I just bought my next tow vehicle and, for comparison purposes, I'd like to know its original towing capacity rating. zthee truck in question is a 1995 Dodge Dakota V8 4X4, extended cab, and it's replacing a 1996 4.0L V6 Ford Explorer 4dr 4X4, which was a surprisingly good tow vehicle. My interweb skillz might just suck, but I can find precious little about towing capacities for older trucks and SUVs. Edmunds has proven to be useless, BTW. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-towing-guides/
Thank you!
If the truck came with an owners manual check that. I believe the owners manual in my '97 Dakota has a chart for all of the towing capacities. Assuming the options were similar in '95 you will need to know your differential ratio, which might be listed on the inside of the glove box door if it is the same as a '97.
I spent a fair amount of time towing with a 96 Dakota ext cab and by far the biggest issue i encountered was E36 M3ty brake balance. It had a very strong tendency to lock one or both fronts before the backs even started doing anything, and this truck did not have ABS. For that reason it ended up being a much worse tow vehicle than my 3000lb dynasty sedan which actually uses all 4 of its brakes.
I would seriously look into this aspect of the vehicle. If it has a load-sensing proportioning valve (i dont think ours did, but others might) you can fiddle with the adjustment. If not, you might want to rework the brake system to incorporate an adjustable proportioning valve. I had up to 10k lbs hooked to the back of that thing at times, but the more i towed with it the less comfortable i was with it. If i thought the ground was going to be the slightest bit wet, i'd just 'downgrade' to my little car because it was safer. After a while i just wouldnt use it unless i was pulling something with too much tongue weight for the car.
And for the record, i dont think the axle ratio matters AT ALL. Anything horsepower or acceleration related is just another way to get someone else killed when you run into them. Acceleration while towing RARELY matters.
Vigo wrote: I spent a fair amount of time towing with a 96 Dakota ext cab and by far the biggest issue i encountered was E36 M3ty brake balance. It had a very strong tendency to lock one or both fronts before the backs even started doing anything, and this truck did not have ABS. For that reason it ended up being a much worse tow vehicle than my 3000lb dynasty sedan which actually uses all 4 of its brakes. I would seriously look into this aspect of the vehicle. If it has a load-sensing proportioning valve (i dont think ours did, but others might) you can fiddle with the adjustment. If not, you might want to rework the brake system to incorporate an adjustable proportioning valve. I had up to 10k lbs hooked to the back of that thing at times, but the more i towed with it the less comfortable i was with it. If i thought the ground was going to be the slightest bit wet, i'd just 'downgrade' to my little car because it was safer. After a while i just wouldnt use it unless i was pulling something with too much tongue weight for the car. And for the record, i dont think the axle ratio matters AT ALL. Anything horsepower or acceleration related is just another way to get someone else killed when you run into them. Acceleration while towing RARELY matters.
Whether or not one agrees, Dodge gives different ratings depending on axle ratio (at least in '97). It impacts how well the vehicle will be able to get a load up to speed to merge onto an interstate which can be a safety issue. It doesn't impact panic stops.
If it is a manual transmission, how long the clutch lasts and how easy it is to get rolling up a hill would be impacted by the axle ratio as well.
I wouldn't tow any significant load without brakes on the trailer and a good brake controller.
Meh, it's a 318 in a midsize truck. It will accelerate better with any given load than the 318 in a ram, or ANY other midsize/compact from that era (except a syclone?). It just wont be able to stop. It might matter if you are at high altitude. I always found the 3.9L in our old one adequate at low altitudes and mild hills, even when towing cars on tandem-axle trailers.
It's an automatic with overdrive and 3.91 gears. Vigo, your reports of the scary braking make me wonder if I should just find another Explorer. Explorer was stable, powerful, had great brakes & dragged my light little junks so well, you could barely notice them behind the rig. I just thought V8 must be better. But I'd rather have safe brakes than more torque
Solution could be a V8 Explorer! I think they had four wheel discs as standard, too
Just looking for the towing capacity for the vehicle you just got? Did you check the drivers door column?
In reply to N Sperlo: I've scoured the truck looking for a tow-rating tag, but to no avail. Hence the post. I mainly wanted to see how my "new" Dodge compares with my old Ford.
A quick internet search pulls up this. It is from http://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen-dakota/231096-trailer-tow-rating-chart.html and they say it is from a '95 owners manual.
Thank you!
Man, that's a great chart. Good find!
I think the advice about trailer brakes is very relevant. As for getting another explorer, i figure you could fix what ails the dakota a lot cheaper than buying an explorer, since you already have the dakota. But, if you dont need a truck for any other reason than towing and loved the explorer, i dont see any harm in sticking with what you know and ditching the dakota for another explorer.
For the record, i think the 2g dakota is one of the best truck designs EVER in history. But the brake balance is, as far as i know, the single worst thing about them. I love pretty much everything else about them.
In reply to Vigo:
I love my Dakota, too. Know of anyone who sells brake upgrade kits for it?
My dad had several 1st Gen Dakotas and they all had issues with the rear brakes. Standard practice was to ditch the rear abs module under the bed, and add an adjustable proportioning valve for the rear instead. I think he had to swap the metering/residential pressure block on a couple of them as well and on his v8 ones he preferred some Cherokee rear wheel cylinder.
Seems to me there was a Cherokee or Grand Cherokee that used all the same or interchangeable parts but without the rear ABS and you could save a lot of grief swapping over the parts
So i just put some wheel cylinders on my 87 dakota and noticed that it does have an adjustable load-sensing proportioning valve. If your dakota has that i would definitely fiddle with it and make the back brakes do something. There's a bolt that rides against the driver's side leaf spring you can turn to adjust the thing.
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