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Whats a good vehicle to tow a 16ft trailer with a Z on it?


josh817

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I've towed my sub 2000 lb drivetrainless 510 across town on my 16' deck flatbed car hauler dual axle with my 4.0L Cherokee that doesn't have a trailer brake controller. I had never experienced that kind of extremely sluggish acceleration and frighteningly long braking distances before.

The rated towing capacity on my Cherokee is 5000 lbs and it sure felt like I was using it all even if I probably wasn't.

Towing my fully loaded 6000+ lb Suburban across town on the same trailer in a new 6.0L VortecMax 1/2 ton Chevy Pickup with built in brake controller was a piece of cake, night and day difference.

Of course, the truck also had a 10,600 lb towing capacity and 150 lb-ft more torque than my Jeep.

 

Sorry to hear about your laptop. You can usually score used MOBOs on ebay for a decent price if you're up to swapping it out yourself.

Edited by blue72
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Well the truck thing is going to be put on hold for a little while now. My computer took a dump on me 2 days ago so now I have to rebound from it. Never buy an HP laptop. I literally turned off the computer, brought it into the other room, turned it on, and it wouldn't come on at all. Geek Squad said my motherboard is dead and I'm like... all I was doing was watching a youtube video on welding... Would cost me $500 to replace and it wouldn't be warrantied so if it happened again I'm just further more screwed.

 

So... $1100 laptop gave me 1.5 years of use, suppose to five me 4 years at least. I'm 1 month outside of warranty and from what I've read, HP has had dead motherboard problems for not just their DV7 series but DV6 and DV9 series as well, so they knew about this. Nice. Going back to a desktop now.

 

Seeing that little Toyota is promising yet scary. I wouldn't mind buying a nice set of Hawk pads for the truck. I'm seeing all sorts of trailers for under $1000 with dual axles and wood floors. Only thing I don't like is that they have rails on the sides. I can see them being useful though.

I guess it depends if your towing on flat land or up mountains. Smaller truck probably would do the job just fine. I was thinking even a older Nissan hard body would do the trick. If you need to go up and down some mountain roads then you should probably go a little bigger. How safe you are is going to have alot to do with how you drive. Your biggest concern should be rear ending someone.

I would probably avoid the 3vze that's in the older Toyotas, they seem to have headgasket issues similar to the 7m.

 

Yeah the DV series was not good, the solder cracks on the BGA video chips. You can fix it if your brave just start reading up on DIY BGA reflowing. I used a heatgun and shielded the rest of the motherboard with tin foil and took the video chip up to about 500 degrees and that fixed it for awhile, I couldn't fix it a second time though.

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Don't mind acceleration situations. I understand that driving to Texas World Speedway from Keller, Texas won't take me under 2.5 hours anymore B) nore will 145mph stints exist. LOL Big change, to cruise along at 55mph.

 

I'm not even sure if its the motherboard either. Tried reseating the memory sticks and then disconnecting everything and holding the power button down to get the static out if there was any. Still does the same thing which is the lights on the panel come on but you don't hear a fan boot up or anything and there is nothing on the screen. Then it shuts off after 3 seconds and starts again by itself. Still no fan, lights still light up but not the caps lock and number lock LED's flash. I read it was a diagnostic thing and the pattern of flashes matter. Either I don't have a pattern or its flashing 1 time because both LED's flash at the same time once every 2 seconds or so.

 

Its just very aggravating because I didn't even drop it. I'm one of those people who want to be sure that it is truly and fully broken (AKA shoot it, drop it, **** on it). Literally all I did was take it into the other room so... I'm looking at an Asus desktop now. I'd like to sell this laptop, knowing it won't start up. I saw one on Ebay for $200 with 10 bidders and he clearly stated it will not turn on. I'm willing to sell this thing for $200-$300, so if someone knows how to quickly fix it then good for them. Motherboards will be $250 so its like if you want an $1100 computer that needs some fixing, you can get it for under $600. Sounds far fetched to me but who knows. Maybe there is an interest. Hell, its Ebay!

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WOW Thank you for that video! Didn't know there was a class action law suit against them! I still won't fix it, I want to get rid of it. Considering he just said it was due to heat, means it will probably happen again.

That's probably wise, I had it fixed for 3 months maybe. Yeah there is a Lawsuit, who knows when that will get settled. They still seem to be making boards with the same issue.

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I was thinking about a Jeep Wrangler just the other day when I saw one at school but I read online that anything over I think 3000 pounds and it may be unsafe. Also noted that it was short and stubby for a truck and like you said pretty light. No bed to put stuff in... Nevermind, they're pretty expensive. Do realize that I won't get more then $4000 for this Honda. realistically probably $3000.

 

I have an XJ, not a Wrangler. The bench folds down in the back and I've comfortably fit 4 jeep wheels/tires and 4 Audi wheels/tires in there at once. I think the space will be adequate in terms of tools/wheel real estate.

 

I've not towed with it, but I find the 4.0L in my 4x4 Cherokee is much peppier than the KA24E that was in the 4x4 hardbody I was going to get before I decided on the Jeep.

 

Like Josh, I have a pretty much straight, level shot on the interstate to my racetrack.

Edited by FlatBlack
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Don't mind acceleration situations. I understand that driving to Texas World Speedway from Keller, Texas won't take me under 2.5 hours anymore B) nore will 145mph stints exist. LOL Big change, to cruise along at 55mph.

 

I'm not even sure if its the motherboard either. Tried reseating the memory sticks and then disconnecting everything and holding the power button down to get the static out if there was any. Still does the same thing which is the lights on the panel come on but you don't hear a fan boot up or anything and there is nothing on the screen. Then it shuts off after 3 seconds and starts again by itself. Still no fan, lights still light up but not the caps lock and number lock LED's flash. I read it was a diagnostic thing and the pattern of flashes matter. Either I don't have a pattern or its flashing 1 time because both LED's flash at the same time once every 2 seconds or so.

 

Try taking the battery out and turning it on with the power supply plugged in. If it starts, your battery shorted.

 

So, you don't trust car shops at all but you are willing to take your computer equipment to Geek Squad? They're in the same business of screwing people.

 

I work in IT for UTA. If you ever need computer help...

 

Did I give you a front differential mount when I threw all those parts in your car? I need one...

 

As far as towing vehicles, I would get a Nissan frontier or some other mini-truck. If it's just your Z you'll be towing. Anything more than that and you'll likely need to get one of the domestic trucks mentioned above.

 

And Nissan does sell a turbo-diesel minitruck in Europe. I saw one this passed summer when I checked out a dealership over there. I can't tell you how much I want one of those things. Supposedly Mihindra is going to make a diesel mini for sale in the US...

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Try taking the battery out and turning it on with the power supply plugged in. If it starts, your battery shorted.

 

So, you don't trust car shops at all but you are willing to take your computer equipment to Geek Squad? They're in the same business of screwing people.

 

I work in IT for UTA. If you ever need computer help...

 

Did I give you a front differential mount when I threw all those parts in your car? I need one...

 

As far as towing vehicles, I would get a Nissan frontier or some other mini-truck. If it's just your Z you'll be towing. Anything more than that and you'll likely need to get one of the domestic trucks mentioned above.

 

And Nissan does sell a turbo-diesel minitruck in Europe. I saw one this passed summer when I checked out a dealership over there. I can't tell you how much I want one of those things. Supposedly Mihindra is going to make a diesel mini for sale in the US...

>_> You threw parts in my car?

 

...Nick?

 

If I had known it was you then things would make more sense lol. I only took my computer to geek squad to have them look at it, not to have them fix it. I already tried running off just the cable too.

 

Also nope, in the stuff you gave there wasn't a diff. mount. Did you happen to have a hatch that you were trying to get rid of too? I have someone who wants one so if you have one you want to sell.

 

I'm thinking a Frontier is a good idea too. As long as the fuel economy is above 25MPG highway for daily travels I'm fine. I don't care what it guzzles when towing.

 

EDIT: The Cherokee's are much more affordable than Wranglers. Found one with a 6" lift/ac/good off road tires for $3500. I assume a regular one is cheaper.

Edited by josh817
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Less than 1,000,000 miles? That's not even broken in yet!

 

 

You can find used Cherokees all day for dirt cheap. Even though mine's in excellent condition with 200,000 miles on it the blue book value is barely above $2000. Plus, about the best fuel economy most can expect is 18mpg on the highway with the 4.0. The good ones are the 1991+ model years with the 4.0L engine. Earlier ones had other drivetrains and / or a less desirable fuel injection system.

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I wouldn't get a Cherokee, unless you really like poorly built cars. There's a reason they are cheap.

 

orly :D

 

I have been very pleased with mine. Also drove through a river with water up to my windscreen pretty easily. :shrugs:

 

Not sure that I'd want a stock one though.

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I'm vary weary of all Chrysler products, almost all GM products, and all pre-2005 Ford products.

Well, sounds like the Cherokee is for you then. Engine = AMC, Transmission = Aisin (Japan), Body Design and engineering = Renault (France).

 

Seriously though, avoid all but the '91 up 4.0L H.O. If you do you'll have one of the single most reliable drivetrains ever put in a motor vehicle.

Edited by blue72
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Less than 1,000,000 miles? That's not even broken in yet!

 

 

You can find used Cherokees all day for dirt cheap. Even though mine's in excellent condition with 200,000 miles on it the blue book value is barely above $2000. Plus, about the best fuel economy most can expect is 18mpg on the highway with the 4.0. The good ones are the 1991+ model years with the 4.0L engine. Earlier ones had other drivetrains and / or a less desirable fuel injection system.

I can't do that sort of fuel economy so I will pass. 18 highway is worse than my Z and its carbs aren't even adjusted lol.

 

1,000,000 miles comes with... 1,000,000 personal stories that I don't want to know about, judging by the interrior on that bad boy. There was a moment where I was seriously considering this military truck. It was like a pickup version of a 6 wheeled cargo truck, the type with the canvas top on the back. The pickup version had 4 wheels, looked real stout. Can't imagine where you would get replacement parts though.

Edited by josh817
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Well, sounds like the Cherokee is for you then. Engine = AMC, Transmission = Aisin (Japan), Body Design and engineering = Renault (France).

 

Ha! I'd have never known and just dismissed without even bothering to look it up it if you hadn't pointed that out.

 

I'm tempted to get one now...

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I'm a little tempted to pick up a Comanche, after all this jeep talk. Something like this would be a pretty good rig. The 2WDs are much cheaper, find something like this maybe even talk him down some. It looks like quite a deal for what your getting. http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1999647368.html

Edited by goodoldjam
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I'm a little tempted to pick up a Comanche, after all this jeep talk. Something like this would be a pretty good rig. The 2WDs are much cheaper, find something like this maybe even talk him down some. It looks like quite a deal for what your getting. http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1999647368.html

 

Why would you buy a Jeep if it's 2WD?

 

I guess the Comanche makes some sense as purely a tow rig, but I would never buy a 2WD Cherokee.

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