Judy:
I tried to send this to you directly but my emails to you are blocked.
In the interests of possibly saving you some future headaches, here it
is.
-- "Sea" ya!--Lars S. Mulford, President East Coast Potter Association (ECPA) Come visit us at http://members.tripod.com/~SpeedSailor s/v Always P15 #2125, lateen rig, sailing greater Chesapeake region "Forgive, and live. Life is worth the challenge of living." --LSSM "Love is good; Love hurts; Love sustains; Love remains." --LSSM
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Message-ID: <37BAED7F.10AF85EF@bellatlantic.net> Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 13:29:35 -0400 From: "Lars S. Mulford" <mulford@bellatlantic.net> Organization: East Coast Potter Association (ECPA) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: JBlumhorst@aol.com Subject: Re: Trailer Tongue Weight Question - too much stuff in Caravan? References: <18eb6eb8.24ec1cb3@aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
JBlumhorst@aol.com wrote:
> That may be true for a standard passenger vehicle, but not necessarily true when for a vehicle with the factory tow package of heavy duty shocks, brakes, tranny cooler, alternator, and wiring
Judy:
I have a friend who lives in our development - he has a Grand Caravan (year unknown but it is less than 4 yrs old) with tow package, and he says there is no way he'd pull his 2600lb powerboat with the van filled with passengers. He says that is asking too much of the V-6. Something to think about anyway.
> With 6-7 persons and their luggage, the allowable trailer load is 2700 pounds. With 3-5 people and luggage, allowable trailer weight is 3000 pounds, and with 2 people and lugglage, it's 3500 pounds) > Total gross axle weight of the van, contents and tongue weight cannot exceed 5400 pounds. The combined weight of the van, contents and trailer cannot exceed 8300 pounds.
Judy, are you sure about this? Rob Cameron (the guy down the street who owns a similar van to yours) says that this does not sound right at all. He says that if his van is loaded to capacity, that the van would safely tow significantly less than 2000lbs.
> The Caravan manual specifically advises you MUST tow in OD to avoid overheating the transaxles on the four speed tranny, which is the one you get when you order the tow package on the car. Gotta read the manual. Times change... that used to be true, but no longer. The four speed model with tow package is equipped with a huge auxillary tranny cooler.
Again, he says that it is a BAD thing to tow in O/D when nearing capacity. I can check with the local Chrysler dealer (it is only 2 miles away) if you like to check on this. I have personally not seen a domestic vehicle manual that advises towing in O/D. It lugs the engine. For the record, the manual on my Bonneville strongly advises against towing in O/D, and I've got the towing package on it and have 222hp on tap in which to pull. O/D is such a steep drop in RPMs with my Bonneville that it does lug at speeds much below 60mph.
I am sure that you have researched all of this, but I just wanted to let you know that something doesn't sound right with it.
Ok, I just got off the phone with Wright Chrysler Plymouth Dodge, the local dealer here in Seaford, and they said to absolutely NOT tow in O/D, with or without the tow package. Todd, the mechanic there, says that the drop in RPMs lugs the engine far too much. He said if you are towing much over 2000lbs, to ABSOLUTELY NOT use O/D.
-- "Sea" ya!--Lars S. Mulford, President East Coast Potter Association (ECPA) Come visit us at http://members.tripod.com/~SpeedSailor s/v Always P15 #2125, lateen rig, sailing greater Chesapeake region "Forgive, and live. Life is worth the challenge of living." --LSSM "Love is good; Love hurts; Love sustains; Love remains." --LSSM
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