Towing with the X

[nuzzlenut25]

I have a 91 XLT. I towed my pop-up camper one time for about 10 miles. Any time I went over a bump or crest in the road the front wheel of the camper hit the ground. I have it lifted as far up as possible and it still drags sometimes. A few times were hard hits and I think this could cause some damage if it happens to often. The camper sits almost level when hooked up to the X. I don't have this problem with my Blazer ZR2 and it is level with that connection also. I know I have the rear sag but could this be all that the problem is? Thanks in advance to anyone that can help me.

 

[vrytired]

can you reduce the tongue weight with some ballast?

 

[Nuzzlenut]

I am not sure what you mean ballast?
This is nuzzlenut25, I just recently found my older log in name and am using that one now. How do I delete my other username?

 

[Adam Berger]

What vrytired is saying is transfer some weight to the rear of the camper. This should reduce the towball weight. Just remember that all tow balls have a load rating on them. Mine is a seperate tow hitch and has a maximum ball weight of 160kg, so yours should be similar. If transferring ballast doesn't help, then you may need some new springs. I have aftermarket springs and they are alot better for towing then OEM springs.

 

[AUTOTECH SON :)]

OK well let me see you might want to check ur shockes I towe a HOUSE BOAT and never hit oh and ur tiers as well. I also think you may want to even out the load as well. You don't want to much load at the back cuss you could unhitch and to much up front will make the back of your truck sag. When stating to get up to speed use the drive and once you reach high way speed shift to over drive to save gas it is also less of a berdin on your truck cuss in drive mode u have more tourq shift to drive going up hills also to take the berdin off your trany. HOPE THIS HELPS YOU

 

[Brain]

Towing....something U-haul doesn't think the X is safe for anymore :fire: ....I think it's people that don't know how to keep their tires inflated

A pop-up camper barely counts as REAL towing, as you can pretty much move the things around by hand, but that said I have three suggestions (two to help the apparent problem and one that might not show its ugly head for a while):

1) Put the gear in the back of the trailer, as this will reduce the tounge weight and transfer the load to the trailer's tires/suspension, which will cause the sag in the rear of the X to be less. But that said, it is VERY IMPORTANT to keep positive tounge load when towing (don't have the X holding the front of the trailer down, with the trailer tipping back if disconnected at the hitch). This condition could cause dangerous swaying and whipping making the driver lose control.

2) There are helper springs available. These either give you an extra leaf or two or give you a coil spring above the leaf springs on each side. Both of these will give you a rougher ride when not towing, and cost money, so my suggestion is try #1 first.

3) Tow with the selector in Drive, not Overdrive. It will only give you the lower three gears, but that is better than burning up your transmission (I'm assuming it is an automatic). Make sure your tranny fluid is at the right level. Also take a look behind the grill to see if you have an auxilary transmission fluid cooler (smallish radiator-looking thing). You can upgrade this cooler if you plan on towing things around much (cooler is better). $2500 for a rebuilt tranny to be installed - at least here in CO from a stealership...

 

[Nuzzlenut]

Thanks for all your help. I will try the weight distribution first and hope that works. I will also in drive and not overdrive.

 

[AUTOTECH SON :)]

Thanks for all your help. I will try the weight distribution first and hope that works. I will also in drive and not overdrive.

uhh I hope you plan on checking ur tiyers and shocks to and umm like i said you can use over drive just use it when you get up to speed on a high way till you hit a big incline then shift to drive to get more torq to eas your trany and after you are off the incline and on a flat road shift back to over drive to save gas.

Hope this helps