V6 Tow vehicle

[scott lewis]

Just wondering

I have a 17 foot tin and can tow it with almost anything.

I will upgrade in the future to glass prob 19 foot or more

Can a boat that big be towed with a full size truck and a v6.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Sure...what size V6 is it? I have a 4.3 Sonoma that I just towed my 185 with a 90 no problem. It might not have as much bottom end as my big truck but does just fine for shorter trips

TEE

 

[Texas Transplant]

Depends upon the size of the V6. If it's a bigger V6, with proper gearing, yes. I had a Ranger pickup with the smaller V6, and it had trouble with my Targa.



Tex

 

[TrepMan]

I'll take tex's one further " size of the V6. If it's a bigger V6, with proper gearing," AND the size of the truck! I FULL size pickup with a small-Midsized V-6 will have more issues then a compact/mid-sized Pickup with a LARGE V-6. The larger truck carries more weight.



Don't know the current spec's on the Pickups, has GM put that MONSTER I-6 in any pickups yet? I know the new Canyon has the I-5, not the I-6? Mac?

 

[Scott left blank]

It will tow it. I pulled a 20' Stratos bass boat for a couple of years with my 98 GMC Sierra Ext Cab (4.3L V6). It wasn't the most powerful truck pulling a boat, but it got the job done. You may want to install a transmission cooler, though, to take some of the heat out of the transmission.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

The newer 4.3's are rated a 190 HP so it should pull that tin fine I agree with the tranny cooler...heat is a trannies biggest enemy.

 

[Jim B]

Trep is right on. A v6 in a full size truck wont be the best situation for towing a big glass boat. a guy in my club used to tow a 19' with a 200 opti on the back with a chevy silverado with a 4.3l in it. It struggled badly on the hills trying to maintain freeway speed. HE had the lowest gears chevy offered (3.73) and it didnt help. The 4.3 is a GREAT motor but for towing in a fullsize its not the best answer.



More then once we hitched that same boat to my s10 with the 4.3 and the s10 moved it fine. the big difference is the truck itself weighed about 1k less then his so it had more power to put to towing.



If your buying a new truck take a look at the smaller v8's. Like the 4.8 chevy 4.7 dodge or 4.6 ford. They have more then enough power to get the job done if you really want a fullsize. you would also be suprised that the gas milage between the small v8 and big v6 isnt that much different. My old s10 4wd with the 4.3 got 15 around town day in an day out and 11 on the freeway towing my 882. My current truck is a dodge dakota quad cab 4x4(much heavier and bigger) with the 4.7l v8. I get 14.5 in town and 13 towing the same 882 on the freeway. Im actually doing better towing and slightly less in town, its a worthy trade off. The big difference is in the power, the difference is huge. The 4.3 moved my boat fine but the v8 i have now i really cant tell its back there, the truck feels like it has no strain on it at all. I find if i dont use the cruise control on the freeway before i know it im doing 80+ now.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Yeah but, your talkin' a 3000 lb. rig or better vs. a tin that's probably 1800 lbs. or less...big difference!

 

[Jim B]

Yep Tee sure am but that was the question, he knows he can tow tin and he was asking about a larger glass boat.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Missed that part:0

 

[Staci Matheis]

Yes!

 

[Rob LaMoy]

I have the 4.3 in my Bravada, with a few upgrades and I'm putting out a little over 200 HP. I towed Buzz's 896 fine. It worked a little on the hills, but it towed it. I pull my Ranger fine. It's 18'10", so you might as well say a 19 footer.

Keys to remember:

Get a tranny cooler

Get it geared properly

Get a K&N air filter

Don't use OD on hills

Run good gas

maintain the vehicle regularly



And you'll be just fine. Now if you were towing a 20 footer with a 225 on it.....then you might be pushing it unless you're in Kansas and towing across praries.

 

[Jim B]

Trep i forgot to mention chevy does not offer the i6 in the colorado. Its really too bad because the i5 just isnt going to get it done. and with the i6 it would be a much more desireable truck. The i5 just dosent have the torque that the i6 or the 4.3 have and torque is what you want. Torque is what moves the load not horsepower.

 

[Brian Bell2]

I used to tow with my 2002 F150 it had a V6, had no problems. But my new 2004 F150 with the 5.4 V8, you dont even know there is a boat behind the truck.

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

You are safe to tow about 80% of the manufacturers tow rating, anything above that is dangerous.

If you are planning on towing a heavier boat in the future you can either plan for it now or trade up when you trade the boat.

Contrary to Rob's post - NEVER tow in OD, but that's a debate for another post

 

[Rich Stern]

My Explorer Sport Trac has a 4.0 V6 and I tow a Nitro 700 quite a bit. Very well matched combination.



The Sport Trac weighs about 4200 pounds and is rated for 5100 pounds of tow capacity. I have towed closed to 4000 pounds; wouldn't want to do that a lot, but it works safely.



Many of the big displacement V6's have torque numbers approaching the small V8's.

 

[Jim B]

Rich, what v6 are you refering to? Currently the v6 motor with the most torque blongs to Nissan i believe. the 3.5l they put in the pathfinder makes 265#ft, The biggest v6 you can get the 4.3l chevy isnt too far behind at 260#ft. Thats a far cry from what most of the smaller v8's are putting out. even the 4.2l i6 in the trailblazer that makes 275# itnt quite up to snuff with a small v8. The chevy 4.8 for example is puts out 295#ft or my dodge 4.7 that puts out 300#ft. 30or 40#ft may not sound like much but it really is. Its a much larger difference then 30 horespower is.



Having towed the same boat with both a small v8 and a big v6 i can say for sure the v8 blows the v6 away even in a larger heavier vehicle with taller gearing and bigger tires.

 

[Corey Carrico2]

Just another thing to think about...the bigger vehicle will have a longer wheelbase and a stronger frame. It will be safer towing on the highway and in emergencies. Any of the V6's will have enough torque to pull a boat out of the water...full size truck or compact.



That said I recently moved from a 4.0V6 to a full size with a 5.6V8 and it is not even close.



Corey

 

[Rob LaMoy]

But like Trep said, a big truck or SUV with a small V-8 is no better than a mid sized truck or SUV with a big V-6. My mother in law has a F150 with the 4.7 Triton V-8 and she had a performance dual exhaust added. It's a gutless pig! Nice ride, but can't get out of it's own way. My 4.3 will smoke it. Only .4 cubic liters more engine, and maybe 10 more HP? But add another 1000 lbs of steel and frame.

That's why towing with an Expedition is not good if it has the small V-8. By itself, the engine can push the big truck around fine. Add a boat on the back and the engine is overworked unless you up to the 5.+ bigger Triton V-8. I will continue running my Bravada (hell with all the work I've done...it's practically NEW) until the wheels fall off and save my $$$ for gas! LOL

 

[Jim B]

Rob thats not the question at hand anyway. He is thinking of a full size with a v6, the same truck with a small 8 will tow better and most likley do better on gas.



I can understand why you mother in laws truck is a dog, dual exhaust is the easiest way to kill bottom end torque. Id bet it was better stock. Those fords arent knows for thier stellar power anyway unless you get the bigger motor( the 5.4 is great). On the other foot the 4.8 chevy and 4.7 dodge will way outpull the 4.3l v6 in a small chevy. My dakota weighs in at over 1000 pounds more then my old s10 ext cab did and at 5000# its right in line weight wise with a chevy silverado ext cab 4wd so its a good comparison from a weight standpoint. comparing the two in towing ability isnt even a fair comparison even though my s10 weighed a lot less, has better gearing for towing( 3.73 vs 3.55),and had smaller tires(28" tall vs 32") thus lowering its overall gearing even further. Towing my 882 with the s10 it did ok but when i hit the hills i really knew it was there and on some if i wasnt holding enough speed i couldnt climb them without it slowing down or having it shift into second. my dakota on the other hand never even wheezes on those same hills towing the same boat yet its hauling around an extra 1000# of truck as well.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

I miss my Dodge. You HAD to bring that up, didn't you Jimbo! Now I wanna go throw rocks at my Bravada.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Bruce



My owners manual states--

If equipped with an automatic transmission,tow in overdrive.

If equipped with a five speed manual with O-D,tow in fourth gear.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Makes me feel good that I am getting 12.5 mpg with the big truck (6.0 V8). I don't know if you can get them but the higher the nimber in gearing is better for towing. 4.11's are better than 3.73's but your mpg will suffer. I do not know if you can get 4.11's in a 6 cyl. Also, my owners manuel tells me to tow with the "Tow/Haul" mode engaged. And Staci, if you had towed that 929 with the Cherokee for any amount of time, you would have torn up the vehicle and I sure wouldn't want to be in front of you if you had to perform an emergency stop. Let's remember, pulling isn't the important part stopping is and nothing beats bulk in your tow vehicle for that. I tried an experiment with the Explorer and my 929 on stopping. That's why I now have a 3/4 ton truck. I don't want to endanger myself or others.



TOXIC

 

[Bob G.]

Toxic,



You gotta like that 6.0L for towing. I have the same motor with 3.73 gears in a 1500HD Crew Cab (now called 2500 Crew Cab) and it tows great. It's nice driving a 6000lb vehicle when towing because I never feel my boat controlling the truck!



I don't think I would want to tow a 929 with a Jeep Cherokee after seeing how much it sags in the rear.



Bob G.

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

Steve - what do you drive? I've had GM, Dodge and now Toyota and have never diven in OD (Dodge and GM did not state anything about OD).

Your boat is light though, I don't think you'd have a problem.

 

[Rich Stern]

Jim, an example: Current model Explorer with the 4.0 SOHC V6 has 254 ft/lb of torque. Same model with the 4.6 V8 has 282 ft/lb. of torque. Roughly 10% difference. Noticable? Sure. Substantial? No.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Bob, my little experiment was to peg the brakes at about 45 mph with the explorer which has the towing pkg. anti lock brakes and V8 (5.0). My trailer also has brakes (duh), keep in mind, I have driven this rig to Champlain and Wisconsin and pulling was never an issue (little weak in the mountains). I was amazed at the stopping distance!! Taught me to back off a little more than I used to do. I thought about getting the 8.1 big block in the new truck (2500 HD) but I read bad things about that motor (oil use).



I gotta say it again....PULLING is not the issue, you can compare torque numbers etc., STOPPING is the important part. Heck, I can pull my boat with my garden tractor, but I wouldn't want to try and stop it going down a hill!!LOL!



TOXIC

 

[Corey Carrico2]

I have to second Toxic's point. When I changed vehicles stopping and high speed stability is the thing I noticed most improved. That was because of the wheelbase and weight of the vehicle. Sure the new truck's V8 has more pulling power but my old V6 had plenty. My father has a V6 F150 and it was a lot more stable than my Explorer was....faster no but safer yes.



Corey

 

[Jim B]

Rich

A roughly 30 ft/lb difference is torque is moch more then the roughly 10% that the numbers show. If we were talking horsepower i would say yea 30 extra isnt that much of a big deal but 30 ft/lb's really is a good boost, much more then the numbers would show on paper. When it comes to towing soemthing that motor that makes the extra torque will tow better. In the case of the explorer the numbers dont tell the whole story either. Put the same boat on both and see what happens, tve v8 is going to tow much easier and most likley gas since thy both get similar milage. my old 4.3l chevy to my current 4.7 dodge is a simliar comparison, on paper it dosent look like much but real world its night and day different. places where my chevy would struggle and strain my dodge dosent even come close to breaking a sweat. If it was like 5 lb/ft id say sure its close but 30 is not.



If you have ever tried to hop up a motor for torque and measured it on a dyno you eould understand what im saying. 30 ft/lb's of torque is something that is not easy to gain, 30 horsepower is. and im not talking about claims form aatermarket parts makers im taking real world as measured on a dyno. to get that 4.0 to produce the same type of torque as the 4.6v8 would require some major mods.