I've got a VG30E engine, and I'm trying to calculate how much I can tow behind. The Owner's Manual says no more than 1000 lbs (including the trailer). This seems a bit ridiculous though, the trailers themselves weigh 500 lbs or so. This leaves me only 500?

 

I have "towed" stranded vehicles weighing up to 2600kg - however that was using a rope/strap and thus effectively no load on the VG's **** ...................... plenty torque and no problem in that situation, but when using a trailer/caravan in the name of safety at speed, I would try and stick to the manual's recommendation - it is a front wheel drive car with a seriously long torque moment on the tow bar's ball as a result of hitch-distance to the rear wheels

 

I don't got a GXE .

 

12 200lb+ women should be your max.

 

Tow?! I would never tow anything behind my car. Thats what trucks are for. Aww the thought of the rape on tranny makes me cringe.

 

no car should have to tow a trailer at all, nevermind a 17-22 year old one. your tranny better prepare its anus because its gonna blow if you tow a trailer.

factoring that the most you can tow is a 275lb or under fat chick, thats it

 

I hate when I see cars here with tow hitches. Why don't they put the bull ********* on it while their at it? Lol

 

I towed a 6x8' U-Haul trailer a few hundred miles, and it was loaded with probably 500lb of stuff. The car had no problem doing 100+ pulling the trailer with 220k+ miles on it....


... And then blew my engine the very next day.


For a GXE, I wouldn't tow much, and would tow even less if you're going through a hilly area. DO NOT use overdrive. that'll cook the tranny in minutes.

I've seen lots of people towing Jet Skis and whatnot, but I wouldn't go anything bigger than that and I wouldn't go for more than 100 miles... Especially in this heat.

 

dont forget as well the tranny on GXE were designed for 4 cylinder engines, paired up to the torque of a VG30E is worse enough but towing makes it worse. and as Matt said using overdrive will strain the hell out of the tranny

 

Man after yours crapped out on you I notice your never gonna forget it. lol

 

My brother got a truck, my boys got trucks. My cars don't tow nothin. If I was into the towing bidnizz I wouldn't need a car...would I?

 

Same here.. I've pull-towed several cars in my VE's over the years.

The weak auto tranny in this situation is really the kicker. If it was a 5 speed it wouldn't be so iffy

 

I can vouch for this. LOL Whassup Matt?

 

Hey David! Long time no see! I think about you kids very time I go north of downtown!
How's life treating ya?

 

Just living the good life in Afghanistan man. I'll hit ya up in a PM so we don't entirely hijack this thread. LMAO


EDIT - Why can't I add you on fb bro?

 

Never mind then, the idea was dumb...load is 2400 lbs.

Thanks for stopping me before I did something dumb

What kind of pickup do you guys recommend that is 'cheap' and used that is relatively easy to service...and can haul about 4000 lbs (my weight included in that)? I have access to a machine shop so I can buy a broken truck, then overhaul it).

Is domestic the way to go when it comes to these things?

 

lol from the 400,000km mark on i was paranoid that it was going to blow

they should have no problem lasting as long as mine did though as long as you stop all the way before shifting, 80%+ of tranny problems wouldnt happen if people would fully stop going from reverse to drive/drive to reverse

 

domestic is never the way to go lol. if you need a cheap towing truck, a Nissan Hardbody or older Toyota is the way to go. you can get Hardbody with VG30E as well, one of those with a 5spd would tow well. otherwise i think they just came with KA24. a older Mazda B-series truck would work too

 

But this doesn't make sense then, your saying it has a VG30E - how can it haul 4000 lbs? Same motor as my tin toy.

 

i dont think the engine is what they mean in the manual, its the actual Maxima chassis that cant handle more than 1000lbs towing. VG have alot of torque and low end power, they should be able to tow quite a bit

 

nissan hardbody towing capacity is only 3500lbs...none of the trucks chromedope listed can haul 4k safely...

A domestic fullsize truck would be what you need to haul a 4k load...

 

Are needing to regularly tow this load?

If not, why not just rent a truck? Not sure what options you have in Canukiztan, but down here, you can rent a truck for the day from Lowes/Home Depot for not much. I want to say 50 bucks or so.

 

Good to know - thanks. Are there any models specifically that you recommend - or would any of them do. It's just for utility use and will be parked when not hauling.

 

any of the big 3's fullsize trucks will haul 4k no problem...just pick out your favorite body style...

 

Yes, it needs to regularly haul this load - for business use.

 

If you're hauling 4k regularly, then yeah you'll want a 1/2 ton full size pickup with a V8.
If it's a few times a year or short distances, then you can get by with a 4 cyl hardbody or a Ford Ranger or something. But everyday use will just wear the poor thing out.

Think of it this way.. YOU (well I don't really know you that well...) I can pick up a 120lb log and carry it. but you'll be worn the f*** out after 100 yards. A bodybuilder can pick up the same 120lb log and carry it on his shoulder all day and barely break a sweat. That's what he was 'designed' to do.

A chevy 1/2 ton pulling 4000lb is running at 40% capacity. a Hardbody pulling 4000lb is at 110% capacity. It CAN do it (I've pulled a 6000lb load through the ozark "mountains" in my dad's KA24 Hardbody), but it was everything it could do to pull it up the hills, and everything it could do to stop it going down the hills.


The major issue for the Maxima isn't the engine. The engine has plenty of power and can pull a 5000lb load all day long. The issue is the chassis and suspension isn't designed to support that much weight hanging off the back end. remember these are unibody cars. they're stamped sheet metal and they don't really have "frame rails" like a truck does. the suspension is designed to haul 4 people and a weekend's worth of luggage. roughly 800lbs cargo, balanced mostly in front of the rear axle.
Towing a trailer means hanging a 500+lb weight off the back end of the rear bumper. you're just asking to collapse the rear suspension and all the sheet metal behind the rear axle.

Then there's the aforementioned transmission issue. If it was a manual tranny, I'd say it's capable of the job. but the 4 spd craptastic transmissions in these things? No way Jose.

 

Wait until you maxima guys see the shop I'm working out of, how many damn Chevy parts are in it, it's completely crazy. I'll post photos soon. I just need some way to get one down in the states, a rust free chassis. I also heard that in the Canadian praries, the chassis are rust free. Supposedly from my reading it's mainly the salt found in cities that degrades the galvanic protection.

Greeny the one I'm looking at is the 1995 GMC Sierra. And something I don't get is, I thought that the design was revamped in 1995, not 1994, yet in your photo it looks like you have the 1995 design. They call the platform GMT-400.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_C/K

I basically want that design in the 1995 photos in google images (not the photos in Wikipedia), but wondering how far back I can go...like 1993 etc.

 

I've been learning this the hard way. I've removed the rear suspension member, because I wanted to blast little rust spots off (it's been removed for weeks now. I also removed the rear radius rods, and I've been concerned about leaving the car supported on those rear radius rod brackets (where the jack stands go) WITHOUT the radius rods in them. All the seats have been removed and the trunk is empty, but I don't want to bend those brackets from the weight of the chassis. My theory is, they might bend because the radius rod isn't bolted in to stiffen the metal.

So what i've done is set up the jack on wood to raise it, and I placed the cup on this thin sheet metal member that is under the rear cross member...I now see how thin this is. So far it hasn't warped that middle piece (I think the weight is not too too bad when the car is stripped down (nothing is in the wheel wells).

Annoying thing is, the SUV jack I'm using keeps self lowering itself over 5 hrs or so, so I keep having to run outside when I remember to jack it up. HAHAHHAHAH ****ing hilarious. It never ends.

(This hasn't lasted though, I keep forgetting and for days it has been on those radius rod brackets - but moral of the story is, so far those brackets have kept up and haven't warped, or worse off, collapsed to the side, then the whole rear falling )

 

Ahh, yes very familiar with the gmt400 platform(88-98 1500 series trucks/up to 2000 on the suv's and 2500/3500 series trucks)

check this site out--> http://www.gmt400.com/forum/index.php

Mine is a 94, which is the first run series(steel mirrors/tbi 350/flat style grill, they updated the front grill(rounded style), side mirrors(black plastic), and interior in 95, then continued on to update with the vortec 5.7 liter(obd2) in 96...

also, i believe the timetable for updates on the interior and other things were different on the gmc models vs. chevrolet models..not sure though...

it's gonna be hard to find a rust free gmt400 in canada lol..

 

Holy - it turns out my 70 yr old Days of Thunder engine builder friend has TONS of those engines in stock Greeny. He recommends the 305 engine to me (as will consume slightly less gas than the bigger ones). I took some photos and will upload them soon, but there is a major issue with the trannies I will post about, that you should be aware of, if your truck tranny goes 'kaboom'. There's a fix kit for it (700R4), that was normally installed on the rebuild. I'll check out the forum you mentioned - I'm sure I'll find all the answers there, this isn't the place! hhahahaha -

Rust free GMT in Canada probably impossible - I'll be buying it from the US and having it shipped up here. It's actually cheaper this way.

 

Just came across this picture of a hitch we built on my brother's Accord a few years ago. You wouldn't believe all the sh*t we towed with this

I can't find any other pics, but we cut the rear bumper out to conform so it looked all completely normal except the hitch sticking out of the middle of the back bumper. Was pretty funny but actually worked like a champ.

 

KUNNNNTRAAAAAAYYYY!!!!! LOL