what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby gudmund » Sat Jan 18, 2020 3:04 am

:thumbsup: :applause: :beer: on the brakes - your ahead of me!! enjoy.............
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby Yakcraz » Tue Feb 04, 2020 11:22 am

2008 Chevy Z71
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby gudmund » Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:41 pm

2012 GMC Canyon (2wheel drive base model w/2.9L 4cyl-auto-3.73gear) towing 1600lb 5x8tear 156749 Also with a few added performance mods = not in power, which "Yes" can be just a 'little' lacking sometimes being it is just a 4cyl, but it does alright. It is the suspension changes that have make it a "nice" handling/driving PU for towing the trailer - front-end was lowered 'just' one inch so as to be level once the trailer is in tow along with the front sway being replaced with a larger diameter one. The rear got a rear sway bar added along with air bags - all 4 corners also got new better grade shocks installed with 'just-a-bit' wider tires.
Last edited by gudmund on Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby ArkansasDon » Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:03 pm

2000 GMC Z71 with a few performance mod's.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby Sparksalot » Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:35 pm

From a recent trip. 2011 Tahoe in police trim.

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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby jkemp512 » Sun Jun 21, 2020 4:00 pm

pontdog wrote:
gudmund wrote:pontdog - I see the word "Bonneville", yet you are from Canada - so is it a US built Pontiac? 389 or 421? (Yes, I used to 'breath' Pontiac when at a younger age(50yrs ago) - 62 Catalina -2 '65 GTO's and owned my 70 455 GTO twice - all of my 'RA-IV' parts ended up in Canada 'somewhere' when sold) .........................

yes you are correct bonneville is the american car and parisenne was the canadian this car was from California originally.i love pontiac my last one was a kustom.but this one has a 389 and should have no trouble pulling my trailer


Pontiac V8's (maybe excluding the low deck 265 && 301) always have a lot of low end torque and should be a great engine for towing a trailer. Chances are strong you possibly don't even feel the tear drop being pulled behind you.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby Gold5one » Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:06 pm

I'm now driving a 2010 Chrysler minivan- 200 hp 3.8L V6- the end of the line for the 3.8L OHV cast iron block engine- It took me a couple months to find one with towing pkg/hitch and one owner with good maintenance history. I have my eye out for a small camper- 2500-2800 lbs or so. With the six speed transmission, running at 65 mph shows 2700 rpm, so I expect towing will be OK. The 62TE transmission has a special 4th gear kick down range with a higher rpm than on the up shift. Makes for a more comfortable downshift on a grade. 4th gear has one gear for up shifts and another separate gear for downshifts- making 7 speeds in this transmission. I worked at the Chrysler foundry that made this engine block until the company closed the plant in 2005. Then I got transferred to the transmission plant that made the (new in 2007) 62TE transmission. I'm retired now- over 10 years.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby Aguyfromohio » Fri Jul 17, 2020 10:01 am

2020 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.0t
I like a smaller daily driver and want to use that as my tow vehicle. This one works nicely. 3,500 lb tow capacity, 235 hp.
The wife's Mazda cx5 was working too hard so I traded in my sedan and got the Santa Fe for towing
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby philpom » Sun Jul 19, 2020 10:03 am

While my tiny camper is in its build stage I'm obviously not pulling it around however we camp often and take trips to our cabin towing a trailer with a small tractor, water, coolers etc. I tow with a Sierra crewcab fitted with a Leer cargo topper. Works well for extra capacity, locks and keeps things dry. I also expect my wife will tow with here Pilot. Will be replacing that in a few years with a wrangle.

The Sierra is a fantastic road trip vehicle, comfortable and roomy.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby green1 » Fri Aug 07, 2020 10:22 pm

2014 Tesla Model S P85+

The trailer does make a pretty big dent in the range, but I can still get to a lot of campsites, and if they have hookups, I can charge the car too. Big advantage to towing with an EV though is that all my trailer power comes from the car. Even the power hungry cooler doesn't make a dent in the car's battery running for several days with the car parked. (I never plug the trailer in to AC at a campground, only the car!)
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby rjgimp » Thu Aug 13, 2020 5:30 pm

jkemp512 wrote:
pontdog wrote:
gudmund wrote:pontdog - I see the word "Bonneville", yet you are from Canada - so is it a US built Pontiac? 389 or 421? (Yes, I used to 'breath' Pontiac when at a younger age(50yrs ago) - 62 Catalina -2 '65 GTO's and owned my 70 455 GTO twice - all of my 'RA-IV' parts ended up in Canada 'somewhere' when sold) .........................

yes you are correct bonneville is the american car and parisenne was the canadian this car was from California originally.i love pontiac my last one was a kustom.but this one has a 389 and should have no trouble pulling my trailer


Pontiac V8's (maybe excluding the low deck 265 && 301) always have a lot of low end torque and should be a great engine for towing a trailer. Chances are strong you possibly don't even feel the tear drop being pulled behind you.


When I was in high school in the mid 80s we had a 73 Catalina with the 350 - and those fancy new-fangled front disc brakes! Although there was plenty of power and I would have loved to try towing something with that car the gas tank inlet was in the middle of the rear bumper behind a hinged license plate. I can't imagine installing a hitch. The thing rode quite low and we bottomed out fairly often pulling out of parking lots. Back in those days the normal configuration was a heavy solid steel bumper bolted directly to the frame and there were universal bolt-on trailer hitches widely available. (I still have one!) There was no way we could have bolted one on with the gas inlet there. As it was, putting gas in the thing was nearly impossible if parked on even the slightest incline.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby gudmund » Thu Aug 13, 2020 6:44 pm

yes - most of all of the cars had the middle gas fuel-up behind the license plate back than (except S/W's) until the gov started making the car company's change their fuel tank mounting locations for safety reasons. (did make for easier filling not having to remember what side to pull up to the pump on.) My dad also had the 73 Catalina w the 400 V8. Son like father = both Pontiac fans but mine was faster being I had the 455 GTO. And Yes, today that GTO would make a great tow vehicle for towing my teardrop - oh the memories............. :thumbsup:
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby jkemp512 » Thu Aug 13, 2020 7:22 pm

GM forced those sizes (i.e. 350 CID ) on the other GM divisions to match Chevrolet.

If you do the math, you will see that the Pontiac V8 326 is actually a 336 CID engine, and the Pontiac 350 is actually a 355.
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby rjgimp » Thu Aug 13, 2020 9:03 pm

felixx wrote:I love how we are trying to see whos is smallest

I had 34BHP in 1967



I'm out of the running for that. Our current TV is a 2004 Hummer H2. 8) :thumbsup: :lol:
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Re: what does everyone use for a tow vehicle.

Postby Aguyfromohio » Fri Aug 14, 2020 11:15 am

rjgimp wrote:When I was in high school in the mid 80s we had a 73 Catalina with the 350 - and those fancy new-fangled front disc brakes! Although there was plenty of power and I would have loved to try towing something with that car the gas tank inlet was in the middle of the rear bumper behind a hinged license plate. I can't imagine installing a hitch. The thing rode quite low and we bottomed out fairly often pulling out of parking lots. Back in those days the normal configuration was a heavy solid steel bumper bolted directly to the frame and there were universal bolt-on trailer hitches widely available. (I still have one!) There was no way we could have bolted one on with the gas inlet there. As it was, putting gas in the thing was nearly impossible if parked on even the slightest incline.


My dad had trailers in the 1960s and 70's, and pulled most of them with big Oldsmobile sedans with 455 rocket V8's
We often traveled with my uncle using his giant Chrysler sedan to tow his trailer.

Those big V8 sedans pulled those 4,000 lb travel trailers up the rockies into Yellowstone and all over the upper midwest.
High horsepower and big low end torque, there's nothing better..
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