What is your tow vehicle / what's a good price for a trailer

It seems there are two camps of towing. Those that want the biggest vehicle to tow load possible. These people seem to recommend 3/4 ton trucks for a 22 or a 25. Some prefer a 1 ton for 25 and up.

The other camp is trying for ride, economy, general usage, or just looking to use what they already have.

The Big Tow Vehicle crowd often points to the greater safety margin and durability of the bigger tow vehicle. The Smaller Vehicle crowd often point out the practically of something like a Toyota Highlander (5000lbs rated) for a tow vehicle. Facts start getting stated that may not be real facts such as it will blow up or the transmission will fail within 5,000 miles of towing or the brakes will not stop the load. All of these fears have some basis in truth. For instance without a transmission cooler you may well burn the transmission out, a vehicle with adequate but marginal braking on the flats will be heading for trouble coming down a 10,000 ft mountain range and climbing that mountain range in 2nd gear at 5000rpm or worse lugging it up will take a real toll on running components.

Right now I fall in the lower end of the small tow vehicle using a 2004 Toyota Sienna (3500lbs tow rated) to tow my 22 Angler. I keep it light and only tow on the flat around Monterey Bay. It does fine and FWD pulls the ramps better than rwd only pickups. Braking on the flat is no problem. Emergency braking results in the anti-lock on the Sienna pulsating with the trailer wheels locking. From 45 mph it does not feel unsafe. Have not tried it from 55mph (my limit). Will it blow up soon? I don't think so but I don't know.

Tortuga towed his 22 with an even lower powered, older Sienna and towed from Southern Cal to the PNW and up to Tahoe with his Sienna winding up with 160,000 miles before upgrading to a Highlander.

The Sienna is both limited and on the boarder line for towing a 22, I think the Highlander would be fine as long as I was not running back and forth over the Sierras and Rockies regularly. But I keep Sea Cruz light e.g. under 3500lbs.

When my Sienna either blows up or wears out I may well buy a 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck simply because at that point it may fit my life style better and I would then not have to think about "is it big enough." I guess bigger is better on some level but with good discrimination smaller can work, at least if one is not exceeding mfg. tow rating.

Just my 2 cents.

Ron
 
Here's another vote for the GMC Sierra with Duramax and Allison trans. Excellent power and amazing torque.

I'll add this. Safety-wise my favorite thing is the exhaust brake. I'm no engineer but I believe it works by reversing the turbos when braking. It really keeps things under control, esp on the winding hilly roads that I drive. :thup :thup
 
Our 2¢ on this.... As far as a tow rig goes we pulled our old 22 with a 2000 Dodge Dakota 4x4 V8. Did a good job of doing it.
Our 25 we originally pulled with our 2004 Volkswagen Touareg V8, then with a 1997 Ford 3/4 ton 4x4 with the 460 V8. The Touareg did a god job, the Ford did good, but was a gas hog with marginal power. We now do it with 2008 Toyota Tundra 4x4, which has been a great tow rig for us. We would loved to have gotten a Duramax, but initial cost and long term repair costs took us out of that market at the time we got the Tundra.
 
I suspect more Brats own Fords, though.
Click to expand...

If I had to do it all over, I'd take a serious look at a Chevy. In the last 4 months I've put well over $3,500.00 into our F-250 and now the "check engine" light is on again. :roll: Sure, some of it was just maintenance and 4 new tires, but it's still had it's share of mechanical issues, especially w/ the 6.0 liter.
 
Well, I have to put in my 2 cents for Toyota trucks. I am on my 5th Toyota truck over a span of about 30 years. The old Tacomas had problems with the starters. They didn't last very long. Replacements cost $300. By the time I had the last one they had a $30 switch part to solve that problem. Other than that, I have NEVER had a repair that was not a nornal maintainence isuue, brakes, tires, exhaust systems etc. This was certainly not true of my former chevy, ford and dodge diving work buddies over the years. I currently tow my 22' C-Dory with a Tundra. It's rated for 10,600 lbs, about twice what the rig weighs. I hardly know it's there. The ride is extreamly comfortable. I love it.
Everyone has their loyalties and for thier own good reasons. Toyota trucks have bee very good to me.

Bruce Cassal
"Carpy"
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's the difference between a 1500 and 2500 if they both have the same motor?"

In the GMC /Chevy line up you can not get a diesel in the half ton truck 1500. The differences in between the the half and three quarter and one ton trucks are the heavier duty brakes, differentials, and suspensions. Some like the three quarter ton truck as the ride empty in a one ton can be a little stiffer/bouncy. I have a 2009 three quarter ton Duramax 4 x 4, my friend has a new 2011 Chevy one ton Duramax 4 x 4. His truck sits noticeably higher due differences in the suspension. Brakes and differentials are also heavier. His one ton rides amazingly well empty. I have seen my share of folks towing with borderline tow vehicles. Bad things can happen or be caused by something a minor as dropping and wheel off the edge of the road causing a terminal case of tail wagging. Or the situation where you really need to have brakes for the weight you are pulling and trying to stop in an emergency situation. I often wondered how insurance would be effected if someone had an accident that involved someone losing a life and a under rated tow vehicle trailer combination. If your sticking close to home or riding along in the flat country you can get by with less. I would also say people who really know how to to drive can get by with less. In towing there is no substitute for cubic inches and torque that is there right there for the asking all at speeds. Just because the vehicle can pull the trailer is only part of the equation. Now we could speak about if you should have four wheel drive or not. Yes I have seen the mini vans clogging up ramps because they can’t get the traction they need to pull the boat and trailer up out of the ramp. For me having a decent all around boat tow vehicle, trailer etc. is what makes longer trips fun. No worries.
D.D.
 
Sounds like no one uses F-150 Ecoboost, Ram 1500, Tundra or Silverado 1500 trucks to haul a 25. If one of these 10k towing capacity trucks would do the job it would save spending $ on a dedicated tow vehicle and we would still have something Karen could drive to yard sales. We're not planning on becoming C-Dory gypsys just want to travel East Coast and Gulf sometime before we die. California trip is going to be in the Lexus. Not trying to start a Ford vs. Chevy debate but a 1/2 ton vs. 3/4 ton one. Sounds like the 3/4 won. Thanks for weighing in on the subject. $10,700 has been offered for the 05 Dakota 4x4. Guess I'll take it and go shopping.

John
 
The biggest toughest you can afford is the simple answer to a truck used to tow the CD's. I've never heard anyone complain of being able to tow as fast as they wished and up the steepest hills with ease. I have heard of the same vehicles being a rough ride, but in the cross winds, and emergency stopping or needing to get the heck out of the way, the rougher ride of a tougher vehicle is a good trade. Buying a vehicle that will just barely do the job WILL result in earlier failure and more repairs, not to mention turning what may be just a butt pucker near miss into a full blown accident.
 
We chose the GMC 3/4 ton diesel over the 1 ton because it had a very nice ride, even when not towing. It IS our daily driver, we do drive it to the store, and we generally get 18 - 20 mpg when not towing. When my Mother passed away last year, her "Grandma car," a Chevy Malibu went to us. We drove it some, and even though it gets better mileage than the truck (about 24 - 25 mpg average), Joan said, "I feel WAY safer in the truck."

The car is now with our daughter.
 
Valkyrie":3g1wp8q2 said:
Although we have a 22, not a 25, we are very happy that we have an '06 Dodge Ram 2500 with a Cummins diesel. Go with a robust, capable truck and you will be ready for all towing situations, especially emergency maneuvers.

It seems to me, from personal experience, that many company's towing ratings are far from accurate. Also, don't confuse a vehicle's ability to move a boat with true towing capability.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
Click to expand...

Nick

Very cool meeting you today!

"Valkyrie" was cruising up the ICW and seeing our CD at the dock, stopped to say hi and said he'd seen my post on C-Brats. If you come back this way, there is a very cool bar/restraunt under the Flagler Beach Bridge. Hope Marineland was all you hoped! PM me if you want a tour from some locals or a dock to tie up to for the night. I'm still leaning toward the Hemi...but tomorrow's another day. Hopefully a good used deisel will become available.
 
Cdory25,

We are on the floating dock here at Marineland and the accommodations are pretty nice, especially at $1 @ foot in FL! Nice showers and the staff is very professional and friendly.

We're going on a kayak tour in the morning and that also gets us tickets for the dolphin exhibit.
However, just walking around here this evening shows us that this is NOT the Marineland that I remember seeing on TV when I was a kid. It looks like its time has passed.

We were so surprised to see another CD today - the first one on the entire trip - that we had to come by and check it out. After seeing the name we put it together pretty quickly, but then having the two of you come out of the house made it even better.

Good luck on the search for your new tow vehicle.

Regards,

Nick and Marcia
"Valkyrie"
 
I want to keep this alive with one more comment. It looks to me that the 1/2 ton Chevrolet (1500) with the right packages would have a Gross Combined Weight Rating of 15,000 lbs. With an Gross Weight of 7000 lbs (giving you about 2200 lbs for people, gear, fuel) you could tow 8000 lbs. This would make it capable of towing a CD-25, however it would need a weight distributing hitch. I look at the specs of this half ton and it looks like the 3/4 ton Chevy I bought in 1983. It looks like the half tons are more like the 3/4 tons of yesterday.
 
We got her on the hard right now til we return to Florida in the fall. At that time we plan to buy the all new redesigned 2013 Silverado and go to key west.

2013

CHEVY / GMC

Silverado/Sierra 1500 Ext. Cab Standard Box 4WD

5.3L V-8

9600lbs tow cap.

3.42 axle ratio

Of couse that will be after we mount the new teak deck on the roof ;-)
 
Back
Top