Tow Rigs

For those of you that tow your rig to and from the trails what's your setup?

I know the vast majority of people on this site DD their vehicles and maybe it's different down here but it seems like more and more people I know are towing their trucks to and from the trails.

I'm considering picking up an 85 4Runner or something of the sort just to use as a trail truck to keep my DD clean

 

I never towed with a tacoma.... I used to have a 96 tacoma that I started wheelin in. Then.....retired that to daily driving duties and bought a Jeep Wrangler for a trail rig.

My husband eventually got a V8 Grand Cherokee. We bought a 14 foot open deck trailer and towed the Jeep with the Grand Cherokee. That trailer weighed approx. 1200lbs. Total with the Jeep - about 6500lbs which was the limit of the Grand Cherokee towing capacity. It did Ok.....proper drop & tonque weight. It did get a little squirrely at times and going up long & tall Tennessee hills , the temp would start rising.

After a few years of that...... Sold my 96 tacoma and bought a Dodge Ram 1500.

The Dodge Ram towed our setup like a dream - as it should - with 10,000lb towing capacity. The Ram didn't even feel like there was a load back there. It was a hell of a lot nicer to tow with the Ram than the Grand.

So, with that being said........ The Tacoma has a similar towing capacity as the Grand Cherokee did and probably weights less than the Grand. Your towing experience with the Tacoma might be similar....

Personally, if it were me.....I'd get a BIGGER tow vehicle and something with a V8 if you plan on towing on a regular basis.

 

I'm looking at getting an FX4 EcoBoost once I'm out of school. Even though it is a 3.5L V6 it has more power than the 5.0

 

I am surely a little different than most. I don't care what the normal bass boat fisherman uses to tow.
I used to own a 1986 2.4 fuel injected 5 speed one ton Toyota. The springs and the narrow and short thing was the roughest ride I've ever been in but it towed boats from a 17 foot Skeeter (approx weight 2200 pounds) to a 18 foot Ranger (approx weight 2600 pounds) for half of the 240 thousand miles I put on her in 13 plus years.
I towed boats mostly 100 miles per trip but as much as 600 miles in order to fish tournaments.

I put a clutch in it at 150 thousand miles. The top of the radiator got a large hole in it at around 210 thousand and I replaced it with an aftermarket. I think that was my downfall in that the new radiator never seemed to cool as well as the original and eventually it blew a head gasket.
I was itching to get a new vehicle so I went out and bought a Dodge diesel which I'm thinking about selling and going back to a Toyota Access cab with the 2.7 and a 5 speed.

So is this not a good plan? The Dodge still runs good and the diesel is easy to repair but the cost of diesel along with a light weight high performance bass boat and I thought I'd save some money and go back light weight.

 

Grossing close to 26K
1994.5 F-350 7.3L powerstroke. Stage 1 injectors, intercooler, valair clutch + more mods. Roughly 400hp & 800ft/lbs. Pulls it with ease honestly. This was a trip coming home from Buena Vista, CO over Hwy 285.


Even brought the kitchen sink.

 

Is that thing even legal?

 

Yup. Good to 70ft in Colorado. And, several bordering states. I'm right at 70ft with that setup. But, I will be around 5ft shorter with the buggy on my 14ft trailer. The one pictured is a 20ft deck.

 

absolutely. ive seen plenty of people pull doubles. even triples (camper, flat trailer with atvs, and a boat)

takes of course a ton of power and a very well cooled tranny!

nice set up addicted! wheeling with comfort!

 

Jesus fucking christ. That thing is insane.. arent the 7.3's supposed to be bulletproof right?

Very nice setup, i've got a 82' pickup that i plan to tow with my taco, i dont doubt it'll have too many problems once i outfit the right parts(airbags,beefier leafs,brake controllers ect).

Subbed.

 

Looks like we got ourselves a convoy

 

Good to know. I think the rig we used for wakeboard camps was about 70 feet

 

This truck was extremely neglected when I got it. I'm married to it at this point. Just too much $$ dumped into it. But yes, its bulletproof. Its my 4th powerstroke that I have owned.
96 F250
97 F-350
01' Excursion
and this 94.5 dually.

I will never own anything again for full service towing except a dually.

Diesels are just extremely easy to get power out of. I've dropped a lot of $$$ into the 94.5, but its been worth it. I towed my truggy and my buddy's first gen 4runner to CA for a full 8 days of wheeling over the summer. Never needed to downshift once out of 5th gear the whole way there. Only had to for the last 1/3 of the Park City, UT pull on I-80 and that is only because some guy boxed me in. That was around 24K gross. We were full loaded with camping gear for a Rubicon/Dusy Ershim trip. Before the paint job too:



I love the old body style Fords. IMO, is the toughest truck you can buy. It just takes some $$$ to get them up to par power wise with the newer diesels. Still way less $$ than a new truck though. I love Cummins motors, but the truck wrapped around them is a complete pile of crap.

Here is my Ford all cleaned up:


And with my truggy heading to the mountains:

 

My best friend(red 1st gen 4runner above) pulls with a similar setup. He is about 5K lower on combined weight though. I can still pull away from him on long pulls though.

His truck is a work in progress as we build it up. He's always blown away when he gets in mine and pulls away from guys towing 10K less than we do.

 

what would you estimate to be the realistic max payload of the ford with all your upgrades?

 

That is just insane, it looks clean as hell though, i too hope to someday have a dedicated towing rig(the taco will be meh DD) and although the taco can do the job, i think a diesel is just hands down the right kinda vehicle for towing duties.

Pulling 24K hauling ass down the road... How fast are yall normally going with that much weight?

 

Its hard to say. Power wise I could pull more. But, the axles, and brakes are pushing the limit as is.

That 3rd gen 4runner in the first pic is one of my employee's rigs. Its a solid axled rig on 37s and its a 5500lb pig. That was likely close if not over 26K. Keeping it under 26k keeps me legal in the eyes of DOT. Anything over 26K will require a Class A license.

My new double cab will likely tip the scales around 5000lbs when I am done. But, I don't plan to pull it around a lot behind the 5th wheel.

Oh, and I average around 8.5mpg with the whole setup. With just the buggy or truggy I get around 12-13mpg. Best I have ever gotten unloaded was around 18mpg. I average around 15mpg in mixed use though.

 

Drop in a 12V P pump cummins wrapped around that body and you'd have the best of both worlds. I had a 96 cummins and you're right. It's a great motor but the truck did need a bit of TLC every now and then. On oil burners (mechanical pumps at least) adding fuel is relatively cheap - it's adding air to support all of the fuel that gets expensive. I have a friend that has pulled over 32k (2 antique tractors) from VA to CT in his. I don't condone that much weight but he felt he was able to do it safely.

 

I've considered a Fummins build. However, when it really comes down to it. the 7.3L powerstroke is much cheaper to maintain and just as reliable. Not to mention that I typically pull away from most Cummins trucks on long grades. Not because of power, but mainly because of the torque curve and gearing. Cummins motors are best run at 1800rpms. They use 3.55 gears to do it. I have 4.10s and my torque curve is at 2400rpms. So, at 65mph I am right in my sweet spot for power and EGTs. Usually Cummins trucks need to slow down a little more due to the gearing on long pulls.

 

Very true when running stock. On the plus side, I was turning 24 mpg empty on the highway - single rear, reg cab, 4x4 and 18 around town. That was with big injectors and a fuel plate dropping 400hp at the rear wheels.
2400 RPMs??? Wow my redline was only 3k in the Cummins. You certainly got a nice tow rig!

 

why dont you just get a non CDL class A to be safe?