Vehicle for towing

[Tugela]

I need a decent SUV towing rig that won't leave me stranded on the side of the road with grapes that need to be crushed.

The towing capacity of the LR4 (5.0 V8) is ~7,700 pounds. More than your Q7 but not quite at the upper end of your target range. And as for not leaving you stranded...at least you'll have very comfy seats and an excellent stereo to help pass the time.

Then there's always this, which will crush your grapes for you as you are driving west on I-90.

 

[Maximumwarp]

If you take the third row out of an Excursion, is there enough room for a sleeping platform back there?

 

[Timmy!!!!!!!]

Toyota Land Cruiser?

 

[brian4d]

Toyota Land Cruiser?

The J80 only had a V6, it could work for towing, but he'd be in the same spot, if not worse. But the J100 may be better, it offered the 2UZ V8.

 

[D Chapman]

Excursion. But not the 6.0L motor. Although the 6.0 motor is a powerful motor and can be a great motor, it takes some $$$ to make it great. Look for the 7.3L motor. In terms of power the 7.3 is weak comparatively these days. But it's plenty.

I have a F-250 with the 7.3. I just did a round trip to the coast pulling my Airstream. 430 miles round trip, crossing the mountain each way, on one tank of fuel. I think it has about a 35 gallon tank.

 

[bri]

Why no pick up truck? I would say get a full size pickup
with 4 doors and a camper shell. Thats pretty much the same thing as an SUV...

Yep, but many HOA do not allow them to be parked on the street or in driveway. Long bed F350 crew are 23' long, many garages have a problem with them as well.

 

[bri]

This was my initial thought as well, but it concerns me that everyone out there has 150k+ miles on it. It's like there's an expiration date of 150k and they all go on sale once it reaches 150k.

If it is a 7.3 turbo diesel, the engine certainly has no problem with 150k especially if they are highway miles. If it has not been used as a tow vehicle the transmission is likely OK as well. My 1997 F-350 crew was purchase with about 146k miles and has been completely trouble free for 30k miles and 10years. 7 of which it had these miles on it with a 3000 lb camper in the bed. I think I have about $1500 in maintenance over that time.


If it were not such a handy thing to have, if I really cared to save money and if I did not live in the constant worry about a forest fire it would be sold. If I were in your position, I would really consider just renting. I.e. unless we do have a forest fire or unless I get a trailer for camping again, it just sits waiting for the 4x per year home depot run.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

For this season, I'm going to see how much of a pain it is to schedule renting a truck and picking grapes. If it's not that bad, I'll likely keep doing it that way.

The big variable going forward is if Trump gets elected. If so, he'll kick out the illegal aliens who are 99% of the grape pickers. I can only imagine the vineyard managers trying to schedule things with the lazy people who are left over.

 

[hks3sgte]

The J80 only had a V6, it could work for towing, but he'd be in the same spot, if not worse. But the J100 may be better, it offered the 2UZ V8.

The URJ200 with the 5.7 has a tow rating of 8,500 lbs.

 

[Timmy!!!!!!!]

The J80 only had a V6, it could work for towing, but he'd be in the same spot, if not worse. But the J100 may be better, it offered the 2UZ V8.

I was thinking along the lines of the 200 series Land Cruiser.

The 80 series also had a straight 6 not a v6.

 

[D Chapman]

I'm 100 miles shy of 350,000 miles on my 7.3l.

 

[D Chapman]

The big variable going forward is if Trump gets elected. If so, he'll kick out the illegal aliens who are 99% of the grape pickers. I can only imagine the vineyard managers trying to schedule things with the lazy people who are left over.

No way he can simply put them on a bus home. That's crazy talk.

What he can do, however, is take the welcome mat away. I still don't take Trump seriously so I don't know what his views are on the Fair Tax. But the Fair Tax would both send many illegals home and lower production costs.


Keep in mind, too, that Trump is a "wine maker".

 

[Nomar]

I'm 100 miles shy of 350,000 miles on my 7.3l.

One of my dad's buddies says the 7.3 is a motor that can go 750,000 before a rebuild.

I hope mine is one of those; it just turned 210,000.


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[LRflip]

Here you go, complete with light bar!

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ORD[EXCURSION[]][]]&listingId=397688344&Log=0

He probably swapped it to the 5.9 Cummins after the stock Ford 6.0 shit the bed, as they almost always did

A 12v swap into an 03'...well that's not legal many places.

I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me but, I'm pretty sure they stopped putting the 12v's in trucks in 95ish and switched to the 24v. It should have atleast a common rail 24v to match the year.

 

[road1will]

Nissan Armada. It may be ugly, but its roomy and can tow like 9500lbs.

 

[Mike_Rupp]

Here's what I settled on for this year's harvest:

New hauling rig by Mike Rupp, on Flickr

It was a beast. It was a little bit of a challenge trying to find a parking spot in downtown Walla Walla, but otherwise it was great. I averaged around 7mpg carrying 12,000lbs.

Les Collines Vineyard in Walla Walla on the WA / OR border:

Les Collines by Mike Rupp, on Flickr

 

[Nomar]

Well, a Kenworth is not one that gets a recommendation on dweb but looks like it is up to the task.

I used to love that Kenworth on BJ & The Bear...loved that truck...


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