Quote:
Originally Posted by ED-n-KEL
Good advice Mr A, but I'm a firm believer in "you can't have your cake and eat it too." (Please don't take this personally.)
Basically, if people want to tow a trailer, drive thousands of miles in all kinds of weather and terrain, they should NOT consider doing it in a vehicle that's "just getting by" or in some cases "over the limit". Many people today get caught up in the "suv and crossover" market and don't realize that their vehicle, while looking like a truck, is really NOT a truck at all. No one would consider towing a TM using an Accord, Camry, Optima, etc, but in many ways when they opt for minivans and smaller SUVs/crossovers, that exactly what they are driving.
What I'm trying to say is, if you are doing a job that requires a truck, then you need a truck, not a vehicle that looks like a truck, but one that acts like a truck.
I know many people buy a TV first, then stumbled across a deal on a TM and try to make it work. But when people are in the market for a TV and know what the TM weighs, then wide safety margins and good common sense needs to kick in.
Under the current groups guideline figure of "Minimum 5000 lbs TC", my Astro would be "MARGINAL" with it's current 4500 TC.
I can bump this to 5500 by changing my rear end to 3.73's, and still would not consider using it regularly for mountainous terrain.
A 3500 TC TV should not be considered.
We use 3/4 ton full size vans at work. They have medium size V8's, have incredible towing and cargo capacities, and average 16mpg. Now I'm not saying everyone needs to go to such a vehicle, but when you consider people with minivans are getting low 20's mpg, there really isn't much more spent annually for such a huge safety margin. (Keep in mind that this is the same kind of van that my 5'2" wife came to enjoy driving.)
I think the message we should be spreading is SAFETY FIRST. Saving a few hundred dollars a year should not be priority.
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Ed,
Safety is indeed the most important thing.
- Using the example from down your way that’s in our national news today, you need a culture of safety, not a culture of complacency. Safety does not arrive at your home in a pickup truck any more than it arrives in a UPS package. Safety is much more about you than it is about your vehicle and has nothing whatsoever to do with your rear axle ratio. I cringe when I hear people say “we don’t even know it’s back there” or “I have nothing to worry about because my truck has a 10000# tow rating.”
- Braking distance is important, but the pickup truck we were discussing in another thread today will theoretically have a less than 5% shorter braking distance than I do with a 4000# trailer (unless he chooses not to use a WDH, in which case I don’t want him to be following me) (I’ll share my calculations if you like). The following was posted by harveyrv awhile ago (
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...d.php?t=8709): "I tried a hard stop from 50MPH and was shocked that my front wheels skidded (note that I have never done this before). However, I then removed the spring bars and tried the same panic stop, in exactly the same speed and place. The skid was worse and I lost steering."
- But Braking distance is only a little more than half of stopping distance at 60mph. Controlling your speed is by far the better part of towing safety, as I mentioned in a previous post. Towing a full height travel trailer with a Ford van taught me to not exceed the speed limit when I’m towing, and driving a 37ft motor home taught me that I can drive further in a day at 60 than I can at 70, no matter what the speed limit is (the Highlander/TrailManor is a breeze by comparison to those vehicles).
- And, just to clear the air, there’s 4700# between the curb weight of my Highlander and its Gross Combined Weight Rating. While Toyota rated its similar vehicles as 3500 or 5000 in my model year, 4700# is the amount of room for a TrailManor when we do the math your way, and I have referenced the scale numbers earlier in this thread which prove it. My Highlander, in other words, is good enough to be rated by GM at 4700#, but not good enough to be rated 5000# by Toyota. Please also note that my vehicle gains 100# on the front axle when hitched. So far, it’s never skidded in any towing stop (thank God; not bragging, just grateful).