How do I pick a tow vehicle

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Im thinking about going a different route. What kind of a small truck or jeep makes a good tow vehicle. I need something strong enough to pull one of my solar trailers ( 5 x 10 or 6 x 12 ) both weighing maybe a little over 1000 lbl's and is ok being towed without doing damage to it. Got any idea's?

[Mark R. Obtinario]

Short wheelbase vehicles like a Jeep or a Scout don't lend themselves well to towing anything very large. Their short wheelbase work against a large tail.

Having said that, if you use a good load equalizing hitch and some sort of sway control in addition to trailer brakes it is possible to tow considerable loads with short wheelbase vehicles. Or course, adverse conditions such as high winds can make towing very interesting.

Just as in buses there is no one-size-fits-all bus there is no one-size-fits-all tow vehicle.

It all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish both while towing and without the towed.

If you can, find a vehicle that has the factory tow package already installed. This will allow much easier access to the wiring harness to wire up the trailer lights and brakes. It will also be less expensive than adding the equivalent equipment (larger/extra cooling capacity, larger alternator, heavier duty springs, transmission cooler, etc.) later.

The larger the engine the easier it will be to maintain highway speeds while towing.

High speed rear ends that lend themselves to good fuel economy will work against towing ability.

Small or mid-size don't necessarily mean they will be less expensive to purchase or to keep. Many times a full size without all the bells and whistles can do a better job than a small or mid-size with all the bells and whistles.

It all comes down to what meets your needs the best.

[Dusty]

Yeah, what Mark said.

An example of try before you buy.

I had a small (12ft) vintage caravan (1960 Starliner). I towed it with my wifes '73 Monte Carlo. 350v8 Plenty of power.

What a terrible experience . The Monte had such soft suspension , the trailer was able to significantly effect the quality of the travel experience . The car jerked and swayed at every puff of wind and alteration in the road surface.

So I chose to use my '72 Mercedes 240D (67 hp diesel) instead.

Seriously underpowered, it could only achieve 50mph with the caravan on . BUT , it did so with complete aplomb, perfect road manners , smooth ride NO dramas .

The old mercedes was the complete opposite to the Chevy .

Suspension setup matters.



couldn't resist throwing a pic in there ....

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Where the hell did you find a '73 Monte Carlo in NZ?

[Dusty]

LOL , when I was an apprentice Aircraft mechanic , I worked for our national airline. We were based at Christchurch Airport, right next door was the Deep Freeze Operation , flying support to the Antartica.

The Deep Freeze staff bought their cars out with them , and shipped our Model A Fords back .

I remember watching that particular car come off the Starlifter (in 1974) and thinking , ewww , thats ugly , but , "hey guys , look at the MACH1 mustang behind that gross chevy" .... LOL .

Funny how fate gets back at you eventually , turns out it was my wifes dream car .

Actually , it was a nice low mile example , it had been in storage for 16 yrs before we bought it.

Long gone now , but I still have the Benz

[Dusty]

Not a tow car , but fun the rest of the time.

Actually , I have found my old Chevy truck with the leaf springs ok as a tow vehicle. There must be something modern with a stable base you can use . . oh. . wait .... that was your original question ...

sorry.

[longjohn]

dennis,
ditto what every on else said , plus where you live and will be using this tow vehicle most you need some thing that has braking power also , more than likely your utility trailers dont have brakes( maybe they do) you know the traffic so you get the point





Dusty , wow what a nice Monte Carlo

[Griff]

You may want to consider taking another look at this shorty, it might cover two bases for you:
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/1780788190.html

[Stealth Camper]

I had 66 Pontiac Star Chief and (still have) 1970 Cutlass, both of which have pulled some small to medium trailers. One thing I did to both of those (serious mush-mobiles!) was to have 'custom' coil springs with heavy duty shocks. Made a little stiffer ride - not that much, but very much improved trailer pulling. Very good.

Also, saw one of these come through the home park a couple weeks ago. Moves the trailer pivot and load point to just behind the axle. This is one sweet setup for a pull trailer. It was on a Dodge Ram diesel, but they make smaller ones for cars, I think. Was told they are kind of pricey, but goes a long way toward eliminating sway and solves equalizer hitch situation.

http://www.pullrite.com/pullrite.htm

[Stealth Camper]

Further sanity check. The hitch from PullRite goes on 1/2 ton pickup as smallest. Sorry about mislead.

I bet I could adapt one to the Cutlass, though!

[graydawg]

I have seen 2 fifth wheel travel trailers set up to be pulled with a suv by using a trailer axle and a tongue welded to the axle and it looked like it worked pretty good similar to a dolly on a 2 or 3 trailer hookup on a 18 wheeler just a lot smaller and lighter, one of the trailers was about a 35 footer with 5 slides and was pulled by a lincoln suv and the other was a smaller trailer being pulled by company truck they wouldn't let him install a fifth wheel hitch in the co truck but it came from the factory with a receiver hitch so he built a tow dolly instead of swapping travel trailers