Good truck for pulling my 92 Nautique.

[red89]

I have a 92' Ski Nautique and was wondering of opinions for towing it. I've been towing it with my brothers 99' Dodge Durango, V8, but won't be able to next summer.

Will new V6 trucks/suv's work or is it necessary that I get a V8. Any input would be great, thanks.

[GoBig]

While I was in between tow vehicles, I pulled my 210 SAN for a summer with my wife's (then) V6 4Runner. Although the 4Runner was rated for 5K pounds towing capacity, it was too small for this boat. Power and acceleration really were not the problem, the vehicle is just too light, with too short of a wheelbase...the boat would push the 4Runner around, especially on the highway. Also, even after one summer of towing, the tranny started doing weird things...you could tell it had taken a beating - the 4Runner was only 3 years old with under 30K miles.

With that said, your SN is a bit lighter/shorter than the SAN. For towing short distances (under 50 miles), a V6 SUV could suffice, but it is not ideal...just my $0.02.

My wife now drives a Yukon Denali XL, also my primary tow vehicle for the SAN.

[jwchapman]

Towing 92 Ski Nautique

The answer is going to depend quite a bit on how much towing you need to do and under what conditions. I have a 91 Sport Nautique and had a 2000 Dodge Durango 4x4 with the 5.9L engine so my experiences should be similar to your needs. The trailer will also matter - I have the original single-axle trailer with surge brakes.

You will not have any problems at all with a V-8 powered Dodge Durango. The gas mileage was terrible when towing (and not much better when not towing) but you could barely feel the boat. Though I did not tow more than 2 hours, I never had any towing issues under any conditions with the Dodge.

I now have an 07 Acura MDX. It shares most of its underpinnings with the Honda Pilot and is a fairly typical V6 unibody crossover. It is all-wheel drive, has a transmission cooler and is rated to tow 5000 pounds. I have only towed short distances but the experience so far has been ok. I have towed through some hills in hot weather. You can feel the boat much more than when towing with the Durango. I am much more cautious but have not had any problems and don't think a body-on-frame V8 powered vehicle is necessary for our boats. For basic storage and back or only occasional medium distance towing, I would not think a V8 is necessary. If, however, you are towing over the Rockies on a regular basis I would consider something larger.

[maxpower220]

There is a big difference between towing and towing safely. Usually, the weak leak isn't the engine (although the larger the engine, usually is makes for better towing), but the frame and braking systems. Physics shows that if the boat weighs the same or more than the tow vehicle, then the boat will push the vehicle.
Any 1/2 ton truck or SUV based vehicle will tow fine and be safe. Smaller trucks and car based SUVs, will tow, but you will not want to be in an emergency situation with them.

[horkn]

Go Big, what year was that 4runner? I've got a 4th gen (04) with the v8 and it pulls great. The 4.0 v6 in the 4th gen and 5th gen is quite a good motor. This is actually the third 4 runner we have had, and we previously had a 98 that we sold to get the 04. The 98 was a 3.4 v6 and it was gutless.

There is a huge difference between the power of a new generation mid 3liter v6 compared to an older one like said 3.4 98 4runner. I actually would rate the new bigger 6's more like a small block v8.

Now as to vehicle size, I have towed my martinique quite a bit with my 93 4.0 grand cherokee. It has about the same power as the 98 4runner, and about the same size, and it pulled it pretty well until the motor started to get tired.

The same 4.0 inline 6 in the 97 jeep wrangler my friend had was a different story to tow the martinique. Same basic motor as the grand cherokee, but much smaller truck, especially wheelbase wise. We would only use the wrangler to tow less than 50 miles and no high speed freeway stuff. The boat would push that jeep around especially under braking. No trailer brakes on the CC.

I've been looking to replace my jeep, and get a cross over. Been thinking a used santa fe,murano, or an edge. Ideally I would get a flex ecoboost, but I am not looking at a new vehicle for now. All those are rated for 3500 lbs towing, and I have no doubt about the motor's abilities in those to tow, but the flex has a 4500 tow rating.

[chris196]

Obviously, it depends on the vehicle. I towed a 98 SN with 96 toyota tacoma 2wd extended cab. That truck had a 3.4L V6 rated at 195HP/225 ft-lbs. It towed the boat fine, but you definitely knew it was back there. One thing that truck had going for it, was it was fairly long for a small truck and was low/not a lot of ground clearance. It actually handled ok and I didn't feel unsafe with it. I took it easy with though. That truck was rated at 5000lb towing capacity.

Now, I have a 2010 Frontier 4wd with a V6 rated at 265hp/285ft-lbs. It is a bigger truck than the old tacoma. It's not a full size american truck, but it's closer in size to that than the old tacoma. It's rated at 6500lb towning capacity.
It pulls my SN great, but I've never pulled mine with a full size truck. So someone who regularly uses full size may very well tell you my frontier is not big/safe enough.
The frontier is 1000lb heavier than my old tacoma.

So, I guess the point of my ramblings is a V6 is not what's important (as others have mentioned).
Wheel base, weight of the vechile, center of gravity are all more important than the engine. And some of the newer V6 models are as capable as full size trucks of 10 years ago.

Also, my trailer has drum surge brakes & single axle.

[GoBig]

Go Big, what year was that 4runner? I've got a 4th gen (04) with the v8 and it pulls great. The 4.0 v6 in the 4th gen and 5th gen is quite a good motor. This is actually the third 4 runner we have had, and we previously had a 98 that we sold to get the 04. The 98 was a 3.4 v6 and it was gutless.

It was an '07 with the 4.0L. Honestly, like I said, the power was fine, the engine could definitely pull. I towed to Tahoe and back several times and never had an issue with power, even up steep grades at altitude. But braking and control...different story. On the highway, down steep grades, or in high wind conditions, it felt like I was constantly wrestling the boat. The trailer had a ton of sway. On top of this, although the engine has enough power to pull the 5K, the tranny, rear diff, and brakes are too weak for this heavy of a load. But for going to my nearest lake 20 miles away, did a decent job...

[chris196]

It was an '07 with the 4.0L. Honestly, like I said, the power was fine, the engine could definitely pull. I towed to Tahoe and back several times and never had an issue with power, even up steep grades at altitude. But braking and control...different story. On the highway, down steep grades, or in high wind conditions, it felt like I was constantly wrestling the boat. The trailer had a ton of sway. On top of this, although the engine has enough power to pull the 5K, the tranny, rear diff, and brakes are too weak for this heavy of a load. But for going to my nearest lake 20 miles away, did a decent job...

That's a good point about brakes and it factored into my decision this time around on a tacoma/frontier.
The tacoma still has rear drum brakes, the frontier is disc all the way around.
Can I assume you were pulling a SANTE? That's a big difference over a SN.

[horkn]

Interesting that you felt this way.

Our 4runner is a far better tow vehicle in every respect than the 3/4 ton chevy 350 PU that my parents have. I've towed my boat with the PU a few times, and every time I mention that one would assume a 3/4 ton PU would tow better than a mid size SUV (even though it is a body on frame SUV).

The driveline on that v6 4runner is more HD than it needs to be, even for 5k towing.

Our 04 v8 was used to haul the biggest sized uhaul enclosed dual axle trailer from Portland OR to Wisconsin filled with my Fiance's stuff as she moved from OR to WI. This was in January of 04, and we drove over pretty much all the mountain passes you could. We hit 5 ski resorts on the way, with some very hairy winter weather in some passes. That trailer had to had at least weighed 3000lbs loaded.

My only gripe was that the stock dunlop tires on the 4runner were too street oriented and lacked the traction a 4wd truck should have. Even despite the sub par tires, the traction and stabilty control kept the truck and trailer all in line and on road. The 4runner impressed me. Now a v8 4runner is a bit different than a v6 one with the AWD and many other differences, so that may have something to do with it.

[horkn]

One more thing to ponder.

As Americans with big trucks and such, when you see euro's using a 5 series BMW to pull a SN, or a little 4 cylinder euro car pulling an inboard boat, it puts it all in perspective. Outside of Army bases and such, you won't find a full size, or even a compact pick up without looking extremely hard.

Granted, I doubt any of those Europeans are driving the distances we do with our rigs in haul.

[wake_fun]

i have a 92' ski nautique and was wondering of opinions for towing it. I've been towing it with my brothers 99' dodge durango, v8, but won't be able to next summer.

Will new v6 trucks/suv's work or is it necessary that i get a v8. Any input would be great, thanks.

Duramax

[DanielC]

I tow my 1997 Ski Nautique with my 1996 Ford Aerostar, 4.0 liter, 2 wheel drive, limited slip 3.73 rear axle. 2262 hours on the boat, 172973 miles on the Aerostar. The trailer has dick surge brakes on it.

I would suggest I am safer that somebody with a full sized truck that is not really aware of the towing conditions, and feel they had a given right to blast down the freeway at 75 miles per hour plus.

I have been from Portland, Or to Lake Shasta several times. Also central and eastern Oregon, and for you who are not familiar with Oregon geography, there are mountains and passes you have to drive through.

[chris196]

I would suggest I am safer that somebody with a full sized truck that is not really aware of the towing conditions, and feel they had a given right to blast down the freeway at 75 miles per hour plus.

I agree with this. If you "can't feel the load" how do you really respect it?
I can feel my load and it makes me more aware and careful.

[74green]

Last weekend at the ramp someone pulled up with a relatively new mastercraft (2000+) with a Ford ranger pulling it. It must have been the v6 model and not the 4 cylinder, but it surprised me to see the ranger pulling it.

My good friend pulls his 1996 Mastercraft 205 with an inline-6 F150 4wd and makes a summer trip with it down to Mexico the past three years (10hr trip). Personally I prefer at least a V8. 2002 Suburban & V10 F250 is what I currently use.

But I have never used or tried a 6 cylinder to pull a boat with. Just my thought.

[seanxtreme3000]

i pull my 03 SANTE with a 08 Z71 tahoe (lifted) it pulls it and stops like its not even there. i have also pulled a 28' ocean boat 3 hrs and that was a breeze. i deff think it has alot to do with the trailer. Friends of mine pull there Tige with a trailblazer. he says you can feel it but its not bad.