OK here's the deal. I am in the middle of the lemon law on my 01 Lariat. I will have to replace the truck when it is over. I looked at Tundras yesterday, I just can't seem to do it. And now the Tundra has turned up on the Lemon List, a list of the most complained about vehicles in the country. I have not been driving the Lariat for more than a week, I am using my 95 Dodge van. I will still need to pull a trailer and haul and occasional load of lumber. Does anybody do this in a Lightning? Most of the time the Lightning will sit in the garage exept for joyriding and the occasional haul I will need it for. I can drive the van the rest of the time. I live 8 miles from a racetrack, I may even get the need for speed. I love the true blue Lightnings and I have never had a really fast car/truck. I do have a Honda Valkyrie that is a blast.

Is it practical to tow 3-4000 pounds with a Lightning? Would I look like a total moron towing a trailer with a Lightning? I don't see many people working with them. It would be a blast to own lightning but I would have to drive the van most of the time. What do you guys think?

 

It is not a problem assuming that the toung weight is kept low. I have 4 boats and a race car and the L is my tow vehical.

 

They are rated at 5000lb, and have a class 3 hitch standard. Awhittle is right about the tonque weight. Keep is reasonable, like under 500lb, and everything should be fine. The payload capacity is reduced from ~1700lb to 800lb. This is still plenty for weekend warriors like myself. If your tonque weight is over 500lb you should probably be looking at a class 4 hitch or fifth wheel shoe anyway.

For little things like weekend recreation boats / jet skis / motorcycles, the L should work great. It has a limited slip rear and sticky tires, so it should perform better than most 2WD pickups. With all that power you'd be able to YANK that boat out of the water NOW!

Lookswise? I like the idea of pulling one expensive toy with another!

 

No problems at all. I towed my Aerostar from Detroit area to Cleveland, OH. I was doing at least 65 mph all the way. Semis would hardly disturb the load. Load balancing is KEY to a safe load. Notice that I am not using the stock bolt wheels. This, I believe can allow more tongue weight because of the taller tire sidwall.

 

BadBolt - are you using a weight distributing hitch?

 

Yep... computer equipment... nice an snug in my bed rug...

 

Seacrow:

Nice to see you on the Lightning thread for a change. Assume you are still buying and renting houses in the Southern Paradise.

Regarding the Lightning as a work truck, "What they said".

I have only hauled my 4000 lb RC Car race trailer a few times, but with the weight properly distributed on the hitch you don't even know it's there. Certainly doesn't seem to slow it down.
I have also hauled up to 20 40 lb bags of fertilizer in the bed which is max load of #800 with no problems. You do tend to hit the bump stops on the whoopsie do's if your not careful, but it will handle at least that. Has to do with the lowered springs if I remember correctly. You didn't ask, but it is also a tremendous long range cruiser. I drove from College Station TX to Atlanta stopping only for fuel and pee breaks in one shot and after four hours sleep went right to work feeling great and remember, I was 59 at the time.

Now that the L is gone, I am going to try to see how much of a work truck my new Blackwood may turn out to be. It has a higher rated payload and supposedly can tow even more than the L and I have already run #480 of fertilizer in the "trunk".
Since I can't really put HobbyTown USA advertising over that beautiful fake Wenge Wood, I may end up towing the trailer a lot

Go for it if you can. Bill

 

It's an awesome work truck. My L is my daily driver, and has been for the nearly 3 years I've owned it. I have my own residential real estate company, and at times there are blue collar days when I need to haul tools, lumber, and the occassional lawn mower. Do I look silly? Yeah, maybe, but its a sweet truck!

99% of the time, the tonneau cover is closed up and so its no big deal.

I have also towed my cars several times and have had no issues. It tows a lot better than my '94 Lightning did.

 

Bill send me some things for my Tmaxx...lol

 

this should answer all your questions

 

That's what I like to hear. My lease is up later this year, and I have been back and fourth on my trucks replacement. I've been thinking (a lot) lately about either the new Harley edition or an L. I've been wanting an L since the Gen 1 came out, and it may be time to make that dream a reality. However, as I've been lurking here for a while, I've read the majority of the postings about these two vehicles, and they seem to be used used mostly as "toys". If I get one of them, it will be my only mode of transportation (aside from the wife's Taurus) so it will be subject to approx. 20,000 miles a year in snow, sleet, ice, rain & some towing and hauling.

With that being said, I'd like to hear more stories about these trucks being used as trucks. I need to justify my purchase!

 

while I have done some cosmetics to my L, its is still my daily driver. It's about to hit the 62,000K mark, roughly 20,000K miles a year. I've drove it through snow, rain, hail, construction sites filled with dirt and mud, etc. It's not 4x4 so its a little different. Heck, I drove it to Mexico when it had 7,000 miles, came back with 16,000 miles. These trucks will last. No garage queen here.

 

My '01L is a little over 1 year old. It has appx. 24,000 miles on it...... so obviously it is a daily driver.

For the first 1200 miles of its life, it towed my 1200lb car trailer. It came home from that trip in a blizzard. The truck routinely has 1-2 55gallon drums of gasoline in the back (our town has no station, and my towtruck gets 5mpg). We have hauled appx 1000 lbs of steel on one occassion (from Vegas, 180 miles away), with no problems. Whenever we go to Vegas, the bed ends up packed.

This is my work truck, daily driver truck, fun truck, FAST A** truck...... and it fulfills all of its duties without a whimper.

 

Thanks for the replies, I am going to check out a True Blue Lightning tomorrow. I like what I am hearing about towing and payload. Supercharged engine and beefier tranny should solve some of my complaints I have about the Lariat 4.6 I now have.

 

snoopy

No, it's just a rental that hooks up standard.