Disaster strikes my pull vehicle

I'll put up a vote for the Yukon XL/Suburban. Mine now has 148K miles on it, and I just finished towing my 2001 super air from CA to Green Lake Wisconsin and back. It is a 2000, half ton XL with the 5.3 liter motor. Knock wood, I've never had a problem with this vehicle other than routine maintenance. Book values are now down to about 10K.

On the trip out I pushed it hard over the Sierra Nevadas, Rocky Mountains, and the Black hills averageing 62 mph. I got 12.1 mpg.

On the trip home, the terrain was a bit more forgiving and I pushed it an average of 66 mph. I got 10.7 mpg.

On legs with flatter terrain, or lower speed limits, the mileage exceeded 13.

BKH

I recommend any one of the three, Ford, Dodge or a GM, you cant go wrong
BTW, your trans dropped into fail safe mode, have it scanned it may be the variable force motor, does it have reverse? it should be a 4l60e, very durable....get a couple of opinions if you decide to have it fixed.....you know those tranny guy's

I like my F-250 Powerstroke Diesel I had a F-150 with the 5.4 gas engine but the diesel is much better for towing. Pulling my 16' enclosed alum. snowmobile trailer with the 150 I would get around 8 mpg with the diesel pulling the same trailer and sleds on the same run I averaged 13-15 mpg running 70mph. I didn't have the boat when I owned the 150 but the GVW's between the boat and the sled trailers loaded are about the same.

If you were to look into a Ford diesel look for a '01 -'02 7.3 liter that motor is a power monster and will run for ever, don't worry about high miles on the diesel motor's they'll run 10 times longer than a gas motor.
The 6.0 ford diesel's had alot of problems '03 - '05 in 06 they finally got the bugs worked out.

Good luck

its nice to see you guy's talking good ole American iron

waterskier2007 wrote: ah come on eric, of course we are. he asked what kind of machine to pull a boat, not what kind of car would be best for his wife to do her nails in

Believe it or not, there exist foriegn-branded tow vehicles that excel at more than just cruising to the mall. Some are even built well enough so that the transmission doesnt fail the same day the wheels fall off.

tr, I love ya like a brother but alot of the nippers use ZF tranny's and even american made and designed transmissions

First off, when you say 96 Blazer, I assume its the s-10 style with a 4.3 V6?

I agree with Brian, for the money its awful hard to beat the Yukon/Suburban.

I pull my trailers with an "older" full-size 96 Chevy half ton 4x4 pickup, with 3:73s and the 5.7 Vortec. It consistantly gets between 15 and 16 mpg doing it. They are a little hard to find with lower miles, but the 96-99's are an excellent choice. Should be able to find them in the 6-9 grand range.

Im probably going to get some flack from the diesel boys, but unless you pull heavy loads, and/or over the road, I dont see where they come out ahead of the game anymore. For the extra operating costs(initial up front,fuel, more oil at changes, etc) I dont see where they pay off. I agree you can get extra miles out of an engine before needing rebuild, but I argue with TEN times the amount?!? I know several guys with 200,000 plus miles on the 5.7's and 5.3's and they still running strong!(right stang?) Plus other parts tend to wear out anyway...ie..a broken ball joint.

Go with the gas...
               Just my .02

62, plus when you decide to end it, you cant lock yourself in the garage and fire up the diesel

Paul,
I have a couple of friends that bought the diesels...I think because "everyone" else was. They use them for basic pickup truck use, rarely pulling trailers,and small utilitys at that. They arent so happy paying almost 5 bucks a gallon and not getting much better mpg than me.

I absolutely agree if your pulling "in the hills" , the diesel will beat a gasser, but here in the "flatland" midwest, where most hills are'nt that steep( and it looks like Big Air is also from). My 5.7 does just fine..and like I say , it consistantly gets over 15mpg pulling the trailer.

The fact that you make your own bio-D. is pretty cool and definately helps your cause.. 60-75 cents/gal!?? What do you need to do that(equipment/etc)? What is the base you start with? How much/how long does it take to make? Maybe I need to re-think my strategy?!

ohhhh .... and Eric, im not quite to that point...yet...

I'll throw a vote for a 2004-2007 Buick Rainier. They ride extremely well, come completely loaded (leather, heated seats, rear air suspension) and can be had with the phenomenal 5.3 liter V8. Plus you can get them at a great price as they never sold well.

As for the CVPI, that is what I use as my tow vehicle. I respectfully disagree with JoeinNY about the Watts Linkage as the reason the '98+ CVPIs have a low tow rating. I believe that they have a low tow rating because of simple marketing. Ford would much rather have you buy an Explorer or Expedition than a Crown Vic to tow with. Plus, newer Dodge Durangos have a watts link on their rear axle. But the fact still remains that the Crown Vic has the same 4.6 liter V8 as the Explorer, the same 8.8 rear axle, and the same 4R70W transmission. Plus the CVPI has tranny, oil, and power steering fluid coolers. 2004+ CVPIs have more power than the 2003 and older. I have a 3500 pound, class II hitch on my car...however I believe that it could tow up to 5K.

The only thing you would have to get is a set of these ---------------> CLICK!

Hope this helps...

I really gotta start posting on here more. Ok now don't get me wrong I love big American motors but - here is what I tow with at 9000ft above sea level. 05 Tacoma TRD 4.0L with tow package. The lake is about 25miles away through hills and I tow about 65mph with no problem in 5th gear (6pd stick gearbox). I get about 15-16MPG towing and over 20 without the boat which is nice. I bought the boat in Michigan and towed back here avg 67MPH. Truck now has 65K on it with no problems. I certainly would not use it to tow down to Denver and back much V8 for sure - but for flatlands and 30-45 mins trips it’s pretty good.




Yes that is snow in the back ground.

I thought and I thought and came up with this, in the last 22 years i bought 6 new American -named vehicles- and i can not remember once of having to take them in the dealership for repairs, i dont remember having any problems except for maintaining them. i still have a hard time when someone blatently tells me foriegn cars are better,
remember these are only opinions...lol

here most people drive japanese cars.. american cars are way to expensive. i use a nissan frontier 4cyl to pull my 86 SN. man that car is a gas drinker without boat. when loaded damn we cry to see the gauge.. the wors thing is we pay about 8$ per gallon anyw it's now for sale and i think i'm gonna buy a used jeep wrangler

eric lavine wrote: Horkin, one of the guys that works for me just bought a bike and paid 3900.00 for it, he refuses to drive his car because of gas prices. I asked him logically, you can only ride the bike maybe at the most 5 months out of the year...why didnt you just use the $3900.00 over the next 4 or 5 years for gas. point being, if you buy brand new and your payments are 500 bucks you still will have to gas her up, spend as little as possible on the vehicle as you can and the savings will go into the tank.....this way it doesnt feel so bad

I fully agree, but as a biker myself, I ride my 35-45mpg sportbike to work every day I possibly can. It may look a bit funny as desk jockey I wear nice business pants that don't match the leather race jacket, helmet, gloves, boots, and the entire bike, but I save 2 dollars a day riding to work instead of taking the jeep. And I have a very short commute.

But yes, if the $$ squeeze was on before he bought the bike, he would have been better off not buying it, and maybe tuning up his car with a fraction of th $$ he spent on the bike.

That ford Excursion I looked at maybe only gets 12-14 in town, and maybe can't even get 20 mpg freeway, but I do need anewer vehicle, and one that I trust pulling my boat a little better. the Jeep is a 93 grand cherokee with 165k on it. I have stuck some $$ into it, but realistically I will be replacing it a few months after we go through signing papers today on the house. I am thinking replacement in spring. And I want a nice newer used vehicle, but of course my GF wants me to buy new. I can't justify spending 30 some thousand on a brand new Jeep commander when I see used 06-07 commanders under 30k miles for 16-18,000 dollars.

TRBenj wrote: Summit, cool pictures. My buddy's Tacoma tows pretty nicely as well.

we have an 04 4runner v8, and I use that to primarily pull my boat. It works very well.

The 4runner is built on the same frame as the tacoma, but has the v8 optional, with the same4.0 v6 as the taco standard.

Even with the 8 cylinder, it gets around 22 mpg, not towing of course. Towing the boat I don't recall what it gets but it does not drop much mpg.