Towing Capacity (1 Viewer)

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Sep 26, 2005
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Inland Empire
What determines the towing capacity? HP, springs? Thinking about a camper trailer that when loaded, will out do the capacity by a few hundred pounds. Tongue weight will be OK. What can be done to increase capacity?
 
springs, axles, frame, driveshaft, transmition all play into towing capacity. heavier springs, maybe an axle swap to d60. rear disc brakes
 
I think brakes are the biggest factor. Yea, the heavier the trailer, the slower you will accelerate especially in the mountains. But for saftey sake, keep the trailer as light as possible or run a trailer with electric brakes.
 
I tow my 7*14 w/ele brakes and it does just fine right up until the hills start. Then its 3rd gear @55.
 
I thought in 2 issues ..

1. Torque, throught, engine, gears, transfer, turbo whatever you want ..
2. Brakes, but you can't brake if you have not enough weight to handle the trailer for example.
 
I would say if your trailer doesn't have electric brakes I'd get some installed..that'll help the stopping issue. I'm not sure what they are called, but you can buy a pair of bolt on leaf packs, that bolt to the top of your leaf springs to stiffen the rearend if the trailer is really tongue heavy. Different opions on that though. But as long as you drive it smart then I don't think you would have too much of a problem. I've got a 20 ft boat that I tow with no problem, buddy down the street tows his pontoon boat with his 40. Good Luck
 
Better check out your cooling system too that little leak on the radiator tank is a sign that the extra heat for extended trips will blow it/ those old hoses will take a beating too. When your towing even on long level roads the rig will run hotter and cool down slower.

Gotta have a trailer? Then get something within the envelope of the cruiser. Everyone allways talks about fjs are over built and they are, but if you push the envelope then your gonna find the weak spots that might not ever show up if you stay in the design limits of weight and and HP

I've know several folks that tried to pull horse trailers with 60s and 62s, not for long did they..handling and hills stopped those rodeos...

all a kinda a matter of opinon which my opinon is easy for me to say, I tent camp out of my 60 and take the RV when I want to go Phat... An't being a American great!



HD
 
I've asked this question to lots of automotive professionals you'd think should know - but no one can answer it. I'm guessing FF rear axle, heavier springs, rear sway bar, bigger brakes, but that's a guess & all I can do to make my 60 tow more (besides the Vortec & 4L60E).

So anyone really know what determines towing capacity?
 
Even the manufacturers are unclear on towing capacity. Last year my boss bought a GMC pickup. I think its a Denali (?) with the four wheel steering. The rear steering is cool. He got it beacause he pulls a horse trailer and the old Ford F250 had a clutch shudder that NO ONE could fix - but that's another story. Anyhow the horse trailer is a "fifth wheel" thing with the hitch mounted in the middle of the bed. Before having someone cut a hole in the bed of his brand new truck, he wanted to verify that the trailer wouldn't void any warranty by overloading the truck. The GMC dealer couldn't answer the question. They wanted to know how much the trailer weighed. Get this, the trailer manufacturer didn't know how much the trailer weighed. The GM corporate help number couldn't answer the question. They wanted to know the tongue weight of the loaded trailer. Its a valid question but don't you think that if you were in the business of building pickup trucks and marketing them as having "the highest towing capacity in its class" BS, that you'd have done some research and might be able to answer a customers questions? We finally dragged a shipping scale out into the parking lot and set the tounge of the trailer on it. I don't remember what the number was but then we took some measurements of the trailer and estimated the weight of one, two, and three horses and their position relative to the axle and their effect on the tongue weight. We came up with numbers that were very close to the rated capacity of the truck. So much for a margin of saftey. Hopefully that's built into the "rated capacity " of the truck. I had to laugh as we balanced the trailer tongue on the scale. Picture a bunch of "cowboys" out on the ranch trying to calculate if their trailer was too much for the truck. Haha. Anyhow the bed got a big hole cut in it, the hitch went in and so far so good. I just found it amusing that GM couldn't say if their truck was up to pulling a horse trailer.
 
I've tow my 1200 pound waverunners with my bone stock 60 and it has been totally fine. I have also towed my 3500 pound 22 foot boat with my 60, and again no real trouble, just abit slower on the freeway (50-60 mph) then I towed my 5200 pound camping trailer with it. It was only for like 5 miles, but it was definately working hard to keep at 50-55 on the freeway. It was also pretty hard to see around it. i don't think i would do it again. lol. But anything under the 3500 pound range is totally fine... at least for my cruiser.
 

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