How Times Have Changed.

[bassman284]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Well, I'm 67 so I ranged from kid to early teen through the 50s. I started driving on back roads when I was 10, moved to main (county) roads at 12 and got my learner's permit at 14. Through all that I always remember my dad telling me to be careful of people pulling boats. Craziest drivers on the road. I have a memory of driving down Hwy 218 at about 70 mph and being quickly passed by a 56 Ford Crown Vic towing a boat. Had to be doing 90 the way he blew by me. I was still 14 so my Dad was in the passenger seat and he said (among other unprintable things), "I told you to watch for those bastards."

 

[Dr. Evil]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I respect the Blazer as a capable tow vehicle but I had to give up the ghost it just wasn't pulling my rig as well as I was comfortable with. All though I had the Trailblazer EXT 4x4 with the 3.42 gears and the 4.2 I6 and it just didn't have the grunt to pull my 30 foot pontoon boat. I did it a few times but the second time the temp gauge started climbing on me that was enough sometimes there is no replacement for displacement.

No worries. We had an 05 Trailblazer with the 4.2L I6. Its was 4x4 but not ext cab. It was a good vehicle but I can see where it would struggle a bit with that kind of load. The 4.3 in the S10 Blazer has good low end and the lower 3.73 really helps too. I'm only pulling a 20' barge too. I'd love to get a gently used Tahoe but the Blazer is paid for and until it gives me a reason to doubt it I'd have a hard time trading. You can find us on Norris. We live 7 miles from Loyston Point where we launch at.

 

[pckeen]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

This has nothing to do with vehicle size, towing capacities etc. It has to do with attitude. I was born in England. There, a six cylinder vehicle was considered huge - and North American SUVs and Full Size trucks are simply unheared of - they are enormous, gas guzzling monsters compared with what we had there. And people there tow boats just fine...

 

[slowleak]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I've never had the need to drag my boat at high speeds down the highway.
My 2.3L Ranger does just fine up to about a 21' boat or about 3500lbs total but my car gets better mileage towing.
On the road the Ranger is fine, but I do have to choose my ramps carefully.

I've never understood why none of the big three auto manufacturers have ever built a properly geared small engine truck?
If you look at what's available elsewhere in the world and what those vehicles are capable of, it don't make much sense to say you need a 7+ liter motor to tow a trailerable boat.

One of the first things I see wrong with most modern vehicles is the lack of a lower set of gears meant for work, they seem to only be concerned with overdrive and overall fuel economy with little concern for how well it stands up as a work truck.

I've been in the market for a new truck for a year now, so far I'm not impressed. Ford dropped the Ranger, Chevy no longer offers the S10. With all the talk about saving energy, they've all dumped the smaller trucks forcing people to buy full size trucks and burn more fuel.
I would think that the ideal tow vehicle for most people would be a larger four cylinder engine that makes good torque with a full range of gear ratios. The first thing I changed in my Ranger was the rear, they built it with a 100hp and a 2.73:1 rear axle. It had trouble holding fourth gear on flat ground and rarely could I get into OD. With the 4:11 rear end, its great, mileage improved, power is good, and it runs along just fine at 65mph now. Although it could still use a lower first gear, or even an extra granny low, it gets the job done just fine.

If I were towing long distances, I'd probably opt for a bigger truck or more power but for local towing the Ranger is fine.

Worse than them dropping the smaller truck lines is the starting cost of a new truck, the best price I got on a full size so far was $26K and on top of that, not a single dealer had a truck in stock with an 8' bed.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

This has nothing to do with vehicle size, towing capacities etc. It has to do with attitude. I was born in England. There, a six cylinder vehicle was considered huge - and North American SUVs and Full Size trucks are simply unheared of - they are enormous, gas guzzling monsters compared with what we had there. And people there tow boats just fine...

You also have fairly extensive driver training, and driving isn't considered a right like it is here. US driver education is non-existent, and the requirements to get a license are the ability to fog up a mirror. (and even then, probably get a doctors note to bypass the whole 'have to be living' requirement.)

 

[bigdee]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

You also have fairly extensive driver training, and driving isn't considered a right like it is here. US driver education is non-existent, and the requirements to get a license are the ability to fog up a mirror. (and even then, probably get a doctors note to bypass the whole 'have to be living' requirement.)

Lets face it.....tow ratings are dumbed down for U.S. drivers. The only difference is in the owners manuals for vehicles sold here.

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

1984 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport & Monte Carlo vs Ford Thunderbird Training Promo | testdrivejunkie.com

an 80s T-Bird was rated for 3500 lbs, a FWD Chevy Celebrity 5400, and a Monte Carlo 6800...

I'very towed with my '74 LeSabre...factory front disc brakes and 12'' rear drums stop my Bayliner just fine (Buicks had some of the best brakes back then).

Funny how low rear diff ratios were back then...trucks have at least 3.73s if not 4.10+ while these big block BOF cars had ratios less than 3-1...maybe 3.27 if you got the performance/towing ratio

Driving 65-70 mph with the boat yields 7-8 mpg...my Hemi Durango can get almost 16 doing the same speed

Overdrive transmissions were rare back then, thus the lower (numerically) ratios.

I don't wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. I rarely exceed ten MPH. If I have to wear a helmet to ride a bike around the block, I guess I need to wear one whenever I get on a ladder or in the shower.

 

[Carusoswi]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

At 62, I am getting a kick out of reading this thread, and how clearly I remember those jacks. I don't recall using them on the bumpers (usually jacked my cars from some vaguely selected point on the frame), but recall clearly that I was always concerned that the car would tip sideways or forward or whatever and tip off those jacks.

Additionally, they were big, really big. The stuff today is much more cleverly designed (although you almost need to take a photo to stow it back in the original OEM configuration). A peeve of mine today is that, while the design is better and the jacking much safer, you generally have to get on your knees to turn those little folding cranks that come with a typical scissors type jack typical of today's setup.

My habit in my younger days was to drive tires to the point of white threads showing through (dumb, I know), so I became very experienced at roadside tire changes. I never had a car fall off a jack, but I was never comfortable with that ratchet type jack.

As you say, they were scary!

Caruso

Those were scary.
Since we're talking about some of the back in the day stuff... anyone remember the wratchet style bumper jacks? Bumpers had holes in em for the jack to fit in. Talk about dangerous.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I don't wear a helmet when riding a bicycle. I rarely exceed ten MPH. If I have to wear a helmet to ride a bike around the block, I guess I need to wear one whenever I get on a ladder or in the shower.

Like I said before in my previous post

Only wear a helmet if your head is worth protecting I guess! $0 Head = $0 helmet!

 

[crabby captain john]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Right -- mostly. The full size trucks are a lot more expensive but my 2012 Dodge Hemi gets better gas mileage than the '95 Ranger I had with and without a load. A '13 Hemi has a (liars) rating of 25 MPG hwy.

I've never had the need to drag my boat at high speeds down the highway.
My 2.3L Ranger does just fine up to about a 21' boat or about 3500lbs total but my car gets better mileage towing.
On the road the Ranger is fine, but I do have to choose my ramps carefully.

I've never understood why none of the big three auto manufacturers have ever built a properly geared small engine truck?
If you look at what's available elsewhere in the world and what those vehicles are capable of, it don't make much sense to say you need a 7+ liter motor to tow a trailerable boat.

One of the first things I see wrong with most modern vehicles is the lack of a lower set of gears meant for work, they seem to only be concerned with overdrive and overall fuel economy with little concern for how well it stands up as a work truck.

I've been in the market for a new truck for a year now, so far I'm not impressed. Ford dropped the Ranger, Chevy no longer offers the S10. With all the talk about saving energy, they've all dumped the smaller trucks forcing people to buy full size trucks and burn more fuel.
I would think that the ideal tow vehicle for most people would be a larger four cylinder engine that makes good torque with a full range of gear ratios. The first thing I changed in my Ranger was the rear, they built it with a 100hp and a 2.73:1 rear axle. It had trouble holding fourth gear on flat ground and rarely could I get into OD. With the 4:11 rear end, its great, mileage improved, power is good, and it runs along just fine at 65mph now. Although it could still use a lower first gear, or even an extra granny low, it gets the job done just fine.

If I were towing long distances, I'd probably opt for a bigger truck or more power but for local towing the Ranger is fine.

Worse than them dropping the smaller truck lines is the starting cost of a new truck, the best price I got on a full size so far was $26K and on top of that, not a single dealer had a truck in stock with an 8' bed.

 

[NYBo]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

A '13 Hemi has a (liars) rating of 25 MPG hwy.

Nope. That's the rating for the Pentastar V6. Ram Trucks - MPG Ratings

 

[gtochris]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

1984 Chevrolet Celebrity Eurosport & Monte Carlo vs Ford Thunderbird Training Promo | testdrivejunkie.com

an 80s T-Bird was rated for 3500 lbs, a FWD Chevy Celebrity 5400, and a Monte Carlo 6800...

That is crazy! My parents had an 86 Celebrity Wagon V6 and towed a Very heavy popup on a class 1 bumper hitch with it, it was a dog and my father admits he didnt know better, I cant believe it didnt eat a transmission or overheat. This is the first I read about Chevy actually recommending the car for a sizable load! Crazy!
ABS, Airbags, 4 wheel disc, traction control, independent suspension, the modern car is lightyears safer and more reliable then anything made in the 80's, if it means giving up towing to SUV's I'm ok with that.

 

[F14CRAZY]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

That is crazy! My parents had an 86 Celebrity Wagon V6 and towed a Very heavy popup on a class 1 bumper hitch with it, it was a dog and my father admits he didnt know better, I cant believe it didnt eat a transmission or overheat. This is the first I read about Chevy actually recommending the car for a sizable load! Crazy!
ABS, Airbags, 4 wheel disc, traction control, independent suspension, the modern car is lightyears safer and more reliable then anything made in the 80's, if it means giving up towing to SUV's I'm ok with that.

Going by the vehicle they had then, I don't understand why a 2014 Impala (or Taurus, Accord, Camry, Charger...) can't tow more than 1k lbs...there can't be a single component on those cars that's inferior to anything a Celebrity had...brakes, trans, structural integrity, suspension...

 

[lrak]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

there can't be a single component on those cars that's inferior to anything a Celebrity had...brakes, trans, structural integrity, suspension...

But the Celebrity wasn't carrying the additional baggage in the trunk that today's cars have. That army of accountants calculating warranty claims and lost opportunities to sell higher profit trucks/SUVs weigh a lot. ;-)

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I just returned from a week long vacation in Nova Scotia. I towed up my 14' Starcraft tinny and a 9.8 Merc with my '98 Ranger 3.0, manual trans. With about 300lbs in the truck bed (a 40" diameter steel propeller to use as a garden ornament), going uphill required a lot of downshifting and still couldn't maintain speed. I couldn't imaging towing anything heavier with that truck.

On the way up, two miles after crossing the Canadian border from Maine, the axle of my trailer broke. Limped off the highway to the nearest Canadian Tire store who did not sell trailer axles. Saturday afternoon and no chance for a welding shop to be open.

My trucks has racks so I thought I would put the boat on the racks but they weren't wide enough to carry the boat. Went to the local lumber yard for a couple of 2x4s, strapped them to the racks, put the boat on the racks, loaded the outboard and all the other stuff that was in the boat into the pickup(really heavy load now), stripped the trailer of anything worth saving, pushed it to the side of the parking lot, and continued on.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

stripped the trailer of anything worth saving, pushed it to the side of the parking lot, and continued on.

Seriously? Did you notify the owner of the parking lot to send you the bill for the cost of removing the old trailer you dumped on his property?

 

[1stgenbird]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Someone probably took it home and fixed it up and were very happy with a new trailer. California folk sure have a skewed viewpoint. Maybe I can plant a tree somewhere as atonement.

 

[Ming15237]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

I remember reading an article in an automotive trade magazine within the last year stating the over 80% of modern cars are NOT rated to tow a load, and something to the effect that 90% of vehicles from the 70's and 80's were rated to tow 2500lbs or better. Yes, times have changed and trust me today's vehicles are 10x better than the vehicles of that era! We routinely see vehicles with well in excess of 200k on original engines and transmissions, that was almost unheard of in the 70's and 80's! Sure there were the rare instances of it happening, but it was NOT the norm.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Someone probably took it home and fixed it up and were very happy with a new trailer.

Really, after you "stripped it of anything worth saving"? Your words...not mine.

If this happened in front of someone's house would you have dumped it in their yard or in front of their house?

 

[Bronlonius]

Re: How Times Have Changed.

Someone probably took it home and fixed it up and were very happy with a new trailer. California folk sure have a skewed viewpoint. Maybe I can plant a tree somewhere as atonement.

Lololololol!!!! I'm sure Eddie from National Lampoons Christmas vacation thought he was doing the Griswlalds a favor when he emptied his RV's septic tank on the road in front of their house too. Mmmmmmm Hmmmmmmmm, SOMEONE COULD USE THIS!