Towing a heavy load with a Pathfinder?

[GrayZee]

I've been thinking about building a flatdeck trailer to tow my 280z. The car weighs roughly 2800 lbs. Most of the car trailers you can buy are 16ft long, 7000 lb GVW and weigh in at about 2500 lbs. A little bit of overkill for a Z.

 

I figured if I could build a small enough, light enough, trailer then it may just be light enough to be towed by a small vehicle like my Pathfinder. Here's what I had in mind, let me know what you think...

 

12x7 deck size (the front wheels will sit at the edge of the deck with the Z's front bumper overhanging onto the tougue area, for this reason I will use a 5ft tongue) This way the car will just fit on the trailer.

 

Tandem axle, using two 2000 lb drop axles, with brakes at all four wheels

 

13" wheels with aluminum rims (the small wheels will make the deck lower to the ground and easier to load) Also perhaps a little easier to brake with the smaller wheels. It may be harder to pull, but with a Vg30et I think I'll have enough power, it's the braking and handling that worries me.

 

Since the trailer GVW will be 4000lbs and the car is 2800, then I'd like to make the trailer so that is weighs in at about 1000lbs.. Not sure if that can be done or not..

 

So what do you guys thinks of pulling 4000lbs with a Pathfinder? Is that asking too much? Certainly 4wheel braking is a must, perhaps a equalizer hitch would be a good idea..

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

I think you're underestimating the Pathfinder.

 

I've pulled 4000lbs with a single cab S10 before.

 

I suppose OVERbuilding the trailer and braking system is fine, but I don't think you'd have a problem towing with a regular auto transport trailer.

[Pop N Wood]

Some models of S10's have a pretty good tow rating. I would get on the web and look up the tow rating of the pathfinder. Like Magnum said it might be better than you think. I know my FWD minivan has a 3500# rating. A number of small SUV's were similar. But that #3500 is suppose to be trailier and cargo/passangers.

[Guest JAMIE T]

It should tow fine. My brothers Explorer isn't any better than your "Path" and we've towed alot of cars with that. It does warp rotors though.Damn, our trailer probably weighs more than my Z. It's way over built, but I can't complain, we paid $500 for it. It doesn't have brakes either. I have an Expedition, and it's like, "What trailer?" The biggest car I've towed with it was a '71 Buick Electra convertable. Monday I towed an S10, LOL.

 

When I went to check with a local truck shop to ask what I needed to do to make my Expedition haul a 24' enclosed trailer, his reply was... "Does it have a hitch". LOL, She's a fully loaded Eddy, tow package and 4.10's with LSD's.

[Guest SeanyD300zxT]

I think 4wheel braking might be overkill, or at least getting them to work properly might be. I think the pathfinder would pull it fine..just don't make any plans of going anywhere quickly (not that you would in a pathy anyways). Just be careful not to underbuild the trailer by anymeans, and look into a nice equalizer hitch. They greatly increase the tow rating/capacity

 

on a side note, we would tow our 4000# enclosed race trailer (little race cars...) probably 5-5500 with all the gear, tandem trailer. With our 4L commanche (inline 6 with the same power rating as the VG) towing was fine, but required an equalizer hitch for comfort, and with a decent braking system on the trailer it would've been perfect. Except for starts....stupid jeep

[GrayZee]

When I went to check with a local truck shop to ask what I needed to do to make my Expedition haul a 24' enclosed trailer, his reply was... "Does it have a hitch". LOL

 

Ha ha.. that's pretty funny.

 

 

I think the pathfinder would pull it fine..just don't make any plans of going anywhere quickly (not that you would in a pathy anyways).

 

You're forgeting that I'm gonna be running a TURBO Vg30! When I'm accelerating and I hear that turbo wind up I can just pretend I'm driving a big rig.. LOL

 

 

Thanks guys, I'm glad all of the comments were "pro trailer/pathfinder" Maybe I worry too much but I've been "pushed" by trailers in a panic stop before and really don't wanna go through that again.. I'll definatly get the 4wheel brakes as some provinces require them on a tandem anyway, regardless of weight. Maybe I'll get a equalizer later on if I feel that it could use the improvement. Oh, I also came across this website: http://www.nissanperformancemag.com/september03/pathfinder/

 

They were towing a 4000lb trailer (1000lb over rated capacity) and they said it was pushing it.

[BillZ260]

Does the Pathfinder have a tranny cooler? I'd definitly get one if it doesn't.

[GrayZee]

Does the Pathfinder have a tranny cooler? I'd definitly get one if it doesn't.

 

It's a 5spd, it has a engine oil cooler now that I have the turbo engine though. As if having to re-locate the oil filter to the frame rail under the passenger seat won't cool it off a fair bit anyway.. LOL

 

Oh and that way I get to use a bigger oil filter too, turns out to be the same one that the Z uses!

[Clifton]

I used to tow my Z with a tandem axle trailer with my NapZ powered 4x4 D21. Anything would be better than that slug. I didn't have trailer brakes either. I would recomend brakes on one axle though.

[SHO-Z]

I pulled my Z from Bellingham Wash to Phoenix AZ on car dolly with a 4-Runner, V6, Auto, packed to the gills. It was a hell of a trip. Going trough Seattle it started overheating for some unknown reason was loosing coolant and I could not find out where. South of Tacoma I found that the top of the radiator had cracked out. Well a trip to SEARS and bought a propane torch and soldered it up. On all of the long grades it would overheat and had to stop and let it cool off. So I carried extra water on the entire trip. It also did not let me use the AC going across the desert in July. Temps in the 100°++++++ I was not a happy camper. I know the overheating was due too much load on the engine.

On the flats without the air the old 4-Runner did just fine evan at 70 mph. I had no problem with braking the load or anything.

 

Take your time and watch all grades and you should do fine.

[mark]

Got a buddy that tows a C5 and a featherlight open trailer with a pathfinder. No problems

[evildky]

I towed my car on my 2000lb trailer with no brakes to florida and back with my V6 frontier, and I was also packing a bunch of spares and tools as well as luggage, some of the mountain inclines were tough and I was climbing at 50-55 mph but all in all it handled the load quite well, as a matter of handling it handled better than the same load and same trip with my 2004 Cheby Z71, the suspension on the Cheby is a joke IT IS NOT INTENDED TO DO ANY REAL TOWING OR HAULING! sorry but I think it's sad the the Cheby sags and sways so bad with a load the the Nissan handed so well, I had to add airbags to my Cheby to keep from killing myself

 

 

my trailer is an old Demco their weight is actually over 2k but mine had a tounge swap and just recently got the brakes working again

[Guest 305240]

One of the first things you should check into is the local laws on home built trailers. Get a current copy of those laws and build it accordingly. It might save you a lot of headaches down the road when you want to register it and get tags for it.

[Guest Aaron]

I looked into buying a camper to pull behind my '96 Pathfinder a few years ago. If I remember correctly, they have a 3500 lb towing capacity with the appropriate hitch, and 5000 lb with a load balancing hitch. I have pulled a 16' trailer (my grandad built it, it weighs 1500-2000 lb I think) and could tell a big difference in braking distance. At least one axle with brakes would be a huge help. I was going to have to add an oil and a trans cooler to pull the camper.

[Guest 81na ZX]

I've pulled my 3200lb Talon on a heavy flatbed (probally one of thoes 2500lb ones) behind a V6 Jeep Liberty (~200hp).

 

Sure I went nowhere near fast, but I could do it fine, and a Liberty is smaller than a Pathfinder.

[Tony D]

I talked with some people in the Engineering Department at Nissan North America to get them to nail down why the Automatic Frontier has a tow rating of 3500# with a manual, and 5000# with an automatic.

Long atory short "The American Public is too litigious, and some idiot will try to tow a 5000# load on the stock clutch, in fifth gear, and burn out either the clutch or the fifth gear synchro, and we'll get held liable."

 

SOOOOOO....

 

Don't tow in fifth gear (overdrive) EVER, and if you use the stock clutch, keep it in FOURTH gear, and a STOCK Frontier with a standard transmission will easily tow the same as the Automatic will: 5000#!

 

Now if you modify, after towing a small trailer with my 75 2+2 almost 20K miles in two weeks one summer, I would add the following:

Differential and transmission cooler! That's right, for the manual transmission! The Z31T's in Europe had Transmission Coolers on the manual boxes, as did the S130T's with their Differentials. Towing my little trailer with an R180 differential got enough heat generated to MELT the plastic vent off the top of the differential, so I would HIGHLY recommend getting someone in Europe to send you a set of cooler pumps from those models, and rest easy that nothing will get overheated if you tow heavily. The pumps are thermostatically controlled with snap switches in the casings, really easy to retrofit to the US Spec stuff. I have a set of four on the way from the Netherlands for some projects I am involved with currently---so I will rest easy that a Nissan L with turbo power will not fry another differential vent off the top of an LSD R200 which is a bit more costly than a stock R180 3.90 setup!

[Guest Magnum Rockwilder]

I thought I'd throw this in:

 

I used to own a Jaguar XJ6, and the guy I bought it from had been towing a 20' enclosed trailer with a full shop's worth of woodworking/carpentry tools inside for about 5 years. The only problem he had was keeping brake pads on it.

 

You can tow just about anything with just about anything if you do it right.

[twoeightythreez]

In April 2000, before I joined the navy, I had a 97 4x2 Regular cab XE Nissan hardbody pickup. It had the KA24E 4cyl with a 5-speed manual. The rear axle was the C-180 (solid axle R-180) with 3.36 gearing. I saw a 69 Buick Sportwagon sitting to it's frame in mud next to the street, and found the owner, and became the proud owner of a 1969 sportwagon. I drove to U-haul, got a dolly, and came back. I hooked a chain to the wagon, and somehow that little 4-banger yanked the wagon out of the mud, so we pushed it on the dolly, and I hooked up, drove away. I drove about 40 miles through rural pennsylvania, up and down hills and dales, all while keeping the speed around 50mph (the max recommended speed for the dolly). That little truck had no problems, even when starting on a 5% grade. (I'm not lyin!) I never used 5th gear and it did fine. I got to the allentown,pa area, and then got into a little uphill race with a UPS truck. (the two-lane road became a one-lane going eastbound on tilghman street, and I wanted to see where I was going, and the UPS guy didn't want to be stuck behind a little truck pulling a big car) That little nissan won, while pulling a 4,500lb. station wagon and a (at least) 400lb. trailer dolly.

Coincidentally, the tow rating for THAT truck was also 3500lb with a stick, but only 2000lb for the automatic due to the small engine. I think I got more looks that day than any other (Flabbergasted full-size pickup owners mouths dropping when they saw that tiny little truck pulling a car it could literally fit on top of..it was priceless) The point is, like it was said before, if you're careful, you can tow ANYTHING with anything. I even was on another Z forum where the owner describes towing a tandem axle trailer loaded with concrete block with a 240Z. He pretty much wrote "you have no idea how far that trailer can push a z with all 4 wheels locked."

[Guest 73TPIZ]

My 18' dovetail with open center (diamond plate runners), tandem 3500# axles (brakes on 1), and slide in ramps, weighed in at 1550 lbs on the scales a few days ago. I think you could find a 14 ft with an open center in the 1300 lb range if you look around.

 

Most of the trailers i was looking at were way too overbuilt. They were putting what looked to be 12k capable frames on 7k axles, making the net towable load very small.