New Boat Towing

[Sea N' Things]

I am mainly going to be towing the boat with my 2007 Toyota Tundra, which is more than adequate. The Acadia will be used from house to launch which is 4 min away. When I travel through the MOUNTAINS, to BC, it will be Tundra time!

Just posted this thread to see if anyone else out there is towing with an Acadia and how it functions as I am looking at purchasing a new 2011 with the factory tow package. The slips I use both in Alberta and BC are all concrete with a textured surface for traction.

This vehicle will be for my wife and family road trips...

[kaneboats]

OK, then. I agree that it's no big deal. As usual, many of us want to be cautious while others think we are being overly cautious. You will have the best of both worlds so enjoy!

[skiyaker]

You'll be fine with that setup. I agree with KB and all his good points- and good point that I tow mostly in the "flatland" - I'm just saying that sometimes we apply standards of excellence to our towing situation in excess of what we apply to other areas of our transportation or boating lives.

Then again- they call me a man of compromise- just last week I ran my OBV down the slalom course 6 times and slalomed with an imperfect wake then filled up the ballast and boarded with a less than gigantic wake and loaded the boat back on the trailer and towed it imperfectly with the acadia back to my house where I put my boat in the garage and left my wife's brand new acadia out in the drive. All added up to a perfect time though.

[kaneboats]

I haven't been able to park a car in my garage for at least 10 years.

[mmandley]

I haven't been able to park a car in my garage for at least 10 years.

Claudia never had a garage in her life as in El Paso here parents had a carport.

I buy this house and we had 2 single doors and she was scared to drive threw one and hit her mirror so she never parked inside.

Got the double wide door installed and she parked in the garage the first time and now i cant get her out. Just the other day as i was doing stereo work she comes home and smiles all pretty and says " Malo when do i get my half of the garage back? " I was whoa whoa missy, this is my dam garage and thats that.

Her car is back in the garage right next to Fierah.

[rdlangston13]

Slightly off topic but I have a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab Hemi and on the shifter it has Tow/Haul setting and an OD OFF setting. I notice that it seem to use OD in the tow haul setting as it will run just over 2,000 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground where as in OD OFF setting it runs about about 2,600 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground.

I have always been told that you should turn OD off when towing so this tow/haul selection has me curious, is there a weight threshold where I should go from tow/haul to OD OFF or what? Does anyone with a similar truck use one or the other?

[kaneboats]

My Suburban has that. I leave it off almost all the time at highway speeds. If it gets hilly I'll turn it on. I run about 2100 RPM at 75 in OD and can't really hold much faster than that and don't really want to run faster.

[moombadaze]

Slightly off topic but I have a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab Hemi and on the shifter it has Tow/Haul setting and an OD OFF setting. I notice that it seem to use OD in the tow haul setting as it will run just over 2,000 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground where as in OD OFF setting it runs about about 2,600 rpm @ 70 mph on flat ground.

I have always been told that you should turn OD off when towing so this tow/haul selection has me curious, is there a weight threshold where I should go from tow/haul to OD OFF or what? Does anyone with a similar truck use one or the other?

Have the same truck and it runs about the same as what you discribed above. Not sure either on the correct way, but I usually run with the tow/haul engaged unless it starts shifting lots then I run with the od off so its not hunting for a gear so much

[mmandley]

The O off is strickly locks out the 4th gear in your trans. Its designed from back in the 90s when 4 speed trans got more popular and they would shift in and out in and out of gear when towing.

Since then more advanced electronic transmissions have come into play and you now have Tow/Haul and it works much different and has some extra features built into it.

Tow/Haul took me an entire summer of towing to understand the basics and i didnt truly understand it till i got my F350 and hauled much larger RVs.

Tow/Haul does not Lock out Overdrive. What it does is holds each gear a bit longer to ensure you have leveld out with speed and demand before it upshifts. This saves the trans and also makes driving a little nicer on you.

Second and most important thing it will do is if its like my F350 it will Auto Downshift for you when you hit the brakes and use the trans and engine as a brake. It will also hold this lower gear untill you press on the gas at which point you have distrupted the system and it should upshift.

My F350 doesnt have a O on and off due to i have a 5speed auto in it. I do have Tow/Haul and i love it love it.

I have done several experiments and my milage really doesnt change to much maybe 1 mpg with Tow/Haul on. I will use it when in town and in the mountins but once im on the highway i turn it off because it takes a lot longer for my truck to get to 5th gear.

I personaly love the fact my truck tows Fierah at 70 at 1750 RPM