Veloce Raptor

Go big or go home. And it makes a great daily driver, surprisingly:

Bull

I agree with the bigger trucks are better trucks advice....but i also know Mrs. Z, who will kick his *** around the block if a) it costs over $30k, and b) it is large and environmentally unfriendly.

I'm trying to stick with "let Z-man live" advice.

Veloce Raptor

IMO, there is no vehicle that will tow 7,000+ pounds that is environmentally "friendly". None.

Either go for environmental friendliness OR go for a good tow vehicle.

Bull

I should have said "vehicle that minimizes it's environmental unfriendliness". Hey, its his wife!

Veloce Raptor

He should man up & get this:

Bill L Seifert

I have a F250 Superduty, and the best MPG I get is 14 empty, and 12 with an open trailer, and 8 with my old 22' Pace. I have a friend who works at Ford, and he recommends a 4 door, F150, which he has, and says he gets 15 pulling an open trailer.

I can't get enough for mine in trade, so I have decided to keep the F250, but if can sell mine, I am seriously thinking about the 4 door Toyota Tocama or Nissan Frontier. I had a 4 cyl Frontiera couple years ago, and obviously it wouldn't pull a lawn mower, and I was very dissapointed with the MPG, which was about 22, pulling nothing on the interstate.

I know I'm not much help, but I sure would like to know what you decide, in case someone comes along and buys my F250

Bill Seifert

1987 944S Race Car

Chaos

Bill,
My 96 yukon(new motor rv cam and new tranny spring kit) has a rating of 6500 and I pull a trailex/S2 with absolutely no problem.

Z-man

Veloce Raptor: Bull hits the nail on the head. If I go the "big is better" route I might as well get something big enough to sleep in...

Call me what you want, but at the end of the day, Mrs. Z-man is far better to cuddle up to than 5,000 lbs of sheet metal...

To Jupe's point: the GCWR (Gross Combination Weight Rating) for the Dakota is 11,700 lbs. The curb weight of the truck is 4747 lbs. So with that truck, pulling my car and gear would be under the GCWR. I couldn't find a GCWR rating for the Sport Trac, but given it's independant front and rear axles, and SUV-based chassis, I assume it is slightly less than the Dakota's. If it is around 10,000 lbs, I believe I should still be ok.

So do you folks feel that a 2000 lb buffer (7000 lb towing vs. 5000 lb towing capacity and 10,000 GCWR) is sufficient?

-Z-man.

Veloce Raptor

I have slept in my Yukon XL at the track twice since buying it in late September, and I plan to do so again this coming weekend. Remove the 3rd row of seats & leave them at home. Bring comforter & pillows, and PRESTO! Instant bedroom. And it is tres comfortable, too (and I am 6'4" tall).

chrisp

4Runner GCWR is 9,750lbs (normal hitch) or 12,000lbs (weight dist hitch)

The 4Runner itself is 4,500 lbs. which leaves 5,250 (normal hitch) or 7,500 (weight dist hitch) for trailer and in vehicle cargo/people

Also in comparing the owners manual to the on-line catalog there seems to be contradiction. I'll go with the more conservative of the two which is tow capacity of 5,000 lbs (normal hitch) and 7000 lbs (weight dist hitch). This is also consistent with the GCWR #'s above.

SundayDriver

Look closely at Gross Vehicle Weight rating as that is most often the limiting factor. A quick check on Google shows the GVWR of the 4runner gives approx 1200 lb payload. 5000 lb trailer at 10% tongue weight, driver, passenger?, gear for the weekend and you are probably well over that rating even though you are under the tow weight or gross combined.

AlpharettaRK

Z-Man FWIW I pull my 944 on a Trailex. I figure everything including 2 extra sets of tires goes 4500 lbs. I pull it with a 2001 Sport Trac with the 4.0 v-6 (rated to pull 5,000lbs) with no issues whatsoever. It will cruise at 75 on the hills of north Georgia. Having a 5-spd automatic helps a lot. I also have a Land Rover LR3 which obviously does even better but I don't feel compelled to use it as the Sport Trac does fine
Cheers
Randy

DrJupeman

Well, they handle like every other F250+ of the era. Not surprisingly, they share similar suspension configurations with dump trucks.

Honestly, for highway cruising, it is fine. If you're trying to cruise around the neighborhood and pull some g's, a big SUV is not your car, er, truck.

Larry Herman

Yeah, but with the exception of a Cayenne, the Denali is the best of the lot. It's really funny to stay with some "hot shot" sports car drover on a cloverleaf. When they see that you're still behind them, they get freaked out and as soon as the road straightens, all this black crap comes out of their exhaust as they jet away in fear.

Z-man

Ok, some more numbers:

All trucks with V8 motors, trailering package...etc.

Dodge Dakota:
Curb weight: 4747 lbs
Payload: 1263 lbs
GVWR: 6060
GCWR: 11700
Towing capacity: 6800 lbs

Ford Sport Trac:
Curb weight: 4793 lbs
Payload: 1390 lb
GVWR: 6193
GCWR: 12,000 lbs
Towing capacity: 6990 lbs

Toyota 4Runner:
Curb weight: 4500 lbs
Payload: 1450 lbs
GVWR: 6005
GCWR: 9750 lbs / 12,000 lbs (normal hitch / weight dist hitch)
Towing capacity: 7300 lbs.

I'm surprised by the Sport Trac's ratings compared to the Dakota -- I thought the Dakota's numbers would be larger than the Sport Tracs.

I priced out a Toyota 4Runner with similar equipment and came up with an MSRP of around $34,000 - slightly higher than my budget, and about $5k more than the Ford. But I should check out the 4Runner / Tacoma pair.

-Z-man.