Just curious here. I know a lot of you have a list of your toys/vehicles in your signatures but what does everyone tow their pop-up with? I tow mine with a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder and it does great!
Hi David, welcome to PUT :W--you'll have a lot of fun here and "tow vehicles" is always an interesting subject for us.
We tow our 17 foot 2001 TrailManor 3023 with our 1997 6 cyl Ford Aerostar and use an E-qualizer WDH class 3 hitch (with swaybars) The van has a 5,000 payload and when it everything is fully loaded, including passengers and gear we come fairly close to our tow limit. Still, we manage to get over the Smokies just fine without having to get out and push ;)
PS--I see you live in Durango--GREAT town! Some years ago we camped out at Vallecito and loved going into town to Franciscos for margaritas and burritos. Is the place still there?
Well, the last few years we towed with a 1995 Ford F-150 with the 5l V-8 (325hp, 560 ftlbs Torque). This winter we got the itch for a new vehicle, so this year we will be towing with a 2004 Ford F-250 Crew Cab with the 6l Turbo Diesel. I think we should be able to pull the Santa Fe with that :D
Seriously, we have been thinking about a new Highlander or Caravan so the added tow capacity (20,000 GCWR/10,600 tow rating) will not go to waste.
see signature
Talk about, "see signature"!!! I almost cracked up when I read Dave's. Too funny!
T
;)
We tow with a Ford Explorer. It has 106,000 miles on it and it is still going strong. I get to use the 4 wheel drive when we travel to my father in-law's camping property in the NC mountians. We get to cross a small river and cross the same creek 4 times to get to the site. High ground clearance is the most important here. We try to keep the camper floor empty and load things in the back of the Explorer in case the river is up and the floor gets wet. It has never been flooded, but a little water can make its way inside. The last segment is steep, so it takes 4 wheel to make it. I tried it once with a 2 wheel drive F-150, but could not make it up the last streach.
This is our favorite place to camp; nothing like cool, quiet mountian living.
We tow with a '96 Acura SLX, also known as an Isuzu Trooper. It has the 3.2 liter V-6, (195 HP, 180 lb/ft torque) which in latter models, was replaced with a more powerful, higher torque, more efficient 3.5 version (215 HP, 230 lb/ft torque). It has the 4 speed automatic, and 4 wheel drive.
This tows our Bayside pretty well. It is rated for 5000 pounds. The handeling is pretty good, we only had one real big problem with sway which was due to my poor loading, and having the water tank filled up. We do not (yet) have a sway control, which I'm hoping to have prior to going to Yosemite this summer.
The power is only adequete. We can make about 40 - 45 mph up the Grapevine in summer, and about 50 mph over the Cajon pass. I have a fantasy of towing with an Expedition, being able to make the same grades at 65 mph.
Overheating hasn't been an issue. One thing the SLX has is great brakes, 4 wheel discs, no fade, and great feel.
The ride is comfortable, and there is quite a bit of cargo space (about 43 cu ft) behind the 2nd row seats. There is no 3rd row seating.
The SLX handles the tongue weight pretty good, and we don't forsee the need for a weight distributing hitch set up.
We are now at 110K miles, so I wouldn't mind tradng up to the Expedition or Tahoe, or perhaps the Toyota Sequoia. The VW Tourag seems nice, but a bit small, the V-6 is not horrendously expensive, but the V-8 is. The new Nissan Armada is a possiblity. The new Dodge Durango looks good, but, I don't think I have the courage to get a Dodge. Too many bad experiences with the Dodge RAM trucks in our fleet at work. Since we bought our SLX a few years ago used, for less than $20k, I have a hard time swallowing buying a new SUV for $35k - $40k.
We have been towing with a 2001 Chev Venture, 3.0L V6, power is OK but climbing grades becomes a problem, I do not have a tow package and veh tends to run hot. With various trips planned this year we just bought a 2002 Ford F-150 Supercrew and will tow this season with that.
Our 1999 Ford Windstar has towed our large '00 Starcraft through mountains and prairies for the last three or four years from Albequerque to Orlando and everywhere in between. It's been a great tow vehicle!
Started towing our current rig with a '90 F-150 4x4 regular cab. Unfortunately, with 3 kids, Linda had to follow in the Caravan for most trips.:(
BUT- this past week, picked up a '93 Chevy Blazer 4x4, 4.3 w/ all the toys, that will more than handle our Pal and all the rugrats!:D
C'mon, camping season!!!:!
I live by the saying MOPAR or NO Car. I would have to say that I have one of the older TVs on the board. I have a link to pictures in my signature. It may not look all that good but after replacing the tired high mileage 318 with a 360 and manual transmission it does really well here in the mountains of WV. I don't use a WD hitch or sway control. I haven't seen a need for the sway control yet. One thing I do have is truck rated tires and not passenger car rated tires. I believe this has a lot to do with not having sway. On the maden voyage with the PU I kept seeing something in my rear view mirror and thought someone was tailgating me. After taking a closer look it was just the PU. I forgot it was back there.
We have had an Explorer for the last 2 years. :)
see our sig
For 2 years now a 2000 Chevy Blazer 4.3L on a '01 Coleman Bayside...nothing special on the hitch. Been in the Rockies and did fine, but glad the PU had its own brakes!
Oh man, the way we are around here who knows!! Those of you that we have camped with have probably seen a different tow vehicle with each trip. If you missed a trip, you have probably missed a tow vehicle!! :p I'm 31 and have had 34 vehicles since I was 16. Seven of those were brand new. I'll work backwards from what's currently in our "fleet" (tow vehicle wise), I am sure I'll forget something.
2003 Ford E-250 van
2003 Ford Ranger XLT
2001 Ford F-250 Crewcab Powerstroke
2001 Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor ("the blue one")
2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Quadcab Laramie SLT
1999 Ford Explorer Sport 4x4
1999 Ford F-150 Supercab XLT 4x4
1999 Ford E-150 conversion van by "American Vans"
1998 Dodge Dakota R/T 5.9 Clubcab
1997 Ford Crown Vic PI ("the white one")
1995 Ford F-150 Supercab XLT
1995 Ford Crown Vic PI ("the tan one")
1994 Dodge B-250 conversion van by "Primetime"
1992 Ford Ranger XLT
1991 Ford Ranger Supercab XLT
1989 Ford F-150 4x4
1977 Ford E-150 van (handed down to me from my parents, who bought it brand new)
Well I think that's the best I can do memory wise... I have pics of most of these vehicles on my webshots page, click on the link under my profile. We sure do have a car addiction around here - I am thinking of checking into the Henry Ford clinic. :D :p ;)
WOW, Carcopguy get's the prize!!
Well, a few years ago, we borrowed a 20 year old 8' Jayco popup which we used my 1993 Ford Explorer to tow it.
We then bought a 2001 Coleman Niagara, and used the Explorer to tow it, but then bought a 2002 GMC Safari, as a new tow vehicle. Then we got a 2003 Tahoe Hybrid, and at 4,400 lbs dry weight,(6,000 GVWR) decided not to risk damaging the Safari, so bought a 2003 Chevy 2500HD crew cab.
Dave,
For the second year comming we tow with the Envoy. It tows great!
Quote from: NightOwlPS--I see you live in Durango--GREAT town! Some years ago we camped out at Vallecito and loved going into town to Franciscos for margaritas and burritos. Is the place still there?
Oh yeah, Franciscos is still around, it's probably the oldest restaraunt on main street, owned by the same family since it opened. The good ritas and burritos aren't going anywhere ;)
I used to live 5 miles from Vallecito lake, it was a beautiful place to go hang out till the fire came through :( It is slowly coming back. Now we go to Navajo Lake.
We bought the Suburban late in the summer and did not have a chance to get it out on the road with our Bayside. I am looking forward to seeing how it will work. I have no doubt that it should be a dream compared to our old van.
We tow our 2001 Coleman Westlake with a 1998 Astro Van. It is still going strong with 95,000 miles.
Jacqui
We started with a 1996 Isuzu Trooper--manual transmission. Just this past November, we bought a 2003 Ford Expedition--auto transmission and fully loaded, including a DVD player so that we could take longer trips and keep our 3 y/o DS happy during the travelling to and from part.
Go figure though--DH still uses the Trooper to tow our 2002 Coleman Sun Valley. He doesn't want to put a lot of miles on the Expy! :rolleyes:
New to us Chevy Avalanche Z71. We used to tow with a 94 K1500 Blazer. This year will be our first w/AV. I towed the camper to and from the dealer (35 miles or so, each way) in tow-haul mode and it worked out better than I had hoped. The FSO is pretty tall @ 55" plus but now I can see right over the top of the trailer out the back window and over the bed panels of the Avalanche.
Can't wait to try it out on a real trip...
When I bought my Utah, I had 1999 Jeep Cherokee, 6 cyl, no towing package but a dealer installed Mopar hitch. The Cherokee did OK towing the Utah (while carrying three women and all our stuff), but it seemed to have issues with stopping the PU! Especially when going downhill! Since I live in the mountains, this is not a good thing! :(
So about a year ago, I traded for a 2003 Dodge Durango with V-8 and full towing package. No problems hauling the Utah and all our stuff now! And no problems stopping easily.
The only problem is the heart attack I have every time I have to get gas these days! I had never put $30 worth of gas in a single vehicle before. :eek: But, then again, I never owned a V-8 before! :rolleyes:
I love my Durango though! Looks great, rides great, hauls all my stuff, and tows my PU without even breaking a sweat! :)
We started with a '97 Grand Caravan. We are now towing with our '04 Jeep Liberty. Luv it!
See the signature. Rodeo's only a four-banger. Would like another couple of cylinders (or 40 more horses), but that'll wait.
Windstar is a 6 cylinder TRUCK ! It carries us, our tent and all the junk we can think of taking with us without complaining. We love it !