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How to choose a tow-vehicle - BoatTEST.com

Meetball

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Awesome article, I am glad they put this together for the people out there looking for a rig
 

2kwik4u

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Pretty good article. Beginning and middle sections are excellent. Kinda went in the weeds for a minute between in the transmission, gearing, and tires sections though.

More people should be aware of those terms (GCVWR, etc), as well as weigh on a CAT scale or similar. SOOOOOO much speculation, and so little hard data on ACTUAL weights being towed. Same for tongue weights.

This part is cringe worthy to me.
Two or Four?
Most people would expect that a four-wheel-drive vehicle can tow more, but that’s actually not true. Engaging the second axle takes more power and that reduces the amount available for towing. If it’s not needed for something like getting up a steep or muddy ramp, don’t get four-wheel-drive. The same goes for trucks with dual wheels in the rear. It takes more power to turn four wheels than two.
Nothing to do with power, everything to do with weight. 4wd drivelines weigh more, and hence show as reduced tow capacity. The "takes more power" portion is negligible when driving in 2wd. Some full time AWD systems might see slightly higher parasitic losses, but again, they are negligble in the scale of where the power goes equation.

An interesting aside....was talking with a coworker the other day at lunch. Mentioned the boat and trailer, and we got to talking about weights and such. He was amazed that I didn't have brakes on the trailer saying "4k lbs is FAR to heavy to tow without brakes, you're crazy". He does custom wood working and has his own lumber mill in his backyard. My suspicion is he "thinks" he's towed 4k a few times, when in reality he's probably towed closer to 10k a few times and didn't realize it. He also had no idea what surge brakes were, how they worked, or why they would be used. His immediate reaction was "Why would you want a safety device to be reactive instead of proactive?"......Just some interesting perspectives on towing.
 
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