[Autox] (autox) Towing Upgrades

[Paul and Meredith Brown]

I've put about 300,000 miles on two Cummins Dodges.  Both were 3/4-ton X-cab
4X4 automagics.  Can't live without 4WD here for 5 months of the year, and
can't afford to have two trucks, so we tow with a 4X4.  Never had problems,
and on occasion the 4WD is a nice feature when towing either near home or
through Flagstaff...  The Cummins is a wonderful powerplant, though they had
problems both times diesel standards changed, first to the low sulfur, then
more recently to the ultra low sulphur (thanks, Bosch).  Never had problems
with the automagics, and I let it spend as much time as it will in OD (to be
fair, the trailer is about 4000 pounds, so we aren't anywhere near what should
cause a 3/4-ton truck any issues).  The Dodge automagics have a bit of a
reputation for being fragile, though we've never had any issues.  My
understanding of that is that people really like to overload the trucks (haul
30,000 pound trailers with them) which the clutch in the lockup torque
converter can't deal with;  when that clutch fails, the parts go through the
trans, and poof.

As to the Fords, I know a number of people with 7.3 Powerstrokes.  They all
like their trucks, but every last one of them has had multiple problems with
the injector wiring.  Not a big surprise - they run 100V DC wiring under the
valve covers (in the oil) and that is one of the problem areas in the trucks.
My first diesel was an '83 Ford, with the old 6.9.  The only thing I ever want
from Ford is an apology for that POS (and it wasn't just the engine).  Made my
'71 Fiat seem like a reliable, well-engineered vehicle...

The one guy I  keep in touch with who has a Chevy Duramax is on a first-name
basis with not only the service writers but several mechanics at two different
dealerships.  To be fair, that was a problem he had with it when it was nearly
new, and it's been good since then.

Towing with a half-ton ought to be OK, based on their ratings, but lots of
them don't seem to be able to handle that sort of duty.  The 90's Generally
Mediocre Corporation products were particularly bad - that 700R4 trans was a
cruel joke.  They lost enough on warranty work on those that they actually
seem to have improved things.

Overkill in this case is a good thing, so we've used 3/4-ton trucks to do our
light towing.

> Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:12:41 -0800
> From: george.ryan at sbcglobal.net
> To: autox at autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: [Autox] (autox) Towing Upgrades
>
> I hauled cars nationwide professionally from 1995 to 2006 pulling both tag
> single car enclosed trailers from 18' to 32' (and one 48' gooseneck two car
> enclosed trailer) and open car haulers from a 36' two car low-boy to
> an 18' single open car hauler. The name of my company was Vehicle Valet, we
> specialized in door-to-door direct hauling of exotic, antique, and other
> cars for which the owner wanted the personalized care we offered and
delivery
> within hours from pickup (max 5 days from Miami to Seattle) - and were
willing
> to pay extra for that service. All have been pulled using either a 1998
> Dodge 3/4 ton Cummins 5 spd or a 2005 Dodge dually with a 6 speed (still
have
> them both!).