Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

[FastFission]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

I appreciate the advise, but you're a little late...

I did look quite a bit at my options, and overall I think the drums are the way to go, at least for my situation. My boat/trailer combo is only about 3000 lbs, and from all the recommendations I've seen, the drums should work a little better at this weight. I'm also a LONG way from salt water, so the corrosion isn't an issue. If my towed weight was a little higher, or I was using the old girl in salt water, I'd probably have gone for drums.

I did quite a bit of browsing on various boards, and I've heard both good and bad about Tiedown stuff. I found the Tiedowns for a lot cheaper than the DICO and Titan sets, and I'm not going to be doing long tows very often, so I figured I'd take the chance. If nothing else, it will make a good "my crappy brakes" thread later. From what I've read, I think the Tiedowns are a bit better now than a few years ago, but we'll see.

To really throw myself under the bus, I'm towing with a Honda Pilot. That's pretty much on par with the OP's Sorrento. The guys at the trailer store thought that was a laugh... The Honda, with trailer kit, is rated for 4500 lbs with a boat trailer. It actually pulls pretty well, although the gas mileage is horrible, and there's no way I'd push more than about 60-65 even with no traffic. With brakes, I'd think the OP will be OK as long as he's VERY conservative AND the trailer's in good shape with the weight distributed properly.

Don't mean to hijack the post but if you haven't made the change yet you are getting ready to make 2 serious errors.

1st going with drum brakes.

2nd going with Tiedown.

Have had both and TD really sucks in the quality of their products and disc brakes are well worth the extra cost, particularly if you are building from scratch.

As far as the OP, you confuse "safe" with "careful". But possibly your vehicle is capable of doing the job. The biggest challenge is always stopping not pulling, at least until you get to the ramp. You can pull with almost anything, but when stopping the shear mass of the towed load comes into play and can make for an interesting day.

So, be safe by being careful and proactive in traffic.

 

[FastFission]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Oh, and I'm also towing an old Bayliner...

Pray for me!

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Catfish (as well as others) have you asked the dealership about the 7 RV wiring option for the vehicle you own? most vehicle manufacturers offer a plug in factory 7 RV harness that takes about 20 minutes to install in place of the 4 flat, I think its worth the look and would solve your reverse issue.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

We towed our old Bayliner 195 for a couple years with a 2003 Sorrento and never had any issues. The Kias were actually rated at 5K initially and they have bigger brakes than the same year 1/2 ton pickup and a real frame.

Also towed this half way accross the country a couple times

 

[mr-steve-jones]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Kia Sorento towing limit (for pre 2010 models) is 3500 Kg, not pounds.. Thats 7700 pounds..
New shape Sorentos are 2500Kg, thats 5500 pounds
They can tow a house down..

 

[MCNPathfinder]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Out of curiosity... What engine is in a Sorento that allows them to tow that much? That is nuts for a vehicle that size!

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Out of curiosity... What engine is in a Sorento that allows them to tow that much? That is nuts for a vehicle that size!

Nobody ever believes what a good little vehicle they are.
Our old 2003
3.5 V6 192HP 207 ft/lbs
4100lb curb weight

Compare that to a 2003 F150 XLT
4.2 - 5.4L engines 202-260 HP 252-350 ftlbs
4500lb curb weight

When I got rid of my 02 F150 we used the Sorrento for 2 years to tow the boat and various vehicles. The braking was a ton better on the Sorrento and we never had any towing issues, always felt stable. But they were still built on a truck frame and had a low range tcase.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

What does a transmission cost for a Kia ?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

What does a transmission cost for a Kia ?

No idea, had 140K on it when we sold it last year and no tranny issues. I'd be more concerned about the tranny in a 1/2 ton chevy

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Kia Sorento towing limit (for pre 2010 models) is 3500 Kg, not pounds.. Thats 7700 pounds..
New shape Sorentos are 2500Kg, thats 5500 pounds
They can tow a house down..

Which is surprising considering the borrego/mohave is basically rated for the same, and is a SUBSTANTIALLY bigger vehicle than a sorento. (true body on frame, big v8 at the front, heavy duty trans, massive brakes) Although the borrego only has one rating, which is the same for europe and US, so I'm thinking they just didn't do different ratings and used the 'safe' number for the US.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

What does a transmission cost for a Kia ?

Own 2 kias, the '99 sportage has 120k on it, with no signs of trouble, and the borrego has a lifetime warranty on the drivetrain anyway. The transmission is made for/by BMW, so i'm guessing it is not cheap. (shares the same transmission as the bmw suv's)

The only problem I've really had on either of the two kias is the vacuum hub system for the 4x4 on the sportage. They were auto lockers which used a vacuum signal to lock them out. Really prone to leaking and not locking into 4x4. (dodge ended up using the EXACT same hub for some durangos, with the same results. They used a vacuum pump instead of engine vacuum at least.) Anyway, slapped a set of warn manual lockers on there and haven't had any issues since.

 

[catfishjoe]

Re: Picking up first boat tomorrow and have a safety concern. Please help?

Hey guys, quick update.

First, I again appreciate the concerns and comments.

The trailer was in worse condition than I realized. It has drum brakes and without removing the wheels I have no way of knowing if I had breaks at all. The master cylinder on the tongue appeared to work when stopping.

Now, as for the Kia, I think most of you underestimate that little SUV. As other have said, its a pretty tough little SUV on a solid frame. I have a 2004 sorrento and its just 500 miles from 100k and (knock on wood) haven't had a single issue with it and all we do is replace the oil.

I drove the boat home in heavy traffic for almost 2hours on a 75 mph highway. I had no problems at all accelerating, breaking, turning, or towing at 55MPH (even made it to 60 downhill a few times). Some hills I let her drop down to 45, but all in all the vehicle did not feel unstable one bit. The only issue I had is after an hour of 55 I thought I smelled burning transmission oil, so I pulled over to check. I had no warning lights or problem sounds (I was driving with the windows down). Engine temps were fine. I gave her a 15 minute rest on the side of the road, called the wife to tell her all was well than continued the rest of the trip.

Yesterday morning I drained and replaced the transmission fluid (JUST TO BE SURE). That was actually part of the 100k maintenance anyhow, but figured it made sense since I wanted to take the boat to the lake yesterday.

The tranny fluid looked fine. Wasn't dark brown (still had a good bit of red).

I towed the boat to the lake (30 mins, lots of hills), max speed 50, no issues. The sorrento pulled the boat off the ramp like nothing.

With all of this, I still think its best to install a transmission cooler on the kia just to be safe. The same year/make/model with a tow package comes with that included. The trailer has some work than needs doing of course. I'll likely replace those drums with a disc conversion kit.

As for the wiring, thats nothing. I could do that in my sleep. The issue from the very beginning wasn't a long term fix, it was a short term fix 1.5 hours away from home.

Thanks again!