Towing with the Lightning...Concerns???
Truck has 53k miles on the clock with a PI 2400 stall converter in place of the stock unit. See link for details...

http://www.lightningforceperformance...Converter.html



The plan is to pull a roughly 3800 lb car on a trailor using the stock Class III hitch through some hills from Columbus Ohio to Pittsburg PA which is about a 200 mile trip with some fairly decent long incline/declines along the way through the hills. These hills are not exactly what I would consider mountains but their are some fairly decent grades over extended distances that the truck will encounter along the way. Will the stall change the rules any at all?

Is a larger tranny cooler in order for such a haul?
Does the stall make it easier on the tranny to haul?
I'm clueless in this area.

What would those of you that have good experience with hauling such loads recommend at a minimum to safely prepare the truck for this type of job? What is the best type of trailor that I can rent for the task? Double axle? I'll be renting a trailor most likely from Uhaul I figure since it's just down the road from my house.

Anybody around Central Ohio have a trailor they wouldn't mind letting a brother use? I'd provide proper ID and leave sufficient collateral behind of course. I'd even top off the fluids and drop it back to you with a full tank... I might even consider purchasing the right one depending on how much I could get a decent one for.


One additional thing.

The truck in the motor is essentially brand new. I just got it back home from having the motor completely overhauled and rebuilt. Since the motor is brand new I figured it was time to arrange to the new motor dyno tuned. I'm going to have one of the three tunes in the SCT handheld set as a "Tow Tune" what types of parameters should we be addressing? Timing set to 10 degrees or timing set to 15 degrees??? A/F ratio rich or lean? Is 10 too rich? Is 11.8 too lean? I'd like good answers to those types of things.

Thanks again

Roach

 

What kind of trailor or "trailer" are you talking about. Never known of one needed fluids and a full tank?

 

The truck is more than capable of pulling it but I would be more concerned about stopping it if you doont have a brake controller. Plus the lightning sets so low to the ground you might be draging the trailer tongue area a bit.

 

I would buy an old F250 tow vehicle rather then use a lightning. Get an 86 f250 2wd for 1500 and save the wear on you truck..

 

Your Lightning will handle it fine. L's essentially have F-250 brake rotors from the factory. Just take your time accelerating and stopping.

For towing I would run toward a richer setup with your handheld. A lean condition is never good while towing. You want plenty of fuel to cool the pistons. Just don't go too rich and foul your plugs.

 

FWIW, car trailers often weigh in excess of 2,200 lbs, so you are looking at a 6,000+ lb load with a 3,800 lb car. Not sure what the Lightning is rated to tow, but you will probably be close to the max.

That being said, it's only a 200 mile tow. I think you will be fine as long as you drive carefully, and make sure your rear tires are properly inflated.

 

Thanks for all of the responses guys.



How much for a quality brake controller and what would you recommend? Post up a link to a specific product if you don't mind. Thanks

That was a poor attempt at humor...

I don't tow but maybe once every 3-4 years so I don't think a tow vehicle would be my best option.


Thanks again fellas for all the replies.


Roach

 

While I am no expert on what brand of brake controller to use I hear a lot of people that swear by the Tekonsha. I myslef just grabbed the store brand at Northern tool and have used it with absolutley no issues the last 18 months. It has seen far more weight than I should legally pull and did just fine. I believe it was around 60-70 bucks. Like some of the other guys have said you will probably be fine just give yourself lots of room between you and the car in front of ya. You can also look for a trailer that I believe have hydraulic brakes. Another words when you start slowing the truck down the trailer pushes a hydraulic like cyclinder in the tongue and applies the brakes on the trailor.

 

Yes, most car trailers will have surge brakes. If they are working properly you should be fine.

 

You should be fine for a 200 mile tow - just keep it down to 55 mph and lock it out of overdrive. I would run 93 octane and keep it a bit rich. U-Haul car trailers do have surge brakes. If your programmer has the ability, I'd adjust the torque converter lockup to try to keep it locked as much as possible in 3rd gear, it's running unlocked that heats up the tranny.

 

We did a huge amount of towing with our '01 Lightning. For towing vehicles, we used a weight distribution hitch. This solves the problems of tongue weight on the truck, since it is lowered.

Yes, you will want to use a trailer brake controller. Prodigy is also a good one.

Please do not use some garbage U-haul trailer. They are poorly mainted, and tow like crap.

If you start to tow heavier weights, you will want to run different wheels/tires. For our heavy tows, we used Expedition wheels and tires. The stock tires are a car type tire, and are really your limiting factor in towing.

We towed a 93 EB rockcrawler Explorer, a 1969 F250 4x4 CrewCab, and a 1937 3.5-ton cab and chassis from Goldfield NV to Payson AZ. Seperately, of course, on our 2000lb car trailer. There is a tremendous amount of elevation changes, and you are going up and down some serious mountains. This is about a 700 mile run. The truck performed flawlessly. There is never a lack of power, and the truck handled everything easily. Fuel economy was very good for the weight of the tows, and the terrain, with our worst being just shy of 10mpg. This is just a small example of the amount of times that we towed with the truck.

Your hitch is rated at 5000lbs, or 8500lbs with a weight distribution hitch.

As others have said, run on the rich side, with the best gas you can buy.

The stall converter would be my concern, due to heat buildup. I would recommend a good stacked plate trans cooler.

Hope this helped.

 

Truck won't even know it is back there off the line, but as long as your brake controller is set correctly with some trial and error, you'll be fine. Plenty of youtube videos on how to set up a weight distribution hitch, or if you don't get that, play around with moving your load to get the best tongue weight. Too much and your on the bump stops, too little and you start fishtailin.

Stay away from surge brake trailers and leave that garbage for the bass boats.

Adrianspeeder

 

I agree, why "screw" an essentially new vehicle???

 

It's only a 200 mile tow, one time.

His truck is perfectly capable of pulling it with a car trailer available through a rental agency.

Yeah, he should be smart about it just like any time you tow a load. But going out and buying another vehicle or jumping through all kind of extraordinary hoops just seems like a waste of time and money to me.

 

^ Exactly.