Tow vehicle

Just wondering with gas prices now day what some opinions are on some of the smaller v8’s or even 6 cylinder trucks out there. I have 17.5 foot MR. PIKE with a 115 motor. Anyone else pulling something similar around, with say a Dakota or Jeep, care to share their experience. I currently get about 8 mpg with my half ton Dodge(360) and I just cant take it anymore

I had the exact same boat for four years up to last summer, and pulled it an Olds Bravada V6 4.3 vortac. didn’t even know boat was behind me, and when pulling boat got about 13-14 mpg. on hwy just veh, doing 60-65, get 20 mpg still.
Jack.. good luck.

I only wonder if a Bravada/compact truck can hold up too long. No doubt you can pull things but I would worry about repairs. If you are just a weekender than they probably would be ok.

I have a Bravada to, and I pull a 17′ alumacraft with a 50. Before I get a bigger boat, I’ll definitely get a bigger truck. It pulls it fine now, but I think my transmissions days are numbered.

Maybe if you went with a manual transmission you would be better?

I have a GMC Sierra..best tow vehicle that I have ever had.
I get 14 to 16 mpg depending on my foot weight.
But the biggest thing is I can pull myself out of most situations. Stopping is better. And I can accelerate like there is nothing hooked on behind.
The smaller vehicles are great just don’t have many hills or sloppy ramps. Don’t ever need to pass on a two lane.

This just happened to me a couple weeks ago.
I was on my way to Redwing and I had my truck in 2-wheel drive instead of all wheel drive.
I hit a frost patch on the highway @ 55 mph, and did a jack knife with a few twists thrown in and ended in the wrong lane of the road. Broke my boat strap, and elevated my heart rate. I think if I would have had my old Nissan Pathfinder I would have been in the ditch and maybe on the way to th ER.
I wished they would make this GMC get 100 mpg..but I will still keep her.

Guys those are all great tow vehicles, I have ’01 chevy astro van 4.3 v6 4l60e 4spd auto tranny w/ 4.73 gears @ rear diff. pulls my ’03 16’6″ lund explorer ss w/ 90 yammy just fine. I get around 15-16 mpg while towing and 17-19 w/out towing, also a k&n air filter has helped gas mileage 1-2 mpg!
Hope this helps!
ERIC

You’ll get better mileage with a newer V8. Our Chev 5.3 pulling an 1850 gets an average of 14 going 55-60mph and 13 going 65+. If I’m not towing it gets 19 at 55-60mph. My bro pulls a 16 footer with an explorer V6 and gets 10mpg.

BIRDDOG

Your not going to get much for mileage out of a jeep. They do tow very well, but a truck that only gets 14-16 mpg on a good day, take a few miles off that for a trailer behind it and you may be dissapinted. They are great rucks, just not great for mileage.

The key is to get a vehicle with reasobale mileage in the 1st place for towing your boat around. All V6 and V8 models these days will have no problem pulling around the average boat. Your not going to win any races with the V6, but it will pull within reason. If you are putting on a lot of miles towing a heavy boat, I do recommend a heavier towing vehicle with a V8, or your repair cost will start to make up for the gained gas mileage with the lighter vehicle.

I will still keep my full size Chevy 5.3 350V8 for pulling my boat and going on trips I love that truck. For every day back and forth to work and running around town I have a 90 geo that looks like heck but it runs great and gets good gas mileage. Like Greg said my main consern is not how it pulls but how it stops, if you are pulling a larger boat I would go with a full size rig. Here is an old post on this topic.

tow vechicle

If you want mileage then you have to get a diesel.

No offense Guys, but you don’t buy a truck because you’re looking for milage. You either have a good tow vehicle or a pooch pulling your boat. Either way you get to the ultimate destination, the lake

P.S. I’m not sure that I’d go out and buy a diesel right now with all of the regs. going on them in 07″ there are unforseen problems with all of the bio-diesel and emission controll . It’s already causing fuel filter problems in my trucks and some power loss

Hi guys. First post on the site. Has anyone had experience pulling 3K lbs with the 4.7L Cherokee? I’m gonna buy one for my wife and will hi-jack it for pulling my 18′ Ranger to and fro. I’m not a Chysler fan but do like the Cherokee in general. As far as the diesels go, there’s nothing better for pullin’ of course but the cost of fuel can tend to be prohibitive. My bro got a ’03 Ford and just after he picked it up, diesel went to 3.49/gal. I believe it has something to do with home heating and such so I would imagine the price will drop when most are pulling their boats (summer). Thanks for any input on the Jeeps! Andy

Martin, I have a Dakota with the 4.7 pulling a 1800 Pro V. It has plenty of power, you just have to keep your foot on the gas! Pulling the boat at 75 with od off, I get around 11 mpg. I’m looking at getting into a full size soon.

Jami

Martin, welcome to IDA! I pulled a 19’6″ Starcraft for a few years with my ’98 Grand Cherokee, it had the old 5.2L, but never had any power issues. Got around 10-12mpg with the 3500 lb windsail of a boat behind me, 15 or so without.

I still use it occasionally, as the QuadraTrack saved my bacon a time or two at the ramp. Much better than standard 4×4 on a slippery ramp. The only thing I did not like was poor rear visability with the narrow profile vehicle pulling a very high, wide profile boat. You should not have as many issues with your Ranger, and will probably do a little better economy wise than the 5.2L.

Trashman, I am sure everything will be just fine with diesel fuel. And to base a truck buying decision off of that would be foolish I think. So what if they tighten emission control more? Just forces the engine builders to make the engines more efficient, in turn better mileage. I haven’t had a single problem with my diesels fuel, filters, or anything related to that. I’m not running garbage trucks either, but there hasn’t been any reports of bad fuel in Rochester area.

Thanks for the welcome and for the info. We’re deciding if the Jeep is really what we want and I do have a ’95 burb to haul it around in general. It’s got a 5.7 w/ 3.42 gears and it is just terrible for pulling in the hills! Not sure why anyone would put those gears in that truck as it just destroys the pulling power and still only gets 13 mpg. One good thing about teh boat though…low gunnels so at least it’s not like I’m dragging around a big drift sock! Andy

E Ronningen, I see that you are in the roofing business, you must be using a lot of diesel all of the truck shops around here are having trouble right now and the fuel is being changed even more in 07. And if you haven’t noticed the milage is not going up on deisel trucks right now You are right though, the engine builders are being forced to make better, cleaner engines but with dropping the sulfur rate in diesel it makes it harder to put out the ponies and still get good milage.

whats the difference if we burn 400 gallons of diesel a month and you burn 4000 or whatever? by what you are saying it sounds like its more related to the bigger diesel trucks or older trucks. My point is that the pickup market isn’t experiencing any diesel fuel related problems. At least I haven’t heard of any. Maybe you guys buying and storing bulk get a different blend. This thread was geared towards towing vehicles, not for dump trucks and semis. Thats all I meant.

03 Ford crew cab automatic 3.73 gears 7.3 dually deisel 4X4 highway 19 MPG pulling my smaller lund. Pulling our horse trailer at 70 MPH avereging 15 MPG. I LIKE MY DEISEL.

I didn’t mean at all to start a peeing match, I was just expressing some problems and concerns that I have encountered, I don’t come on this site to argue or make enemies. I like our diesel equipment, I just hope that no one else has these problems with fuel it’s a pain in the Peace

I have a 1650 lund with a 40 on it. Pretty light rig all things considered. I pull it with a Ford Ranger with a 4.0 V6. The whole ball of was is only a fraction of the twoing capacity of the truck. I get about 16 – 18mpg going 70mph.

Hey Matt is your 1650 an Angler and is it a tiller or a console? I have the 1650 Angler SS with a 40 in a single console, the boat by it self weighs 800 LBS with my Chevy 350V8 I do not even know the boat is back there.

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I have a 1650 lund with a 40 on it. Pretty light rig all things considered. I pull it with a Ford Ranger with a 4.0 V6. The whole ball of was is only a fraction of the twoing capacity of the truck. I get about 16 – 18mpg going 70mph.

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