What truck to get to tow 7500lb boat

jmb23802

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Oct 13, 2014
Messages
79
Not even close to being true. The 4l60E is many evolutions away from the THM400 and THM200 that existed in the 80s. You put them side by side and they don't even share the same transmission housing!

Good point, I was referring to the THM700R4 which was used in Camaros and Firebirds from 1983-2002 (according to Wikipedia), as well as the Suburban, C/K 1500 trucks, and others through the latter 80's and rebadged in the 90s as a 4L60.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,478
Good point, I was referring to the THM700R4
Which ceased to be in 1990. The 700R4 doesn't even share the same case as the 4L60E. There were may changes done to the 4L60E itself up until 1999 or so.

Main thing, is keep the transmission cool with a better cooler than what come stock and change the transmission fluid often. I had the dash in my 1/2T modified so it has the trans temp gauge from a 3/4T. I also added a Tru-Cool 40K cooler to it.

I never let the transmission downshift by itself on mountains...always shift manually. Never let the transmission hunt between gears.

I have many friends that have over 200K on their 4l60E transmissions and never been rebuilt and yes they tow.

Many people do put 4l80Es in their 1/2Ts. All you need is the shorter driveshaft. fabricate a new cross member and get a wire harness adapter.
 
Last edited:

boatman37

Lieutenant
Joined
May 14, 2015
Messages
1,273
i tow my 1986 250 sundancer with a 1500lb tri-axle trailer with my 2013 Ram 1500 hemi just fine. i have the 6 speed auto with 3.55 gears. the 8 speed would be even better and 3.92's even better but i have no problem at all pulling mine. i only pull it about 4 times a year but i towed it about 75 miles home the day i bought it and will be towing it about 70 miles or so here in a couple of weeks. i would guess my boat and trailer are about 8000-8500lbs loaded
 

KD4UPL

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 13, 2010
Messages
655
Any 1500 should tow that boat. But, there's a lot more to towing than HP. In my opinion HP probably doesn't even make the top of the list of important towing features, I'd put torque and payload capacity ahead of HP. In fact, sometimes the same engine in a 2500 or 3500 truck will be rated less HP than in a 1500 truck. A 2500 series truck will have a stronger frame, heavier rated tires and probably heavier rated wheels. It will have larger brakes, better cooling capacity, higher capacity springs, axles, gears, U-joints, etc.
One of the biggest issues with towing is the truck's payload and/or weight on the rear axle. If you are towing this boat empty by yourself then, again, most any 1500 truck should do it. If you're talking about putting a family of 5 in the truck with a bunch of cooler, and gear in the bed then you will be using up a lot of the truck's payload before you even hitch up the boat and apply tongue weight.
Luckily, boats generally have very low tongue weight compared to other trailers so it should still work for you. Most trucks will run out of payload capacity before they hit their tow rating. That's the reason most people recommend a 2500 series truck or above for towing.
 

JP127

Cadet
Joined
Jun 5, 2015
Messages
15
I traded my Nissan Titan in for a used 2500 with the 6.4 and only 13000 miles on it. When I was truck searching I realized that I could get a lightly used Ram Tradesman with many added features for cheaper than a lot of half tons. I don't tow as much as you (only around 4000 pounds), but what I do tow I can't even tell it's back there now. And I plan on getting a bigger boat in the future. Plus, it's less wear and tear on the beefier trucks.
 

Toyelectroman

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Messages
189
I traded my Nissan Titan in for a used 2500 with the 6.4 and only 13000 miles on it. When I was truck searching I realized that I could get a lightly used Ram Tradesman with many added features for cheaper than a lot of half tons. I don't tow as much as you (only around 4000 pounds), but what I do tow I can't even tell it's back there now. And I plan on getting a bigger boat in the future. Plus, it's less wear and tear on the beefier trucks.

Shopping around looks like a ram 2500 with the 6.4 would fit in price range, i even found some new going for 34k which seems like a deal compared to other brands. I think that might be what i will get
 
Top