CJarrett

What sort of capacity do you need for a tow vehicle for a race car? Towing a trailer, ITS/EP car, extra wheels/tires and tools inside the truck.. what sort of load am I looking at? I like the Toyota trucks, the Tacoma is rated at 6,500 and the Turdra at 10,600 for the models I was looking at.

Thanks
Carl

sunshine

iTrader: (3)

Lets just say, rough numbers...at 2500lb ITS car. a 1000-1500lb trailer depending on alum or steel (open) with spare tires, tools, etc....and your already at about 4000lb. The Tacome could do it, the tundra would allow you to upgrade to a small closed trailer later on should you choose to, and not be forced to sell your tow vehicle at the same time b/c it cant handle the load.

But in all honesty, the deisels do it best. I dont usually recomend american, but for this they are pretty good.
-a

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

here are a couple of good links for you:
https://www.rx7club.com/race-car-tech-103/your-tow-vehicule-705853/
http://itforum.improvedtouring.com/f...p?showforum=21
read posts from wreckerboy here:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/boa...ic.php?id=9157

Torque South

+1

Consider the Duramax. It's worth the time to just take a peak. Gets better mileage and has almost 300 more torque than the Tundra. Also beats the entire class in every category. Just my 2 cents, regardless of what you get you'll still be hauling a badass car. Good luck.

Torque South

http://www.chevrolet.com/trailering/

Looks like 16,300 lbs on the 2500HD GM trucks plus an extra 7,200 lbs payload. You won't even feel it behind you, trust me.

http://www.gmc.com/sierra/capabilities.jsp

CJarrett

Great posts, thanks guys. I'm going to look into the different trucks, I really do like how nice the Toyota trucks are, and how much they hold thier value. I've heard rumours of a Tundra Diesel, that would make my day.

RockLobster

iTrader: (7)

The older tundras were ideal for trailering race cars on open trailers.

I owned a 2003 access cab tundra 4x4 for 3 years.

7100lb towing capacity.

Wired from the factory for a brake controller. Also had a factory ATF cooler.

14mpg on the freeway when towing, but the best part was that it got 18mpg on the freeway when not towing.

The thing that makes it advantagous over a full size domestic truck was it was slightly smaller and far more economical to drive on a daily basis.

Plus it's a toyota so it was reliable as hell...far better resale value, and far cheaper to buy up front than some 3/4 ton or 1 ton monstrosity.

I honestly wish i woul have kept it. I traded it in for an FJ Cruiser on an impluse buy.

somebody5788

I drove my friends 99 f250 for a while and that thing was a blast not to mention he could get 21mpg when he wasnt towing w/ his diablo sport programmer turned to mileage. Or he could turn it to power and beat most of our rx-7's up to 100mph lol (unfortunately I have seen this happen). Thats just from my experiance I loved the size of the cab and the lariat interior. Not to mension he and I are very short and we felt comfortable driving even though its got a huge cab. Any of the big 3 diesels would do the job w/ ease the duramax's are known to be a little longer lasting then the others and stock they do make a ton more power. The dodge Cummins tend to be a lot more common for towing though might be something to take into consideration. But again any of them will get the job done. Also you can get a very low mile (less then 30000) truck thats like 3-5 years old for a great deal compared to going and buying new. I wouldnt suggest buying any domestic cars new but the Toyota Tundra I wouldnt say is a bad idea because it holds its value better but would still look for a almost new or certified used one. Thats just my personal opinion on the matter good luck finding something.

kerpal

How come?? How much power does it emit ones there is already a 7,200 lbs payload in place?

Torque South

It can pull 16,300 pounds with a regular trailer (much more with a fifth wheel), and 7200 pounds is the bed at the same time. The HD series is specially made for towing, and all of the equpment is heavy duty. It puts out 365 hp and 660 torque at just 1600 rpm. The Duramax is also extremely fuel efficient considering it's size. The suspension rides better loaded on the HD trucks, and the Duramax has a variable geometry turbo that is capable of making any kind of boost instantly independent of engine rpm. It has veins that control back pressure in the turbo.

I just got back from Miami-Texas-Miami trip, 3000 miles and over 40 hours of driving. I got exactly 18 mpg empty and 15 mpg towing a car. The truck was also packed with the two of us and the back seats full of junk. It was very smooth the whole way. I have an '06 2500HD extended cab/short bed 4x4 with the Duramax/Allison combo. The 2007 and up model has an even better frame than mine and more power.

I agree that all of the trucks are pretty good choices, ESPECIALLY the diesels.
Unfortunately Toyota won't be coming out with the Hino diesel for a while.

SPiN Racing

Have a 1994 F350 Crew Cab Dually. It has the 7.3 Liter Turbo Diesel. It isnt a "Ford" motor.. its actually the International Harvester IDI Diesel.

The thing gets 13.5 MPG empty in traffic around town. It also gets 13.5 MPG fully loaded with everything.

Everything equals:
1984 ITA RX-7 that is nowhere near minimum weight.
2 Popup 10X20 tent things.
5, 5gallon fuel jugs full
8 Spare tires on the tire rack.
Open Steel single axle tilt trailer.
6, 16Inch tires that are filled with concrete to hook the awnings to. (2 bags of concrete per tire)
Spare 1st gen tranny
Spare Rearend (Complete)
Spare driveshaft
Spare complete front and rear brake disks
Spare complete pad sets
a slew of fluids (gallons of water, atf, gear lube, oil, prestone)
A TON of tools. All of them that I can fit just incase.
Huge cooler full of food
Huge cooler filled with Gatoraid
4 dufflebags of clothes
1 suitcase of all my race gear
Laptop
8 Gallon Air tank
Small compressor

Myself at 200
Crew 1 at 200
Crew 2 at 140
Crew 3 at 340

It still gets 13.5 MPG. And with cruise set at 70 or 75 will tick away.. and go right over the skyway bridge without losing any MPH. The boost goes up but thats it.

The previous owner pulled horses in a 5th wheel.
The owner before that has a Motocross team. He had a trailer with a slew of dirtbikes in it plus gear.

Older Square style truck, but it is a real workhorse. And has great A/C and is actually very comfy with the two fullsize bench seats.

OH YEAH.. tows like there is nothing behind it.

I considered the Chevys, and newer Fords.. Even the new Dodge.. but the Chevys were hideously expensive new with the Allison. THe Dodge didnt have a real back seat, or real crew cab. And everything other than the Cummins breaks. The newer powerchokes were having wierd problems.
I ran across the 94 that I bought with 70K on the clock for 10K like 3 or 4 years ago. So I bought it and have zero regrets.

Oh wait.. I want a better stereo.

Torque South

Yes the 7.3 is a good work horse. They race the 6.0 because it's quicker, but that motor is cursed, it has weird problems like you said and extremely unreliable. The Fords are good looking, and the only thing Dodge has going for it is the ***-ins IMO. Overall you simply can't beat the Duramax, it's great if not the best in every category. I work on a lot of trade-in Powerjokes and Cummins and while some of them are pretty nice, none of them can accelerate like a stock Chevy and their interiors aren't nearly as comfy (IMO).