Well, a friend of mine and I are looking into getting a tow rig basicly. We dont want to spend much as its not going to be used but to tow one of our toyota's to and from on long distance trips, store extra parts, and sleep in. My friend said his co-working is selling a old Dodge 1 Ton van with a rebuild engine and transmission for 800. I dont want to get into something thats not going to be able to pull off the job of pulling a trailer with a yota on it tho. This thing will have to pull it up and over the mountains from western to eastern washington. anyone have some tips/ideas?



duno whats up with my old thread, but i cant read what i posted or sumthin... :shaking:

All the dodge vans I have ever driven have been 318's or the occasional 360 and they all sucked. Second gear and the redline was not uncommon in the hills, and that was loaded, but without a trailer. Mileage was in the high singles.. 8,9 mpg. Transmission is classic Dodge... it sucks too. The only good thing is the motor usually has less power then a pickup so the tranny will last a little longer.

Some of the 2500's are just 1/2 ton frames with 6 lug axles, i think they called them 2500's for emissions reasons. No real benefit for towing. Make sure it has 8 lugs for the bigger brakes and full float rear.

It will tow, and tow it safely, but slowly. The extended vans can be a bit wierd with the huge rear overhang.

Loaded, and towing, i would bet you might see first gear on hills. Not a real problem. But slow.

If you really want a van, and you really want to tow, I would suggest a ford with a diesel. We really have excellent service with them in the ambulances. If you want to go the gas route, I would suggest a Chevy with a 454 or a Ford with a 460. I dont think Dodges came with big blocks.

A big block or a Diesel is the only way you are not going to suffer in 1st gear in westren hills. Again, the small block will do it, just slow.

We used to tow with a '92 Ford E250 cargo van with a 5.8L (351W) engine. That thing got rode hard for many years with very few problems. My brother used it to tow a SCORE stock full size pickup to races all over Baja and Nevada. I used it to tow my built EB in full trail gear. It ran like a raped ape and seemed to out-pull almost everything else even on long, steep hills like the Baker Grade or Cajon Pass. This was before the more recent round of hi-po diesels but it compared favorably to the early 7.3 PSDs and CTDs of the time. We would typically have that heavy race truck on the trailer and spare front and rear axle assemblies, spare engine and trans, welder and lots of heavy tools inside the van. I drove it to Cabo and back during the Baja 2000 (loaded with racing fuel in 55 gallon drums on the trailer on the way down, with the race truck on the way back--that was a white knuckle drive!) We finally got rid of it a few years ago with the odometer pushing about 175K and like I said we pushed it pretty hard and only ever had relatively small problems with it. You can get those pretty cheap nowadays and as long as the motor isn't too tired it would be an excellent tow rig.

Dusty

THIS is what I'd go for:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=196467694&dealer_id=57485170&car_year=2000&bkms=1139422607390&lang=en&isp=y&start_year=1999&engine=&certified=&fuel=Diesel&only_price=1&search_type=used&distance=0&make=any&color=&min_price=1&body_style=VANS&drive=&max_mileage=&address=29201&advanced=y&end_year=2007&doors=&transmission=&max_price=10000&cardist=444
http://images.autotrader.com/images/2006/2/7/196/467/66024729.196467694.IM1.MAIN.565x421_A.562x421.jpg

Decent price, 7.3L PSD... I'd be all over it. (no pun intended) :D

JP