Who's towed with the LIGHTNING and how much?
 

Among other reasons such as having a beer budget and champagne taste, I have not purchased a LIGHTNING. I have seen that the tow ratings on the LIGHTNINGS are only 5000#, which I assume is due to the suspension. Unfortunately, I occasionallay pull a travel trailer that is 6000-6500# loaded. What are the heaviest things you have towed and did you damage anything doing it?:banana:

The heaviest thing I have pulled is my 3000# boat. The L pulls and stops it with no problem, but if you are going to be towing over 6000#, you should probably forget the L and get a superduty diesel... just my .02.

I used to pull my 3000lb boat with mine. It did just fine. The rear would squat a little but nothing major.

Welcome

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Doug

I just towed my son's 89 LX convertable 2,800 miles from Pennsylvania to San Diego. I rented one of those heavy u-haul auto transporters and made it in two and a half days.
The Bolt easily towed that load through 100+ degree heat, 8,000 foot passes and 90 octane premium. The only hold up came when I first filled up with 91 in Oklahoma. It started pinging so I pulled over, popped the chip and continued on my way.
Aveage speed was 70+, often cruising at 85.
My truck is lowered in the rear, 2", and I have loadmasters which also help with wheel hop.
Can the Lightning tow?

I have a 18 Foot full deck car trailer (24ft total) that weighs 1900lbs. The heavest thing I had on there was a 94 Z28 with a Blower and Cage that weighed in at 3800lbs plus tools, tires and other assorted stuff. It was probably 6000+lbs. It was heavy but it pulled just fine. I had the cruise on 75mph. Just make sure you have trailer brakes when pulling a bunch of wieght.

Thanks for the info, guys.

Do like me and get a L and a f350 superduty diesel to pull everything.

The 03s are rated to tow 7500 lbs up from 5000. I tow my 20' Bayliner Capri with no problems with my 2000 L.

Where did you find that? I haven't seen that anywhere about the 03s.

In my '00 F-350 that I traded in for my new '03 F-150, I replaced the rear stock bump stops with Timbren rubber helper springs. They can be purchased for about $150 at Michigan Truck Spring and come with a lifetime warranty. The install is easy, there is zero maintenance and they prevent the rear end of the truck from squatting and swaying when you have a large load in the bed or are hauling a trailer. They really helped my F-350 since the factory put weak springs on it. Just thought I'd let ya'll know since a lot of folks tend to lean towards air bags and other forms of "overload" springs.

I have towed my 4x4 rig a few times with no problems.

It is a Suzuki Samurai, that is built up a bit.

I had a trailer with brakes, and towed with it from Phoenix to Moab, Utah and back with no problems at all!

Ocassionally, I had to kick it out of O/D up hills, but that was about it.
Even got about 12MPG on that trip!

Figure it was about 2800#'s for the Sammi, and 1500# for the trailer...

So about 4200#'s without issue...

The two things I would comment on for this setup would be, leave the suspension stock if you plan to tow, and get a trailer with brakes...

If you plan to tow a lot, or more than 5000# often...
Get an F-250...!

If I towed more often, I would have gone for the Superduty...

Just can't resist the S/C whine on the Lightning though! ;)

This is the last thing I towed. 8x16 trailer, kind of old and it weighs at 7k empty:eek: . I had my bike and tools, etc for maybe another 1k lbs. I also had a weight distributing hitch from Reese that helped a little. I could defenitely see that the rear was squatted down. I only went from Atlanta to Birgminham thoug, I would not tow it more than that.
Yes, it will tow but I wouldn't do it for long distances nor all the time.
http://www.atlantagoldleaf.com/eddie...railer_std.jpg

I've towed everything from a car trailer with my mustang on it , to a skid loader and trailer. I would not reccomend that again :mad: But im sure they can exceed there 5000 limit with no problems. As long as the front wheels stay on the ground your good :rocker:

Hey latemodelRacer2, that's great. Throw some money my way because I can only afford one at best. Is anybody able to back up the info on the tow rating being upped to 7500# on the '03? I know that would be with a weight distributing hitch. Those of you who said the rear squatted down, did you have a weight distributing hitch?