engine size for occasional towing

[ROLAND]

We traded in our 06 gmc Envoy and recently bought a 2010 Toyota 4 runner. It has the 4.0 6 banger but pulls our 20 footer with no issues at all, hills or no hills.... also have used it to pull my sons boat which is a 22 footer... with his boat, you can tell it's back there, but it still pulls it just fine.... with our 20 footer we get about 18 mpg, with my sons 22 footer it drops down to about 16.5 mpg...

new truck and boat.jpg (289.35 KiB) Viewed 3420 times

Paul's boat.jpg (283.49 KiB) Viewed 3420 times

[badmoonrising]

Another friend with a 01 4.6 F150 says even towing a 4 wheeler is tough.

Then his truck must have mechanical issues, because I've towed:

The PC from Baltimore (2 hour drive), not a problem. It's 5500 lbs. dry and tows like a house. This was up I-95 in heavy traffic.

Kubota excavator several times, about 7500 lbs., not a problem.

6 wheeler, which is 3x as heavy as any ATV, don't even know it's back there.

Industrial chipper shredder...again, not a problem.

Oh, and the Starcraft every weekend 3 hour round trip fishing, don't even know it's back there and has no noticeable effect on my gas mileage, it's about 1100 lbs.

Several times a year a landscape trailer loaded to the hilt with firewood, several times loaded with rocks when I was building my pond.

I get 17-18 mpg not towing and about 12-13 towing the PC. Towing capacity is 8800 lbs....

[woolznaz]

It's not just what engine it has, but you also must consider what rear end it has. The gear ratio in the rear end will have a HUGE impact on what something can tow and how well it tows. My '99 Toyota 4Runner (V6) will out pull my '07 GMC 1/2 ton Sierra (small V8) because the Sierra had the very lightweight gears and was NOT set up for towing. I think the tow capacity on the GMC was just 4300 lbs with its set up, despite being a 1/2 ton full size american pick up truck with a V8. Most Sierras will have a much higher tow capacity than that, but that really is all mine was equipped to tow. The much smaller Toyota with the older V6 had a 5000 lb towing capacity. It was all due to the rear end gears.

So, all I'm saying is to check what rear end it has before you consider buying it for towing. That probably explains why Ed's F150 pulls great, and someone else's does not. I bet they have different rear end gears. You can usually check the axle codes on the driver's door or in the glove box on a sticker. Get to know those codes and what they mean for whatever manufacturer you are considering and you'll know how much it can tow.

[The_Hellbilly]

I have a 96 3/4 ton Chevy w/150K miles on it. It may be worth 3K max. I still get 18mph typ. and 13-15 pulling the toon. It's 2wd but has a limited slip diff. Every year, I hook up and pull 5k+ of calves to the city which is about 120 miles away. I do reg. maintainence and have never had a problem. Many times I have put my toon in and out on a beach when a ramp wasn't available. It's not good on the exhaust, but it works.

[AaronR]

If it were me I would look for a 1988 to 1996 f150 with a 5.0 or a 1996-2000 explorer with the 5.0. I have owned both and loved them both. Currently I have a 2000 Explorer with the V8 and it has towed a 3000lbs car pretty easily for me. Tows my small fishing boat without a problem or my jetskis. The f150 was geared a little better for towing but the explorer does get 20mpg highway unloaded and 12-15 with a load. The f150 got 16 unloaded and 10 loaded. I will be looking for another older f150 soon! they are easy to work on too...If they ever need work, mine didnt.

[badmoonrising]

13400 miles, other than routine maintenance just an alternator at 133 k, discovered the bearings in my A/C compressor clutch were bad. Can't complain. The Dodge and Chevy guys seems to spend a lot of time at the dealership

Besides, Ford isn't owned by Obama.

[GregF]

Our old 85 F150 did a great job towing the boat after we swapped the 2 core radiator for a 3 core and that was the 300CI 6 cyl. Old Fords were notorious for having too small a cooling system to tow in hot weather. The 3 core radiator fixes that.

[Hersbird]

There is nothing wrong with my friends 4.6 Ford. 4.10 gearing or not there is now way that small of a motor in a full size 4x4 will not tow like a dog. I suppose some of you are in some pretty low elevation, flat states, but you certainly know you are pulling even a small trailer on the rollercoaster roads of western Montana! Even my 2wd cammed 454 with 4.10 gearing let's you know you have a trailer when you hit the hills, and it makes about 430 ft-lbs of torque.

[badmoonrising]

There is nothing wrong with my friends 4.6 Ford. 4.10 gearing or not there is now way that small of a motor in a full size 4x4 will not tow like a dog. I suppose some of you are in some pretty low elevation, flat states, but you certainly know you are pulling even a small trailer on the rollercoaster roads of western Montana! Even my 2wd cammed 454 with 4.10 gearing let's you know you have a trailer when you hit the hills, and it makes about 430 ft-lbs of torque.

Nope, the I-95 corridor isn't exactly "flat" especially crossing the Susquehanna valley and I was able to maintain 65 mph (more but traffic wouldn't allow it). Besides, the bridge near my house is tall as hell and I have to cross it all the time...everything I need to pickup is ALWAYS on that side of the bridge. Towing anything, as long as you don't go beyond it's rating, it tows fine. Suspension didn't even bat an eye towing the excavator.

I'll compare any gas engine equipped similar sized pickup, foreign or domestic with my truck towing similar loads. I've owned pretty much everything and the Ford seems to handle towing best.

I also hunt in NE and North Central PA. (aka mountain country) never had an issue towing ATVs and boats there. Also towed my Starcraft 10 hours down to the Outer banks (NC) in 2007, beat everyone else down and I was the only one towing a boat...of course GPS and EZ Pass helped (a little). All I know is, I got there and had a few beers before everyone else arrived

[Hersbird]

Yes I-95 is flat if you ask me, your entire region is! Even the great plains have more ups and downs then the both Carolina's combined. NE and Penn don't have mountains they have hills. We have hills here to, that's usually the best place to build something like a road! So picture the worst hilly roads in say Penn or TN and that's just a normal here to there around here, maybe the drive from your home to the office. Then when you want to get to the lake you have to go to another town because for some reason God drained the lake that formed the valley I live in a long time ago. So you then have to cross a mountain, which is never just and up and a down, but seeming endless ups and downs followed by a climatic 5-10 mile assault where you gain 4000-7000 feet. On top of that even at the lowest elevations the air is thinner and you make no where near the advertised horsepower. This is why almost everybody towing anything substanial around here has a turbo. A turbo will negate the effect of altitude, plus they make awesome torque. Yes I have towed my boat with my Grand Caravan and it did it, even buzzing along just fine a 65 mph down the flat interstate. It kept up with traffic, it stopped, it accelerated I suppose if I lived near sea level in flat lands I may have stuck with it for the 5-10 trips I take to the lake every year. Heck it even had load leveling rear suspension and 4wd for the ramps!

Here is the flat lands of eastern Montana


Here is the montain you have to cross to get to the best lakes around here.

I guess it's just a differnt experience and you are probably right the and v-6 or v-8 would probably be just fine anywhere east.

[badmoonrising]

2,693 feet isn't exactly a hill, (Poconos, where I hunt) and I never mentioned a v-6. I said that my truck tows everything that I want to tow without problems. As for weight, you barely know anything's back there unless you are approaching 4000 lbs. even so, it tows without issues.

[GregF]

Those boys start at 6,000 feet and go up more than 2700 feet from there. The East does have hills.
We have traveled all over the West over 5 fly/drive vacations and I agree, they have mountains out there.

[lakerunner]

I had a 01 supercrew with 4.6 v8. Here in Okla it pulled my then 24' pontoon or anything else just fine. We had kids in Idaho and 2 trips there I thought the truck would die before we got out of mountains. I had to manually do overdrive as going up it constantly shifted up and down. On last trip in it along the mountains near Silverton my tranny light came on. After rest it was fine as far as fine goes. I had the tow pk along with limited slip. I told Betty no more trips there in that truck. Hated to get rid of it as in Oklahoma it was a sweet ride and after 114,000 still looked new.

[badmoonrising]

When towing, you're supposed to turn overdrive off...

[BassFrequency]

I wouldnt mind having a 5 speed. I learned to drive a stick this summer at the marina and i love how mush easier speed controll is on hills