Disaster strikes my pull vehicle
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Category: General Correct Craft Discussion
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: Anything Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=11292
Printed Date: September-21-2024 at 2:15am
Topic: Disaster strikes my pull vehicle
Posted By: BigAir
Subject: Disaster strikes my pull vehicle
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 12:25am
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So were heading to the lake.... About half way the tranny in my 96 Blazer drops to second gear and stays there. It's been acting up for the past year so I kind of expected it sooner or later. We had a great time out on the Sky Ski. On the way home, the tranny is still staying in second gear when suddenly there's this awful sound followed by a drop in the right front end and then a nasty scraping sound. You guessed it. The lower ball joint broke and tire flopped out sideways. Luckily I was going very slow because of the smoked tranny. Long story short, I'm looking for a reasonable tow vehicle at a cheap price. I'm not worried about gas mileage. I just don't want it to break for a few years. Any ideas? I'm considering a police interceptor car rather than a truck. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=237&yrstart=1986&yrend=1990" rel="nofollow - My 1989 reverse gel coat Ski Nautique |
Replies:
Posted By: bkhallpass
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 1:30am
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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 ------------- Livin' the Dream |
Posted By: JoeinNY
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 3:02am
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Newer police interceptors just dont have the towing rating due to the Watts linkage rear end setup, 1998 feature the lower ratings, older than that do alright. If you can find one a buick roadmaster wagon with an lt1 and towing package makes a very solid tow vehicle for a ski nautique sized boat and will get relatively good mileage doing so. Full size GMs as Brian recommends also do the job quite nicely and there are some bargains to be had in mid nineties tahoes and suburbans with current gas prices. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1477 - 1983 Ski Nautique 2001 1967 Mustang 302 "Decoy" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO5MkcBXBBs - Holeshot Video |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 9:55am
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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 |
Posted By: azeus17
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 11:07am
Holly crap! From bad to worse huh? Oh well, at least you got to go out on the boat. Yesterday when i put in, there was this guy at the ramp messing with his boat, would not start. We went out for about 4 hours, came back and the guy is still there. I asked him if it started and he said yes and I asked what the problem was and he said the electric trim was not working now so he could not pull the boat home without dragging the outdrive the whole way. I think he was giving me a dirty look when I backed in, ran the boat on the trailer and was out of there in less than 5 minutes!
Oh yeah, you can get a late 80's early 90's work truck for a 1-2K. Won't be nice, but it will get you to the lake. ------------- Boats: Current: 02 SANTE Sold: 89 Sport Nautique |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 12:13pm
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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 |
Posted By: waterskier2007
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 3:46pm
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two of the boat drivers on our waterski team use the diesel excursions, and get pretty decent gas mileage. those things will pull anything. we use it to tow our huge 5.5 foot waterski jump ramp when we go to different lakes to perform ------------- -Brendan Kirchner Glass is made to be shattered http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v710/bkirchner1/scan_61217164725_1.jpg" border="0 - 85BFN |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 4:08pm
| its nice to see you guy's talking good ole American iron |
Posted By: waterskier2007
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 6:20pm
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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 ------------- -Brendan Kirchner Glass is made to be shattered http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v710/bkirchner1/scan_61217164725_1.jpg" border="0 - 85BFN |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 6:39pm
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.  ------------- |
waterskier2007 wrote:Posted By: RainDog
Date Posted: July-21-2008 at 8:29pm
You'd have to. He said cheap.  ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1868&sort=&pagenum=1 - 62 Classic http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=5242&sort=&pagenum=1 - 2002 Super Air |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 12:21am
| tr, I love ya like a brother but alot of the nippers use ZF tranny's and even american made and designed transmissions |
Posted By: farmer
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 1:00am
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ZF ? ------------- Watch your fingers. |
Posted By: 62 wood
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 2:48am
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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 ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1117&sort=&pagenum=6" rel="nofollow - 64 American Skier 62 Classic.. 73 Ski Nautique |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 9:07am
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Farmer, ZF is actually the worlds largest manufacturer of transmissions including automotive, off-road, on highway and marine, last figures i remember were 4 billion in sales. they really grabbed hold of the marine market in the last 15 years or so. it is a, I believe a German born company with plants all over Europe. all Mercedes, Jaguars use them, Alot of american vehicles use them. i did a Honda passport and it had a ZF trans. all the 30 foot plus boats use them.
FWIW, I use a 96" suburban 2 wheel 2 pull anything that comes along, its has the 454, and i just rebuilt the trans at 148000, buts thats probably the only thing i do with the truck is pull with it and it doesnt pass many gas stations |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 9:10am
| 62, plus when you decide to end it, you cant lock yourself in the garage and fire up the diesel |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 12:13pm
Well I don’t agree totally with this. First off, yes the initial cost is more but the resale value also remains higher in line with the initial higher cost. Second, the fuel mileage is greater than gas especially when towing. Third, more oil at changes. Your right there but you only change every 5,000 with regular oil and up to 8,000 with synthetic. There are guys on some of the diesel truck sites that send there oil in for analysis after every change with no problems running 8,000 miles between changes. As for longevity everyone knows that if you don't properly maintain your equipment it won't last. With a properly maintained diesel there should be no reason not to be able to hit 800,000 miles plus. Again a diesel may not be needed in some areas but up here in the northeast when it comes to pulling loads through the mountains you won’t beat it with a gasser for power or mileage. Not to mention that my Bio-diesel only costs me around $.60 - $.75 a gallon to make. |
Posted By: 62 wood
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 12:59pm
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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...  ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=1117&sort=&pagenum=6" rel="nofollow - 64 American Skier 62 Classic.. 73 Ski Nautique |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 1:18pm
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Equipment needed is only an old electric hot water tank, a small pump or two, some iron pipe and a couple of 55 gal drums.
I collect used cooking oil from my friend’s restaurant; I get around 55gal a week from him. It takes a little over 24hrs (mostly settling time after reaction) for me to make 40 gal of Bio-diesel. Then just pour it in your tank and drive past gas stations smiling. Theres tons of info out there on the internet but here's a good place to start. http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/ |
Posted By: P71_CrownVic
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 3:54pm
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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 ---------------> http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1∂=AIR-60798&N=700+4294924653+4294908331+4294907554+4294925130+115&autoview=sku - CLICK! Hope this helps... ------------- |
Posted By: 79nautique
Date Posted: July-22-2008 at 4:11pm
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you sure as hell don't need a full size truck to tow a 89 SN the midsize do nice and have better gas milage to boot. ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=756&sort=&pagenum=1&yrstart=1979&yrend=1979 - 79 nautique |
Posted By: summitnautique
Date Posted: July-24-2008 at 9:24pm
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. |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 12:34am
| is that Mt. Fuji? i had too |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 12:43am
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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 |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 1:53am
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All I will really say is that 96 4.3 blazer is just waiting to fall apart. Those were not very good vehicles to begin with.
Be lucky it got you as far as it did. There are a lot of good candidates both American and foreign that will do the job quite well. Heck, if I were not buying a house I would have scooped up the 2000 excursion 5.4 liter ltd that looked like it rolled off the showroom floor for 5500 cash that day. The thing even had low miles, and was amazingly 4x4 for that price. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: k.o.
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 2:00am
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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 ------------- http://www.correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=7587" rel="nofollow - 86 ski nautique |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 10:05am
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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 |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 12:18pm
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. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 1:30pm
Summit, cool pictures. My buddy's Tacoma tows pretty nicely as well.
 ------------- |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 1:45pm
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. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 2:05pm
I dont see that kind of mileage out of my '07 V8 Runner, but it does tow very nicely. Ive touched 20mpg in the summer on the highway (unloaded), and got 15-16mpg towing the Skier out to GL. ------------- |
Posted By: GottaSki
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 2:14pm
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One customer where I used to work would tow his 32' Baja twin BB Bravo & 3 axle with a Pontiac 6000. quite a specticle.
------------- "There is nothing, absolutely nothing, half so much worthwhile as messing around with boats...simply messing." River Rat to Mole |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 3:12pm
Are you running full synthetic oil? When I switched from dino to full synth it gave me a nice increase in mpg. It always got 19-20 mpg before the swap. What gear ratio do you have in yours? We have 3.73's, and ours is 4wd. Also, remember that how the engine was broken in and current driving habits can really affect mpg. The 22mpg we get is loaded with gear, 2 people and 2 dogs. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 3:18pm
That is more than a spectacle, it is downright dangerous. If you are over your tow rating, you can be ticketed. So that would also be illegal, and obviously illeagal to anyone that understands tow ratings and what a boat like that weighs. I would be amazed if one of those pontiac 6000's has a tow rating of anything higher than 1500 lbs. Heck, I recall my buddy's father towing a 16' trihull glastron with a 50hp evinrude with a wagon version of that same car. IIRC it was a carbed 2.8 v6 in that wagon, and it worked pretty hard to tow that particular boat. I can't imagine towing a 32' baja with twin motors. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 3:21pm
Im not running synth- but I have considered going to Mobil1. Ive had great luck with Castrol GTX, but may consider switching for the mileage gains. Im at 30k, so Im due for new fluid in the diffs and xfer case- gonna go synthetic there for sure. Driving habits are pretty tame- I put on ~25k/yr, so a light foot saves my wallet. My roof box probably isnt helping things, but I dont think Im paying too much of a penalty with it either. Its just too damn handy to take off- works great for ski gear both summer and winter.  ------------- |
Posted By: DougsdevilCC
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 4:06pm
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Snow, Ugh ------------- CCcruiser |
Posted By: summitnautique
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 5:20pm
| I switched to redline synth in the Taco diffs... they say it helps MPG but seems to be the same for me. |
Posted By: summitnautique
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 5:36pm
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Eric -
I see you are from Ohio... I grew up in Sandusky. If you are on the turnpike at the rt. 250 exit that is the lake I skied on...my dad still skis there. |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 7:58pm
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you gotta know J-Bear,aka John Berry he skied for the westshore ski club on sandusky bay, remember the ramp?
also a Dave Mcginty Im about an hour from there and live in Aurora Shore, its a 350 acre private lake |
Posted By: horkn
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 8:23pm
I have been using the Quaker State Q torque power full syn since about 25,000 miles on it. So, since it has 75k on it now, I would say that is right at 50k of using synth. We bought the 04 4runner in early January of 04. I can say that when we had our Yakima load warrior roof rack on it, and with a good amount of baggage up there that mpg did suffer. Even with the rack empty, it did create enough loss of mpg to warrant me removing it for when I really need it. ------------- 78 martinique- refloored, reinforced, stringers re glassed, re engineered interior GT40P heads Edelbrock Performer intake acme 4 blade http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/horkn/fish/nautique.jpg |
Posted By: P71_CrownVic
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 11:11pm
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Ford 5.4s and 6.8 V10s are known for spitting out their spark plugs. They fire them right out of the head. Ford is fully aware of the problem and refuse to do anything other than sticking their customers with a HUGH bill to fix it. ------------- |
Posted By: P71_CrownVic
Date Posted: July-25-2008 at 11:12pm
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