John -
"Excessive wear and tear on the truck" is difficult to define, difficult to detect at the moment it is occurring, and difficult to quantify. If you travel at 30 mph up a steep grade and don't let it lug, I don't think the engine will be overstressed. The (automatic) transmission is another story. At low speed, they tend to overheat, and unless you get a Scan Gauge or an Interceptor or something similar, you have no way of detecting this until a warning light flashes on - and then it is too late.
Perhaps even worse is when the tranny overheats but the light does not come on. Everything seems fine. But a tranny that would otherwise have lasted 150,000 miles now fails at 100,000 miles. That's expensive, that's excessive - but it will happen years down the road, and you'll never even know that the failure was early, let alone what contributed to the failure.
My suggestion, as always, is to get a gauge if you are going to tow in the mountains, or if you are going to tow with a marginally-rated vehicle. Having spent $30,000 on a tow vehicle, it seems a false economy not to spend another $150 for a gauge.
But that's just me.
Bill
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