Minor Setback on Boat Buying

[Larry Harp]

I stopped by and talked to the guy who I always use for my transmission work to ask him how much it would cost me to add a tranny cooler. When I told him what size boat I was planning on pulling with my 6 cyl Jeep, he said the transmission isn't big enough to handle that kind of weight and that I'll smoke the the clutchs in short time. He said that if I had the V-8 in the Jeep the tranny in it is a little stouter and may be able to handle it better. He rattled off some numbers like 361 and 350 that meant nothing to me but I did get the message that I needed a truck...a real truck with a V-8 and a big beefy tranny. Problem is if I buy a new truck I can't afford a new boat and if I don't get a new boat I'm fine with my Jeep GC. The Jeep has so many miles on it (179K) it's practally worthless as a trade-in but it runs and looks like brand new.



What would you do???? :unsure:



Harpo

 

[JR F]

Keep It, save and buy both of them later..I hear boat prices may come down ( I doubt It ) But they say after the spring buying prices may come dwn a wee bit like the cars.....Good luck harpo,,,,JR

 

[TritonGlenn]

I'd sell both, and buy a good used full size truck with a V8, and a good used boat of your choice... with a big V6 :lol: .



I'm being serious though - there are plenty of good deals out there in the used market. Right now, I don't NEED a new truck.... but I WANT a new truck - I'm just dying for a Dodge Ram Quad Cab 2500 with the Diesel in it. I'd be willing to let my current truck go for what I owe on it - and it's in perfect shape, both mechanically and body wise.... but my wife would probably shoot me right now if I did! :lol: I also sold one heck of a boat just over a year ago - my 1997 Cajun with a Faststike 150. Everything on that boat was perfect - the engine ran like a brand new one, the electronics were all top of the line Lowrance, perfect running Minn Kota Maxxum trolling motor - loaded with every option you could want in a 18 footer - and I sold it for $7K - I put it online for sale, and sold it within the first 72 hours.... and got calls on it for MONTHS after it sold. I'm betting I could have asked for a few grand more, and probably would have sold it fairly quickly - maybe not as quickly as I did at $7K, but quickly nontheless. The guy that bought it, bought one heck of a boat. I loved that boat for the entire 8 years I owned it.



The deals are out there... but you have to look really hard, and do your homework. Check everything out from top to bottom. Start, play with, and look over EVERYTHING.



Best of luck in your endeavor.



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Larry Harp]

I guess I should elaborate on what my plans were....



I make the last paymet on the Jeep in November and on the Tracker a couple of months after that. I was planning on re-carpeting and re-decaling (the stumps have really done a number on the side of the Tracker) the Tracker and selling it for around $6000. I'm seeing real sharp 18 to 19 foot "98" to "00" Rangers, Tritons, and Champs for under $15 or $16 grand. If I can get into a sweetheart deal and only finance only $9 or $10 grand, I can pay that off in a year or two....without a truck payment that is. If I hadn't gotten the big idea to buy a new/used glass boat I would probably have kept on making a car payment into the savings account and keep driving the Jeep until it drops dead. It's a perfect vechile for me, good gas milage, 4WD, pulls the Tracker without a whimper, looks acceptable in my yuppie suburb town....yada yada yada. I checked NADA and it looks like the Jeep is worth around $7000 to $7500. If I could get that out of it I could buy a late model pickup wholesale. I've got a buddy that's a car dealer, he'll take me to the auction for lunch at a good steak house.



Sorry guys, just thinking out loud here.



Harpo

 

[Larry Harp]

Since I don't know fetch'um from sic'um about automatic transmissions I pretty much have to take this guys word as gospel. Mind you



He says, that a transmission cooler is only helping when you're sitting still or in stop & go traffic...that when you're running down the road the fluid in the tranny is staying cool enough. Is that correct???



He also says, that unless you are in very hilly terrain where the O/D is cycling back and forth, there is no need to drive in 3rd while towing.



He did show me the differance in the size of the clutchs of the 6 cyl tranny and the V-8 tranny and it's the differance between a McDonalds 25 cent burger and a Carl's Jr. Six Dollar Burger.



However, he also said some other stuff that I had to question. He said the hull weight of a 19' boat would be somewhere around 2200 to 2500 pounds, the motor would add an additional 1000 pounds and the trailer would weigh 1500 pounds. That makes a 19' bass boat weighing in at over 5000 pounds plus the weight of tackle and gas ect. Does that sound a little high? This guy is a fisherman but I think he's more of a Lake Texoma striper kind of guy and those are differant kind of boats than Nitro 882 and Rangers 488's.



Any real expertiise any of you want to share with me would sure be appreciated.



Harpo

 

[Gilbert Scales2]

Harpo, I believe you would be fine with your jeep. We pull trailers all day long, every day with 6 cyl trucks, no towing packages. The towing weight is really not that big of a deal, you are not pulling the total weight of your rig. Once you start it moving it is hardly nothing. Our trailers are loaded with heavy tools and material, no problems. If you are going to haul on long trips, maybe. I am telling you our trailers stay hooked to our trucks all day, morning rush hour evening traffic. I must admit, it looks more impressive to have a big 350 4x4 with a $40,000 rig in tow. The fish however really don't care. Keep the jeep, fix up the Tracker and keep it. Put 15,000 in a CD, you will be surprised how good the jeep and the Tracker looks in three years, with the saved money.



Bubby

 

[Larry Harp]

fix up the Tracker and keep it.

Bubby, that's real good advice but you know how it is...



When a man loves a bassboat, can't keep his mind on nuthin' else.

:wub:Harpo:wub:

 

[Donnie Matney]

Sooner there is a dude in out club that has a Jeep GC and he pulls a 19 foot Triton with a 175. I am not 100% sure if it's the V8 but I am thinking it's the 6 cyl.. He pulls it every where, from KY to SC, TN, & AL, I never seen any problems with it. I think you would be fine though.



Donnie

 

[Thomas (Tom) Nation]

Harpo I think he is very high on the weight. Dont quote me but if I read this right the dry weight of my 2005 901 is 3200 with the 200 optimax and trailer package weight. Have the transmission flushed change the filter and put on a small cooler. You can install the cooler, it is very easy. All auto trans cool through the radiator, the cooler gives extra cooling while you are moving. The biggest problem with pulling with a smaller truck is brakes and the boat wanting to push you around. Get a trailer with brakes, and always think there is a boat behind me. If you lived closer to me I would put the cooler on for you. I have played with hotrods and cars for about 30 years now and would not have a problem pulling with your jeep. When gas was around $3.10 here I pulled my boat with the wifes Jeep Liberty to santee cooper 3 times, about 300 miles round trip from here. Get the glass you will never look back.

 

[Jim B]

Harpo hes waaaaaaay off base on weights on those boats. My 882 for example fully loaded with all my gear, fuel, batteries etc is ~3500# or somewhere in that range. The 882 is also a heavy boat for a 18 footer. I know nitro lists the total trailered dry weight at 2900 for my 882dc

He says, that a transmission cooler is only helping when you're sitting still or in stop & go traffic...that when you're running down the road the fluid in the tranny is staying cool enough. Is that correct???

I think he is off base on the tranny cooler as well. a tranny cooler is like a radiator, the more air you flow over and thru it the better it cools. It would actually do a better job of coolingon the freeway then it would in stop and go traffic due to the airflow. the faster you go the harder you will work the engine and tranny and generate more heat. Thats where the cooler really comes into play. you already have a cooler now built into the radiator, an aux one in addition to the one built into the radiator will really help the tranny.

He also says, that unless you are in very hilly terrain where the O/D is cycling back and forth, there is no need to drive in 3rd while towing.

There are many arguements both ways on this one. personally i dont like towing in overdrive, my belief is if something is lugging like it would in od its putting more strain on it then something not lugging but running nice and easy like it would in drive. I have towed many, many miles with my trucks in the 1:1 gear ( 3rd in my truck) and i have never cooked a tranny. I have done both od and non od with my last truck and i had a tranny temp guage installed, the difference in heat buildup is 50+ degrees in od vs 3rd. Overdrive generated a lot more heat because the torque converter was slipping all the time and not locked up like it would be in 3rd. Just on my findings of more heat i choose 3rd. I also think oil.filter changes are inportant, i do mine every 25k and ive never had a single tranny issue on any of my trucks that have had automatics, and every single one of them has towed a lot of miles.





Personally i dont think you will have any issues towing a 18' glass bassboat with your jeep. I would think that if the tranny is is on good shape and maintained you shuld be ok. Planty of people have towed with those jeeps in the past without issue. Your jeep should have the 42re tranny. Your mechanic is right, its not the stongest tranny chrysler ever built and in your year the trany behind the 4.7l was much stouter( 45rfe). I still dont think will have any problems towing a 18' glass with it, its rated for 5000# and a 18' glass falls well within that.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Why do you want to get rid of your Tracker for?

What's wrong with it ?

Those things are bulletproof:lol:

I plan on keepin' mine until' it doesn't serve my purpose, which will probably be never

 

[Texas Transplant]

My two cents. If you Jeep has 179k miles on it, it's not worth very much at all. You are going to find it difficult to find a buyer that wants a used vehicle with almost 200K on it, for any real amount of money.



I had a Ranger V6 that I thought would work pulling a Targa. Too many hills/mountains around here. I had to get a bigger tow vehicle. Wound up with a Mercury Mountaineer with the BIG V8. Purrs up and down the mountains/hills pulling my 18' glass boat (Stratos now).



If you try and tow a glass boat with the V6 Jeep, it will likely work, but probably not that well if you have to pull up inclines any at all (of course OK is not known for that many inclines!). Also, the tranny you have is likely sized to the engine.



Find a friend/buddy that you can go fishing with that has a glass boat similar to what you want, and you do the towing with your current rig. Nothing like experience to really find out.



Tex

 

[Donnie Matney]

Tex he has the inline 6 not a v6 like your old Ranger. The inline 6's can generate more torque based on the design of the motor. I still think you will be fine.



Donnie

 

[Larry Harp]

Tex, you're right about the value of my Jeep. With all those miles NADA retail is $9450 and trade-in is $7225. Even though it's in extra clean condition, I'm realistic enough to know that no one is going to pay retail for a car with that many miles. It's worth more to me paid off. I guess if I buy the boat and I shuck the tranny I can get it rebuit for the equivilivant of 2 monthly payment....at least that's one way to look at it.



Jim B, you're right in doing the fluid change every 25k miles. During our conversation yesterday I asked him about the old saying that if you don't change it reguarly it's best not to change it at all. He said that's probably right. He was working on a valve body while we were talking and he kept digging out a metallic goo. He says that stuff comes off the clutchs and the torque converter and gets into every nook and cranny and when you go changing and flushing the fluid that is full of that stuff you force up into places like valves and solonoids that might have been working fine before.



Thanks for all the opinions guys.



Harpo

 

[Joe G]

dont worry about mileage if its in good shape like you say. I just sold a 1995 toyota 4wd for 5,400. with 215,000 miles on it , nada was 3,700 . but good luck finding any under 5000. dont know about jeep but with toyota, people will pay for them... joe

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

Harpo,



If you want good numbers for weight on the Ranger Boats, take a look at this site




http://www.bassboatcentral.com/rangerspecs.htm

 

[Gary Fish]

Hey there...



We have a Jeep Liberty with a V6. We tow a Nitro 640 with a total weight of 2,000 pounds. No problems so far!!!

 

[joe haley]

Harpo listen to your tranny man I cooked the tranny ina brand new Explorer towing an 18ft boat in the mountains of Arkansas and Missouri luckly warrenty coverd it



JD

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

I tend to agree with JD,



Fact is my 2500 HD tranny gets hot and loud on the hills in my area, very hilly area but I could easily see burning up a tranny.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Another problem wit the Jeep is the rear suspension. They sag bad. If I remember, Terri had to beef hers up. I towed my HEAVY 929 with an explorer V8/Towing package for 4 years. My wife still dives it and it has 150k on it right now. I also towed cross country with it (OD off). I suggest a new tow vehicle used and a good used boat. Prices for both right now with fuel costs and time of year are low, you'd be suprized. Does you no good to get the boat without something to tow it with so I would get the tow vehicle now (you have a boat anyway) and next year get the boat. I am like you, I don't like to stress my equipment that is why I got a V8/6.0 2500 HD 3/4 ton Quad cab with 4.11 rears. It's a gas hog but I have peace of mind and it will pull your house off it's foundation!! It helps that I got sponsored by a Chevy Dealer but I would have gone that route anyway.



TOXIC