[VAC] Towing With A Short Wheel Base Tow Vehicle

["Harvey Barlow" <harveybarlow@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris, Greg, and others

I understand that Land Rover owners are just as fanatical about their choice
of transportation as Airstream owners are about their choice of RV but I
can't help but respond to the preceeding comment.

Towing an Airstream, although it certainly requires a little more attention,
should not be stressful and normally isn't.  The stress described above most
often results from towing with less than adequate equipment.  A short wheel
base tow vehicle will always be somewhat directionally unstable.  You will
always feel some "tail wagging the dog effect" and frequent if not constant
steering corrections will be required.  Another condition that causes stress
and is tiring to the driver is towing with a relatively small engine.

Torque is required to tow a heavy load, not horsepower.  And torque is
always associated with cubic inches of displacement, not high lift
camshafts, fancy electronics, etc.  If you tow with a large displacement
high-torque engine it will accelerate the load easier, maintain engine speed
on a grade, permit remaining in a higher gear without frequent downshifts,
provide better engine braking on a downgrade, and will actually produce fuel
economy numbers as good as or better than a small engine laboring.  Higher
numerical gears in the rear axle (or both with 4wd) will compensate with
more torque multiplication and will buzz the engine in a higher rpm range,
but a big engine will tow at 2000 rpm in overdrive without strain.  Lower
rpm equates to longevity because piston travel is reduced significantly,

My comments are not intended to blaspheme your beloved Land Rovers, I
understand the addiction which is very similar to my A/S addiction.  And I
am aware that a V8 Land Rover, 4 cylinder Jeep, and other small engine tow
vehicles are in service all over the country today as I write this.  My
daughter tows a 27' A/S with a new V8 powered Jeep Grand Cherokee, short
wheel base and modest displacement (against my advice).  I also know that my
comments will elicit a fire-storm of response but the point I wish to make
is this:  A heavier, long wheelbase, pickup truck, van, or Suburban with a
350 cubic inch engine or, even better for larger trailers, a 454 or 460
cubic inch big block or turbo-diesel, will tow more comfortably, perform
with a much wider safety margin when conditions are adverse (strong and
gusting winds, steep grades, wet road surface, etc) will deliver equal and
sometimes better fuel economy, and the equipment will last longer with less
repairs.

An SUV or pickup which gets excellent fuel mileage when running light is
frequently geared for economy.  When a heavy load is attached, fuel mileage
usually plummets.

For those who will dispute my statements, consider the reason eighteen wheel
truck tractors use huge displacement, low rpm, high torque motors for towing
rather than small displacement, "economical", high revving, high horsepower
engines.

I'll step down off my soapbox now.  My comments are intended, not to
criticise anyone's vehicle choice, but to promote discussion and
understanding.  Those of you who are proponents of "smaller is better" may
now feel free to attack what I have said.

Harvey Barlow
Lubbock, TX
WBCCI # 1171, WDCU, VAC