tow vehicles

TresCrows · Nov 1, 2004

"It may scoot some going downhill and with a wind but compared to a 300 hp 8 cylinder engine it's not going to tow very well. Put 7000 lbs. behind that pickup and you will probably be lucky to get 6 miles to the gallon with a V6"

I see nothing has changed, the fellow asked about towing 5,500 lbs, not 7,000. Further, no one said anything about 7,000 lbs behind the Tacoma V6 or the Chevy I5 becasue they are rated, at least the Tacoma at 6,000 so you would not have 7,000 lbs back there anyways.
Depending on how much someone tows even if the tow mileage drops way down if they get better mileage the 95 percent of the time the vehicle is nor being used for towing would that not still be better over all gas mileage?J

cowboydoc · Nov 1, 2004

Ok fine I thought it was 7k or 5500 lbs. what difference does it make??? You are going to get terrible mileage and yes even just towing 5500 lbs. I doubt you get much over 6 or 7 mpg. And towing with a v6 is going to be hard on the engine and you better not be in a hurry going anywhere. I thought this was about tow vehicles?? A v-6 is not a good towing motor in any vehicle whether it's Ford, Chevy, or Toyota.

Lazy · Nov 1, 2004

Hi
I wouldn't have anything other than a one ton dually for a tow vehicle. Bigger is better.

Charlie.

RobertN · Nov 1, 2004

You could keep going up the line with this, and going, and going... A 345hp v8 will outpull the 300hp v8 too...

5500lb to 7000lb should tow fine behind a newer midsize or 1/2 ton with the newer v6's and v8's. There is no doubt it would tow nicer behind a bigger truck like a 2500, 3500, or 450 series. From the original post though, it did not appear they needed that much truck. If it was a daily use thing, I would lean immediately towards a 3/4-ton. For occasional use, a midsize or 1/2-ton would be fine.

I like the way you work with trucks; you work hard, and get large powerful trucks that are up to extreme duty. This sounds like a light duty application though.

BTW, the mention of weight disti hitch was good; it is recomended for 5000lb+ and Tongue wight of 500lb+

LarryRB · Nov 1, 2004

Geeze,
you're hurting my feelings.. I have a Dodge with a 6 cyl. Seems to tow fine with my 12000 gvw trailer all loaded up.. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Phred · Nov 4, 2004

Richard,

I was under the impression the new ford was also a inline 6 like the cummins. Sorry for the confusion.
When I bought my truck I did not look at the new engine beacuse the ford was longer than the dodge and that was a key issue for me.
The cummins engine was also quite attractive.

6.0l Power Stroke Turbo Diesel 32-valve V8 according to ford.
hp 325 @ 3,300
Torque 570 lb-ft @ 2,000

Cummins Turbo diesel5.9L inline 6 cylinder according to Dodge.
325 hp @ 2900 rpm
600 lb-ft torque @ 1600 rpm

Fred

RobertN · Nov 5, 2004

Some years back I knew somebody who had to take thier truck back! I think it was a Ford, but the brand was not of issue.

Seems the particular neighborhood had tough CCR's. They did not allow vehicles parked outside overnite. He had bought this brand new truck, drove the 5-10 miles home, only to find it was too long to fit in the garage /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif He called the dealer, and went right back down there... They took it back without hasslle; guess they had seen this happen before.