Anyone buying a new car or truck has to wade through a blizzard of numbers that illuminate how the vehicle performs.
One number gaining in relative importance in the rough calculation of many consumers is the towing capacity or how much dead weight the vehicle can pull in traffic without hurting engine or transmission performance.
Indeed, Ford Motor Co. even uses a television ad showing one of its pickup trucks towing a World War II-era Liberty ship.
Trailering packages are available on passenger cars, sport-utility vehicles, vans and pickups. Most front-wheel-drive sedans will tow lighter loads, while trucks and SUVs can tow heavier loads because they are rear-wheel-drive.
Vehicle owner’s manuals routinely include information on hitching a trailer to the rear.
The other elements of a towing package also may include heavy-duty batteries, an engine cooler to keep the motor from overheating and an auxiliary cooler to ease the wear on the automatic transmission.
For heavier loads, special stabilizer bars help make the vehicle easier to handle.
Sedans such as the Ford Taurus, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord or Chrysler Concorde can be equipped to pull 1,000 to 2,000 pounds, which usually will accommodate a small boat or a couple snowmobiles, said manufacturers’ spokesmen.
The recommended packages usually include special shock absorbers to support the added weight, slightly heavier brakes and bracing to help support the trailer hitch as well as electrical connections to use for the brake lights and signals on the trailers.
The need to tow everything from small boats and snowmobiles to larger campers and horse trailers has helped ignite the boom in the trucks and sport-utility vehicles, says Dave Barthmuss, a spokesman for General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet Division.
“The evidence is mostly anecdotal,” says Barthmuss.
Nevertheless, that has been one of the elements that has helped boost the popularity of the light-duty pickups and sport-utilities.
Towing capacity will figure prominently in the sales campaign for GM’s new Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, which is due out this autumn, says Barthmuss.
According to GM materials, the base Silverado with a V-6 engine and automatic transmission can pull a 5,000-pound trailer. That will climb to 11,000 pounds when the truck has a 6.5-liter turbo diesel Chevy also plans to offer.
However, other manufacturers are not prepared to concede anything in the towing competition, which reflects hobbies and recreational pursuits from fishing and camping to showing horses and snowmobiling and yachting to pulling a homecoming float.
Vehicles with trailer hitches also are used extensively in the commercial sector, where they pull construction equipment such as portable generators and cement mixers, marketing experts note.
Ford Motor Co., for example, says its F-150 pickup truck with a V-6 engine can tow 4,600 to 5,000 pounds and F-250 and F-350 regular cab, super cab and crew cab vehicles with a 6.8-liter, V-10 engine or a 7-3 liter turbo diesel can pull a trailer weighing more than six tons, or 12,000 pounds.
Another configuration offered by Ford primarily for commercial use, the Super Duty F-350/450 and 550 Chassis cab, can pull up to 17,000 pounds or a large recreational vehicle or yacht. Ford also notes that the Explorer, Expedition and Windstar can tow substantial loads. Depending on axle ratio–the number of times the driveshaft has to turn to turn the axle on a rear-wheel-drive vehicle– an Explorer with a V-6 engine can pull 3,000 to 5,000 pounds, while one with a 5-liter V-8 and four-wheel-drive can pull up to 6,450 pounds.
Ford says the towing package for the F-150 runs about $400.
Chrysler Corp.’s Jeeps, Ram pickups and other vehicles are no slouches, either. The Jeep Grand Cherokee can pull up to 2,000 pounds but can be outfitted to pull up to 6,500 pounds, while the standard Ram pickup with a V-6 engine will pull up to 3,000 pounds. Pulling power rises as the engine power increases and transmissions provides the additional torque required for pulling even larger loads.
The two-wheel-drive Ram pickup with a V-10 engine and 4-speed overdrive transmission can pull up to 13,400 pounds.
As for the imports, a Range Rover with a 4-liter engine can tow up to 6,500 pounds, or a trailer and a large boat, according to a Range Rover representative.
