a LOT in the Explorer and just a little in the the Expedition.
But in the Expeditions defense it does have almost 200,000 miles on it.
The trans/gearing in the Explorer seems to be better suited to towing, it has a 5 speed auto with OD , while the Expedition has a 3 speed auto with OD

I tow our boat with a v6 Honda pilot. It is rated to tow 5500 lbs I believe.

I'm trying to get an older truck. 80's something I dont have to call a stealership for if somthing breaks.

call me oldfasioned, but carburated over fuel injected any day

craigslist Brandon! there were some older ones one that search....

I used my dad's 305 regular cab short bed 86 Chevy one summer to tow our boat. It was terrible, it got about 7mpg towing and the ac didn't work. In it's defense I think the carb was running pretty rich. Those 300ci straight 6 Ford trucks are really good on gas and still tow pretty well. A buddy of mine bought a 2wd manual one in Seattle and it got 20 mpg back to Montana empty. My grandpa used to tow a pretty big 5 wheel back and forth to Arizona every year with one as well although he didn't care about going fast LOL! I think 86 and older were carbed and 87-96 were fuel injected.

thanks guys. I wouldnt be towing anymore than 50 miles (when i tow) mainly gonna be a daily driver