Towing with a 4bt

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Hi Everyone,

I'm doing some research on my build up of a 60 with a 4bt. One thing it needs to do is tow my 40 on a trailer. About 6000lbs.

Do y'all think it can handle it ok? What about in the mountians?

Thank you,
 
Jeff,
This is going to be freaking cool..Where are getting the motor from?

I would think that power wise you'd be OK. Tons of torque. What are you going to use for a tranny? H55F? NV4500?
 
The power was enought for sure .. but it depends what tire size you gonna run and if your trailer have brakes or not ..
 
The "plan" is since it will 4" lift to fit the motor, I'll be running 35s. I am not that familiar with gear ratios of 60s but I saw one post he had 3.70.

Dave, not to sure about all the details. I'm just starting to gather the information (and the money). I'm even thinking about a 700R4 tranny. If not auto, some sort of 5 speed. I found a guy in Segien that has 4bts.
 
has nothing to due with the engine IMOp and everything to do with the chassis/brakes etc. Your about 3000 lbs over what you can pull. Why not just get a full size truck to do it?


sure you will have the power to tow it.
 
This idea started with building an FJ60/4bt to kill 2 birds with 1 stone, expedition and tow vehicle. There are some trips we (family and I) want to go on, but my 40 is not suited to travel on the road and needs to be towed. It's setup to be a rock crawler. Example of a trip is the yearly Sliverton, Co trek. Very cool event. You wheel all around on the mountains. But you travel by road to get to the trails.

I do have an F350 I tow with now. I plan on selling it to fund this project. My trailer has 1 brake axle so the 60 will have help stopping. I do understand your point about the tow vehicle to load weight ratio.

How much does a 60 weight?
 
The 60 weighs about 2200kg which is about 4800lbs.
You will also need a 4inch lift to get diff clearance under the oil pan which is going to leave it sitting nice and high.
I dont think its a good combo to tow 6000 lbs through the mountains.
If it was me I would want more weight over the rear axle of the tow vehicle to keep the trailer under control if something goes wrong.
 
brownbear said:
has nothing to due with the engine IMOp and everything to do with the chassis/brakes etc. Your about 3000 lbs over what you can pull. Why not just get a full size truck to do it?


sure you will have the power to tow it.

Exactly! Been there....done that with a 4BT powered FJ60. I hauled about 7500lbs with my 60/4BT. The motor had no problems but it was on backroads and I did not reach speeds in excess of 40mph.

You should not have any problems with a 4BT pulling a trailer with a 40 on it. It will pull it just fine. The problem that I found was the sway in the rear end since the 60 is not heavy enough. Very, very scary.

I recently met a guy with a 67 GMC pickup with a 4BT in it. He has had the motor in it for about 10 years and has been cross country several times pulling a 16 flat bed trailer with his restored 57' Chevy on it. He has had no problems with it. But, his truck has a longer wheelbase and is set up for towing.

I would not advise making a 60 into a tow rig. I tried to get the best of both worlds and it did not work out very well for me. If you want a tow rig.....buy a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup. Just my $.02
 
Same here.. But that said I towed all the time with my 55, even cars and such but keep in mind it is like towing with a short wheel base 1/2 pickup with a 305 or something like that.. Can be done but not ideal.. But strangely the 4BT almost seemed to run better with a massive load, I wish I had picts of towing a '69 FSJ Wagoneer on a 2500 trailer, that was some load.. But again it did great, even SOA.. andre
 
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