Hi Scott: I pull mine with a stock '98 Nissan Frontier, manual trans., 4 cyl. It doesn't like going up the ramp and I feel I'm really reducing the clutch life, but it does get it out of the water. A 6-cyl automatic would be much better. If I ever do any serious distance towing, I plan on renting. Since your trans is older, you might have different results, i.e., more of a slippery clutch. What's the tow rating for your truck... is it a 6 cyl or 4 cyl? My impression is that you'd be cutting it mighty fine, but maybe having the 4x4 would make it work better, or maybe the toyota has lower gear ratios. Maybe even smaller tires would help? (for most folks around Tennessee, a 4x4 truck means huge mud tires, which would reduce your low end power a little) Hope this helps Best BG Brian Gilbert Author, Fix It And Sail, The Complete Trailer Sailer On Apr 9, 2009, at 8:52 PM, montgomery_boats-request@mailman.xmission.com wrote:
Does anybody have any experience with towing a M17 with a 1993 ish Toyota 4x4, manual transmission. Gross combined weight is 7800 lbs ( vehicle weights about 4,200 lbs ) which would probably give me an extra 500 - 600 lbs reserve capacity according to the owners manual. However I was looking for real world experience. Not interested in going fast up hill; just looking to make it.