tow vehicles
- Thread starter cbadmin
- Start date
Right O Cheers...ain't it great to be able to poke fun a Dodges and Chevys without the fear of retaliation due to the fear of Baylinner banishment 
Rigs, like boats, come in a variety of flavors, a person buys what suits their fancy, they're all about the same (well, fords may be a little better) if you like the vehicle and the price is right, you win.
Actually, the best boat towing rig may be a rusted out 1975 Chev....something you could leave at the boat ramp for extended periods without fear of it getting vandalized. I thought about going in that direction, but, we hope to haul down to Lake Powel & elsewhere someday and wished to arive still feeling human
Rigs, like boats, come in a variety of flavors, a person buys what suits their fancy, they're all about the same (well, fords may be a little better) if you like the vehicle and the price is right, you win.
Actually, the best boat towing rig may be a rusted out 1975 Chev....something you could leave at the boat ramp for extended periods without fear of it getting vandalized. I thought about going in that direction, but, we hope to haul down to Lake Powel & elsewhere someday and wished to arive still feeling human
Lynn Marie
New member
Ken I feel the same way. I'd like a Dodge tow rig but then it would mean trading the 22' for a 25'. We have an Expedition that we got just before finding the 22. Did it because I didn't feel good about and Explorer in front of the boat. Not a problem to tow but wasn't sure about the stop so we traded up. I like my Ford and it's a great rig in front of the CD. Just like you're 150 except there seems to be a third seat that now is under the stairs in the garage. Like them Fords.
Larry, tis an ex cab, short bed, black with a silverish accent along the bottem...if'n I was nerd enough I'd post a pic.
Tim, yippers on the Expedition and the f150 sharing the same guts and like you, I pondered the Doge but couldn't afford the 25'er to hook up behind it .....they're all good, the best rig is the one that makes you happy
Tim, yippers on the Expedition and the f150 sharing the same guts and like you, I pondered the Doge but couldn't afford the 25'er to hook up behind it
.....they're all good, the best rig is the one that makes you happyCB Truckers-
I'm sure that sometimes there's more than a little bit of excess testosterone affecting our judgment on how big a tow vehicle is adequate for a given job, and the great American Male's Fixation on His Truck is a subject that Detroit understands completely.
That said, there really is something to be validated about the idea of having reserve capacity in a tow vehicle. Just before Christmas I was towing my CD 22 to Eagle Lake over a 6500 ft pass between Red Bluff and Susanville. An early morning snow left about 2-3 inches of compressed snow and ice on the highway with the temperature in the high teens. The highway was sanded, but it was too cold to use salt to melt the ice. We had the chains on the rear of my Ford Econoline 150 van conversion, which usually tows the CD with no trouble at all.
Going up the grade, we had no trouble at all, driving in total command. Coming down, however, was another story. I got stuffed twice into the snow bank on the other side of the road, which was, fortunately, high enough to stop the van and boat from going over the edge. Even locked in first gear with chains on the rear, the boat/tandem trailer pushed us around at will. The push forward from the boat/trailer resulted in greater speed than we could handle under the circumstances, and stepping even lightly on the brakes locked up the front wheels (despite ABS), and resulted in a total loss of steering without the wheels turning. Felt like we had a boat full of water pushing us downhill! Upon further inspection, we found that the steel hydraulic line from the brake actuator on the tongue had been broken back near the axle, thus no trailer brakes. We'd checked this system out before the night before leaving, too.
Cal Trans (highway department) told us we had to move the vehicle down the mountain, so we called in a good sized tow truck which towed the boat a few miles down to the next section of flatland, where we resumed the tow.
As we continued on to the next town, it became apparent the 1/2 ton van can easily tow and stop (non-emergency) the boat/trailer, even without the trailer brakes working, but not under the particular steep downhill conditions above. I believe four- wheel drive, and/or a bigger tow vehicle, would have had the reserve capacity to do the job even without the trailer brakes. So it does pay to have a somewhat larger than necessary tow vehicle with enough reserve capacity to help stay out ot trouble and afford some peace of mind, especially nce you can't always anticipate all the problems that might develop. Joe.
I'm sure that sometimes there's more than a little bit of excess testosterone affecting our judgment on how big a tow vehicle is adequate for a given job, and the great American Male's Fixation on His Truck is a subject that Detroit understands completely.
That said, there really is something to be validated about the idea of having reserve capacity in a tow vehicle. Just before Christmas I was towing my CD 22 to Eagle Lake over a 6500 ft pass between Red Bluff and Susanville. An early morning snow left about 2-3 inches of compressed snow and ice on the highway with the temperature in the high teens. The highway was sanded, but it was too cold to use salt to melt the ice. We had the chains on the rear of my Ford Econoline 150 van conversion, which usually tows the CD with no trouble at all.
Going up the grade, we had no trouble at all, driving in total command. Coming down, however, was another story. I got stuffed twice into the snow bank on the other side of the road, which was, fortunately, high enough to stop the van and boat from going over the edge. Even locked in first gear with chains on the rear, the boat/tandem trailer pushed us around at will. The push forward from the boat/trailer resulted in greater speed than we could handle under the circumstances, and stepping even lightly on the brakes locked up the front wheels (despite ABS), and resulted in a total loss of steering without the wheels turning. Felt like we had a boat full of water pushing us downhill! Upon further inspection, we found that the steel hydraulic line from the brake actuator on the tongue had been broken back near the axle, thus no trailer brakes. We'd checked this system out before the night before leaving, too.
Cal Trans (highway department) told us we had to move the vehicle down the mountain, so we called in a good sized tow truck which towed the boat a few miles down to the next section of flatland, where we resumed the tow.
As we continued on to the next town, it became apparent the 1/2 ton van can easily tow and stop (non-emergency) the boat/trailer, even without the trailer brakes working, but not under the particular steep downhill conditions above. I believe four- wheel drive, and/or a bigger tow vehicle, would have had the reserve capacity to do the job even without the trailer brakes. So it does pay to have a somewhat larger than necessary tow vehicle with enough reserve capacity to help stay out ot trouble and afford some peace of mind, especially nce you can't always anticipate all the problems that might develop. Joe.
Holy cow, Joe. I bet that was a miserable drive. Sounds like you knew what you were doing, even though you knew you probably shouldn't have been doing it at the moment. The tow truck to get the rest of the way down the hill was probably a very good investment.
Going down hill is the worst for me. Even with the trailer brakes, you have this feeling that you're not in complete control of everything. Put some ice on the road, and really aren't in control.
Thanks for the story.
Going down hill is the worst for me. Even with the trailer brakes, you have this feeling that you're not in complete control of everything. Put some ice on the road, and really aren't in control.
Thanks for the story.
Mike, Jr can drive his little Ranger on Prom night (it has a small cab and no back seat
Rod, sounds like the tow trip from hell, a person ought to rig up a hand controller to operate only the trailer brakes, that would be a handy option in slick conditions....I'm going to make me one..,,Ifn I "T" into the hydraulic brake line with a line with a quick coupler and have another line with a quick coupler running up to the cab connected to a Micro lock ( brand name of a small hand controlled hydraulic brake controller)....hmmm
Rod, sounds like the tow trip from hell, a person ought to rig up a hand controller to operate only the trailer brakes, that would be a handy option in slick conditions....I'm going to make me one..,,Ifn I "T" into the hydraulic brake line with a line with a quick coupler and have another line with a quick coupler running up to the cab connected to a Micro lock ( brand name of a small hand controlled hydraulic brake controller)....hmmm
Thanks for the input, everyone. OK.......so what I'm gathering from you folks; If I end up with a 4X4 truck, V8, 5.3 L engine with tow rating around the 8000 lb range, and I don't go wild and crazy and take it easy, I should not have a problem towing my 22' CD Cruiser all around the good old US of A, including marching up and down a few mountains on the way to sunny CA. Maybe I'll want to have a tranny cooler, and for sure a heavy duty hitch attached to the frame, but I should feel comfortable rolling down the highways and byways. Right?
Thanks again folks.
Paul aboard the Joni Lynn
Thanks again folks.
Paul aboard the Joni Lynn
Ken,
Recognizing you're a John Deere man, you'd love it here. I'm in the middle of John Deere country. From the bluffs on the edge of our farm, I can look across the Miss. River and see the John Deere Dubuque, Iowa facility. And, moving down river 60 miles, John Deere has a big facilty in Moline, Ill. Without exaggeration, I would guess that 50 - 70 % of the retirees in our community retired out of John Deere, some with well over 30 years service. And of those, 100 % are riding around on John Deere lawn mowers !! Between swearing their allegiance to John Deere, and being a Green Bay Packer fan, this entire state is painted GREEN AND YELLOW !!
However, and not purposely to fly in the face of the popular majority, but I happen to have an ORANGE D17 Allis Chalmers that I use for odd jobs around our little farm.
Happy John Deering !! And thanks for your input on tow vehicles.
Paul
Recognizing you're a John Deere man, you'd love it here. I'm in the middle of John Deere country. From the bluffs on the edge of our farm, I can look across the Miss. River and see the John Deere Dubuque, Iowa facility. And, moving down river 60 miles, John Deere has a big facilty in Moline, Ill. Without exaggeration, I would guess that 50 - 70 % of the retirees in our community retired out of John Deere, some with well over 30 years service. And of those, 100 % are riding around on John Deere lawn mowers !! Between swearing their allegiance to John Deere, and being a Green Bay Packer fan, this entire state is painted GREEN AND YELLOW !!
However, and not purposely to fly in the face of the popular majority, but I happen to have an ORANGE D17 Allis Chalmers that I use for odd jobs around our little farm.
Happy John Deering !! And thanks for your input on tow vehicles.
Paul
Actually, Roger is the John Deere man, I'm more of a Cat person but anymore all I do is teach folks how to fix um. Someday I hope to venture over to the cheesehead state and check out all the tall Musky & Pike tales I heard about as a youth, folks migrated out west from Phelps (small WI town in the N.E.)
Happy towing
Happy towing
Just thought that we should welcome the newest member "boilingreef" to sign on to the site by bringing this "thread" to the forefront seeing as how he's one of those guys with the "white hats"....aka the "Dodge Boys". So Welcome, "boilingreef" the Dodge Service Manager, you've entered a site not only for the CD initials meaning C-Dory but to some of us the initials mean Cummins Diesel as well!!!!! :teeth :smilep :teeth :smilep :teeth :smilep :teeth
Captains Cat
New member
For some of us, the CD (Cummins) was just too loud and we opted for the big V-10. That sucker will pass anything but a gas station. Maybe the new Diesels are quieter, I bought my 2500 V-10 in 2001, had to special order it and it took about 5 months to get! It pulls the heck out of anything though, besides the C-Dory, I pull a 28' Trailer that goes about 10,000#. Lots of power still left!
Welcome "Boilingreef", we may need some Dodge help too!
Welcome "Boilingreef", we may need some Dodge help too!
Anita Marie
New member
Dave did you say something, wait a minute till I let the turbo cool down.
