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Towing cross country

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4K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  Sarge  
#1 ·
Hey guys. I'm moving this summer and am trying to figure out the best way to do it.

I have an 07 crew cab z71 with the 3.7. Tune from lime swap, efan, large trans cooler, oil cooler, cai, No cats exhaust into super 44.

I am wondering what your thoughts on pulling a 6x12 enclosed trailer (empty weight of 1300lbs) with approximately 1200lbs of furniture and what not in it (some stuff can be shifted to the truck to distribute the Weight).

I am more than comfortable with towing and am not inexperienced, but this is a long hard drive. 2700km with about 1000km of very hilly or mountainous terrain (going from Manitoba to Vancouver island).

I have a stabilizer hitch with proper ratings. Truck has hidden hitch and a 10000lb reciever.

Need more info? Just ask.

Just wanna know if this is safe, and or, going to wreck my truck.
 
#2 ·
It's going to be a load, and a slower go but sounds fine to me to tow 2500lbs. The mountains will kill you and you'll be manually shifting of course. Just be smart.

It may be a smart idea to change oil once you've reached your destination. It may be more contaminated than usual over the distance with your heavy foot climbing grades. Expect it to be darker.

I don't know if I would do it personally but I'm different. In addition, my truck would labor way too much in current form (one reason why I would not tow 2500lbs).
 
#3 ·
You've pretty much rigged everything IRT factory towing package so protection factors are in check. That's alot of weight for I5/3.7L, but we pulled a converted pick-up bed trailer loaded to gills with my 1985 Dodge Laser (4-cyl stock) back in the day and the car ran fine for another 4-yrs until we sold it (no short/long term effects). Just monitor temps, take routine stops and you're probably fine. Safe journeys!
 
#4 ·
How hard is it to add a transmission temp transmitter to these trucks that I could use on torque? Or even just a guage would suffice.


I've pulled about double this weight with this truck and it handled it fine, but it was only 300km or so with a few large hills.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I recently towed a car 500 miles across Oregon with my turbo 4 cylinder Colorado. It was a VW Bug (1800 lbs) plus a motorcycle in my bed (250lbs), plus a bunch of other stuff (300lbs). I pulled hills that were miles long in 5th gear at 2100rpm running 10lbs boost the whole time.

Don't even worry about the engine. There's no way you're going to hurt it. Just keep the transmission cool and everything will be fine.

 
#10 ·
What you're looking to tow is less than half of the rated towing capacity. 2500lbs really isn't much. There will be times that you'll forget it's back there.
 
#11 ·
Make sure your brakes are good. The only thing you really have to worry about is not overheating the trans.
 
#15 ·
Just playing devils advocate here.

Do you already own the trailer or will you be renting it? Reason I'm asking is have you compared the cost of renting the trailer vs renting a truck and car dolly /or/ trailer combo when you add in the added components you'll need and the additional wear and tear on your truck?
 
#17 ·
Works for me. :D Safe journey!