Tow vehicle question, seeking advice

We had great success with a Honda Pilot and a 6x12 enclosed trailer. With a couple pop-ups and foldable tables it's more than enough room. This setup worked great for three kid racers, couple dogs and sometimes the wife . Oddly the kids prefer sleeping on the air mattresses in the trailer over a tent.

So the inconvenience is you don't have a bathroom and kitchen. However a few pre-prepared crockpot meals and a electric skillet has proved more than adequate. The kids have a blast with the evening shenanigans errrr I mean activities, and I get extra prep time on the bikes.

SOOO many times I have thought that a RV or toyhauler would make our life easier at the track. But when you start adding up the jelly beans of storage, fuel, repairs (something always breaks), possible payment and at the end of the day it cuts into / diminishes the overall race budget. Kids crash, bikes break, fuel is getting more expensive, kids grow out of leathers almost twice a year, etc. Where would you rather spend your money?

Good luck, but I'd keep it simple until you do a year or so of racing.

BTW, we have moved up to a standard 2019 Nissan Titan V8. Has no bells and whistles, it just tows around 9-13mpg. Depending how much my foot is in the gas.

 

Thisbisbsomeyhing I think people overlook when talking about mileage while towing.

If I pull my 6x12 trailer while driving like I'm not towing (i.e. more has pedal in order to maintain speed up inclines) I get about 8-9 mpg.

If I hold a steady throttle up inclines (which means the vehicle will slow down some until the hill is crested) I average 13-14 mpg over the same trip. And there's not a real time difference for the trip, even over long drives. It was an eye opener for me on money wasted by my right foot.

 

And speed.....i get better mileage at 65 than 72.

 

Being comfortable and keeping the wife happy are near the top of the list, LOL!
I'm also 51 years old and sleeping in an enclosed trailer with no bathroom and eating out of cooler doesn't do it anymore. I did that for years when I couldn't afford to be comfy, but I can afford it now, thank God.

 

Think I’d have trouble pulling a 6x12 enclosed with an explorer (max 2500lbs tow capacity)?

 

Dunno about the particulars of your vehicle and the actual towing experience, but even with a single axle you'll be pretty close to your capacity with any normal motorcycle setup.

If you do go that way, at least get brakes! Makes a big difference. As many have said before me, it's not about pulling, it's about stopping.

 

I quit the Exploders errr I mean the Explorers 15 years ago. Back then you couldn't even use them to tow a U-Haul trailer!

The Pilot has a 3500lb tow capacity and handled the single axle 6x12 enclosed easily. We would tow from Phoenix to California all the time and only a couple grades would kick it down to a lower gear. Downside was 9mpg.

Honestly I wouldn't use a Explorer to tow anything beyond a modest open air trailer. Unless Ford has changed, the quality issues from towing abuse piles up.

 

Not really. Toyota things. Just don't even care much. Other than looking for Tundra's infamous cam tower leak lol.

 

(not sure if this deserved another thread or not, but I have more questions) when it comes to a tow vehicle, is it a noticeable difference being closer to the pulling limit of the vehicle vs considerably overshooting what's needed? What I mean is, say I've got a trailer that's roughly 8,000 lbs loaded (just picking some random numbers here) will there be a big difference in the driving experience between pulling with something rated to 10,000 lbs vs pulling something rated to 20,000+ lbs? Would the vehicle with the higher tow rating get better mileage since it can handle more? Or is it as long as the vehicle can handle it, then that's all that matters. Or does it eat more gas since it'd (typically) have a bigger engine? Or are there several other variables to take into account to keep this from being an easy answer?

 

You want to have a comfortable margin. As for mileage for gas trucks the Chevy pushrod engine gets better mileage than the Ford over head cam motor.

 

Yes, there would be. I have pulled about 8K like you're stating in a 20-ish ft Carmate. I pulled it with a Tundra 5.7, RAM 1500, Ram 2500 6.4L Hemi, Ram 2500 6.7 Cummins, and Ram 3500 6.7 Cummins HO+AISIN.

The powertrain, suspension and mass scale with the tow capacity usually. I tend to have more truck than I need for tracking because I use it for other things like pulling my tractor, race cars, etc.

With a smaller half ton, like 1500 or Tundra, I had to actually balance the load (moving car forward or backwards) to get tongue weight right.
With a 3/4 ton, it didn't seem to matter under 10K. Just hook it up, and rip down the highway.
With a 1 ton, it didn't seem to matter under 15K.

Here are my thoughts on the various rigs I've used to pull my small CarMate.

The Tundra (10K tow cap) - Thirsty (7mpg), easy to maneuver in parking lots, good passenger legroom. Could pull up to , and past 10K (around 12K) like a champ. Can hear the engine working, shifting is smooth though. Transmission controller kinda sucks, so manually choose a gear and keep it.

The RAM 1500 - Same as Tundra, more or less. Better mileage though, especially with 8 speed. Better shifting performance with minimal manual intervention. Worse reliability.

RAM 2500 Hemi (14K tow cap) - Thirsty, but still more efficient than Tundra. Controlled trailer with authority. You could stop the trailer without even needing the trailer brakes. The additional mass makes a huge difference.

RAM 2500/3500 Cummins (16K, 24K tow cap) - Efficient, quiet. No sweat, at all. If you have air suspension, even sweeter. Engine braking on the diesel is insanely comforting to hold the truck and load back down steep descents. I miss that.

I sold my RAM 3500 HO in this insane market for a profit and I'm in a '21 Tundra Limited for now. Sucks, but I'll be back

 

Ford towing mileage must really suck then. My 6.0 liter 2500 Denali only gets about 7 mpg towing my 13K lbs toyhauler @ 65-70mph. That is with a Diablew tune running 91 octane. Stock tune running 87 octane I was lucky to get 6 mpg.

The programmer gains come mostly from the transmission control. Stock tranny programming just plans suck even when not towing. Truck is defenitely got more midrange power with 91octane program, but off idle and upper rpm range I would say it's about the same as stock.

 

13K sounds like you're a candidate for a diesel.

 

Lease a 1500, get a big ass rig, drive it into the ground then return it.

 

Drag is exponentially related to velocity. Drag requires horsepower and horsepower requires fuel. It's quite simple, really.

 

The gas engine with the tune pulls it just fine. I don't pull the toyhauler enough miles per year to make the inital purchase price of a disel over a gasoline worth it.
If the intial purchase price of the diesel was the same as the gas would I have prefered it? Yes, but not enough for me to regret buying the gas truck.

 

Vehicles having capacities 10%-20% apart probably isn't going to make a big difference. I think you'd be better served looking at step changes in the graph.

That is - RWD based SUV (GL, Cayenne, Explorer, Traverse, Q7) etc should give similar experiences. To get a considerably different feeling experience you'd need a bigger vehicle (longer wheelbase) and that puts you into body on frame tings

Suburban, Expedition Max - that's about it for the long boys.

Then the next step is the obvious 1/2 ton trucks with 5.5ft beds. I mention bed length because all of these trucks have approx 145" wheelbases. If you get a CC with a 6.5' bed, you get about 12" more wheelbase which will feel like probably 'half a step change' in towing stability.

Then obviously you'd move to 3/4 trucks for towing heavy loads specifically enclosed on the highway in my opinion. These are much more stable because they all have that 155"+ wheelbase but most importantly they weigh like 1500lbs more than their 1/2 ton counterparts, and even more than that if you opt for diesel drivetrains. This just means the movement of the trailer affects the tow vehicle less.

 

If money is a factor at all hotels will be way cheaper. Between maintenance insurance storage and shit gas mileage pulling it you could be staying in some pretty swanky hotels.

 

Been here there and find that with many friends. With the exception of off-road riding weekends, I've gathered very little interest from the other halfs when involving trackdays,racing or anything Motorsports related.
If your young and you gave children, then the mothers take care of the kids and do support duty and put on a good face, but that gets old real quick for most women....
If that your goal...to have a family outing even though there vsduvlkt excluded to spectators...I'd recommend a toy hauler for sure.
Even then...it can get old real quick.
As far as tow vehicles, if you have a trailer you have to buy a tow rig, so your budget instantly doubles and your duty cycle on the vehicle goes to severe duty..so save for tires,brakes transmission rear-end etc... Is what it is.
If your just going day things)trips for yourself.. C virtually anythingwill tow a bike & tools.
A truck is goidId prefer a sprinter type high roof cargo , etc .. I'd much rather have a van as it's enclosed, older Chevy Express or Ford E series are durable....but do offer headroom and loading issues.
I'd take a van any day and tow a simple small enclosed trailer.
For me ..Its two fold , I just wouldn't want to drag the wife and kids along...as mentioned above the day or weekend ends up often being all about the rider and bike....
And 2nd... I don't want them anywhere nearme when my chances of getting killed of seriously injured are always just moments away.

I have my reasons for that and again ..that just me and friends I know..but it works fine for others.
Plenty of good advice here to go on with any budget....basically:

1.) Solo..anything but
preferably a Moto van = cheapest options.

2.) Make it as comfortable and fun for your wife and kids toy hauler so reliable tow rig and trailer.
Double the expanse but can more than double the effort and avoid any relationship trouble! The Good wife is worth far more than any motorcycle!