Towing recomendations for the "family"

[jwasilko]

A common problem on many of the pickups (especially up here) is brake lines that rot out after 5 year or so. Be sure to check for that. There were some recent truck threads on the brown board, too.

Can't help with more than that, my track hauler's a Freightliner

[jimmy p]

A common problem on many of the pickups (especially up here) is brake lines that rot out after 5 year or so. Be sure to check for that. There were some recent truck threads on the brown board, too.

Can't help with more than that, my track hauler's a Freightliner

+1 on that!
I have a 2004 Ford that I have owned from new, its got 50,000 miles on it and it lives a charmed life for a truck.
Sits on a blacktop driveway, only driven to tow or for errands & parts runs.
Its "over" maintained and washed regularly.
This charmed truck blew out a rear brake line a few months ago coming out of my driveway.

My mechanic friend who works on my truck when I don't have space in my garage or time said he has is a steady stream of trucks my age and much newer coming in for the same thing. All showing rusted out brake lines, with blow outs.

I needed my truck quickly so he repaired it with a new steel line, but at a future date I may convert the whole truck to stainless lines front to back.

Watch out for those rusty brake lines...

[spawpoet]

If you are seriously looking at SUV's I would consider the Nissan Armadas. They have a really solid towing capacity of just over 9,000 lbs, and I have heard relatively good things about them in terms of reliability. I've towed with a Pathfinder the last 5 years, and I'm looking to upgrade myself. Despite the fact that my Pathfinder is on the small side to be towing a car around, I've gotten 250k miles out of it. Helps to be towing in Fla. with no significant elevation changes, but I'm still impressed with how the Nissan has held up. Enough so that the Armada is at the top of the list for me right now. If you want to go the pickup truck route, the Titan is the same platform as the Armada, with at least the same towing capacity, and there are a ton of four door Titans out there. I really wanted a Titan, but my tow vehicle is my wife's daily, and she prefers an SUV. The big knock I've heard on both the Titan and the Armada is that they are gas hogs. Most reports I've heard were that they only got around 14-15mpg.

[JLawton]

I've used my tow vehicle as my daily driver, off and on for a long time. Current one is a Dodge 1500 with Hemi and four doors and the previous was a Ford F150 Super Crew. Loved them both, no complaints. The Ford I traded in with 160K miles. Never had probalems with brake lines but maybe it's different with a truck that sits a lot. It's going to be tough to find something really good in that price range.............

The SUVs are nice but you're going to pay more than you would on an equivilent truck.............

[Matt93SE]

Is fuel mileage an issue? the larger V8 SUVs (and trucks) like the Tahoe, Titan, and Armada get abysmal gas mileage around town and even worse while towing. think 10-12mpg around town!!

Not that diesel is a ton better, but my bigass F250 with 7.3 powerstroke gets 17mpg on the highway and about 14mpg around town (about 10mpg while towing my 24' enclosed that's usually loaded to capacity).

Then again, diesel costs 30% more than gasohol so take that into account too.

And yeah, my budget was basically the same as yours- I bought my F250 just before the first kid came along, but a $10k purchase was still a hit to the racing budget. BUT its a must-have if you're going to pull an enclosed more than 100 miles IMO.
For an open trailer, any 1/2ton-capable will do for just about any terrain, and most of the V6 SUVs (like Pathfinders and Land Cruisers) can pull them without too much difficulty.


Interior comfort? I'm a pretty spartan guy- give me a radio w/ CD slot, a cigarette lighter to charge my phone, and a bench to put my butt on. The kids are young enough not to care how comfy the seats are, and the wife is usually asleep on the long hauls so obviously her side is comfortable enough.

[Ed Funk]

Tow them on an open trailer....enclosed would be too claustrophobic.

[tderonne]

Check out a van too.

More space inside, and it's dry and lockable. More seatbelts. And cheaper than a pickup or SUV with the same powertrain.

A bit overkill as a daily driver though.