Tow vehicles

[Razorback]

I plan on using my 96 Ford conversion van , 4 speed including overdrive trans , 351 Windsor V8 .
all ready has trans cooler so , should be good , right , ?

Is your van an E150, E250, E350? Do you have an owner's manual by chance?

[Tarnished]

Pretty new here but not to towing. Currently own an Argosy 7.2 M. 3500 lb. I use a sway bar and easily pull it. About 18000 miles to date.
I'm looking at a '68 travelcader. Research says dry wt is 4400 w approx 500 tongue wt. this is a little less the my 4 runner 6 cyl is rated, 5000 & 500.
Any opinions on towing the travelcader? Have abt 750 miles to get her home.
What size ball does the hitch require?

[Markinalaska]

Being a new 1981 34v owner I use my old boat hauler, a 1995 4 door long bed f350 with a 460 and a 5 speed. Granny on this thing tops out at about 6 mph. Built to tow but still has issues with the hills here in Alaska. Very seldom get out out of 4th gear which means about half a tank to go 70 miles. But it will pull my 25' boat up our steep ramps at just over idle. When you have 20+ foot tides the ramps go a ways.

[KYAvion]

Tarnished- I bet you'd be fine. Are you towing on mostly flat?

[Tarnished]

Yes, the older I get (72) the less adventurous I get. Generally travel to fla in the winter. North for the summer as far as PEI & Nova Scotia. Gotta hit hills in New England but try to avoid the worst.

[KYAvion]

Sorry, I thought you were just referring to the trip to pick it up. For regular use, I don't know. Once loaded, I'm imagine you will be over the 5,000lb mark. An 8 cylinder would be a more more pleasant experience during your trips.

[rogermimssandi]

2006 Nissan Armada. Towing an 89 30R?P?. 7000 on the axles and 600 on the tongue. Armada rated for 9200 lbs. 10 mpg towing, 15-16 no tow.

[Tarnished]

Have now bot a Toyota Sequoia V8 with a rating of 6500 and 650 hitch wt. Also now searching for a '73 to '77 26' or 28'. The hitch wt would be a little heavier but I travel with empty tanks.
Would a heavier sway bar assist towing ability? The trailer would be near or at the max capacity of the sequoia, also using a wt dist hitch w/sway control. Just looking to make all possible improvements.

[RISK]

2014 Tundra 5.7l 4x4 with huge brakes and the tow package. Rated to tow 10,500. Not the greatest mileage ( +/- 10mpg if I stay around 65 and there are no head winds).
WD and sway make a huge difference.
1978/79 28m (8.9m) with the rear double.

Ian

[Mark R. Obtinario]

It has been a while since this thread was started.

Since we now have a new-to-us Suburban I thought it would be a good time to post.

We now own a 1995 Chevy K2500 Suburban with the 7.4L and 4L85E transmission with 3.78 gears.

We have had it out on three different adventures towing our 1981 34V so I have a little experience with it now.

First, the big block makes a HUGE difference while going up a hill. Hills that the 1993 small block K2500 was barely able to do 40 MPH the big block goes up at the speed limit. Surprisingly, the big block actually uses less gas while towing.

We are still working the bugs out since the rig has sat most of the time--it had 149,000 miles when we got it. I had to replace the muffler on Monday because the muffler blew out on the way home while climbing a grade. Even still, between the purchase price and what we have had to repair since purchase is still less than a down payment on a new or near new Suburban and we don't have a car payment.