Towing with a Hybrid

[Steve Scott]

The auto transmission did a lot of down shifting going up hills, but that didn't bother me until it got all the way down to second, and occasionally even first gear. Don't think a Prius would have done much better.

The Toyota hybrids don't really "shift".  They employ a continuously variable tranny of their own design.  When we need extra power on our Camry Hybrid, the electric motor (there are actually two of them) simply kicks in .  We have as much "oomph" as a V-6 yet get better mileage than the std. inline four.

[Brad B]

Not a hybrid, but my wife's '05 VW passat diesel will go above the 40 mpg mark if she keeps her foot out of it.  The best she has gotten to date is 48 on the highway (so far).  It has lots of room, seats 5 adults and we can tow a small trailer if we want to. 

[bill marvel]

This was an interesting thread.

Maybe for the Car & Driver Forum...  This thread has been highjacked and is no longer about model airplanes.

regards,
bill marvel

[Leo Mehl]

So I am jumping on the Hybrid band wagon. I let Ryan have my truck to go to school in, so I am without something to haul planes in. After seeing Phil's little trailer I got to thinking about a trailer. My guess is that the manual says no towing. But .....

Anybody got any experence towing a small trailer with a Hybrid?

Paul, I used to tow my RC glider and trainer to the RC field in Washougal was about twice a week. A 40 mile round trip with two planes a 12 volt boat battery and fuel for trainer. My vehicle was a 15 speed bicycle. Sometimes I wouldn't get home till after dark. Those were good times And also a lot of green towing. I musta been Nuuuuutz!

[Wayne Collier]

I have seen small cars towing SMALL trailers without problems, but some people have no idea what their load weighs. In the late 80s and early 90s, Toyota sold a cab and chassis 1 ton truck. U-Haul promptly bought thousands of them and added a box on the back that effectively reduced the capacity in about half because of the weight of the box. People would load them up with anything that would fit in the box and most were regularly severely overloaded. Winnebago even used them as motorhome chassis. These were overweight empty! Manufacturers have had to become a bit more conservative in their recommendations as common sense cannot be relied on.

This sort of thing is part of the problem.  In the late 80's and early 90's the average Ford, Dodge, or Chevy 3/4 ton pickup with the full-floating axle option could take a 800 to 1000 pounds of hitch weight at the back bumper. (on a proper hitch -- not necessarily on the bumper itself)  These trucks at an 8600 pound plus GVW could take 3500 punds on a goose neck or fith wheel hitch.  They could also manage about 4400 pounds stacked evenly in the bed or mounted on the bed like a cabover camper.  A Chevy one ton camper special had a GVW of 10,000 pounds and weighed only 5 to 6 thousand pounds depending on options.  Granted, heavy trailers did and do need trailer brakes for better stopping and control.  I've personnally known two individuals that routinely towed dozers behind one ton pickups and I've seen others do it as well.  There was a guy here locally that towed 8 to 10 thousand pound construction equipment behind a 3/4 ton pickup that was not a duelly.  We're rural enough to see gooseneck horse and cattle trailers almost daily.  I could go one, but my point is that the Toyota one ton came into this market with the ability to carry about a ton.  Companies like Uhaul and Winnebago assumed (wrongly it seems) that a truck advertised as "one-ton" would be capable of the work they were seeing done by the other "one-tons" of the day.  Had Toyota truely tried to make a competitive "one-ton" at that time the overloading you mention would have been less of a concern.  Note, Toyota and Nissan both now make heavier trucks that are capable in the "full size" truck market.  Second note, true vehicle to vehicle comparisons reveal more than advertising to vehicle or advertising to advertising comparison.  Third note, if one's product is not capable of truly competing "in the league" one is advertising it to compete in, one should rethink the add or expect trouble.

[Scott Hartford]

The Toyota 1-ton dually cab and chassis could carry 1 ton as delivered, but they were delivered without a bed. Some of the beds people installed were quite heavy, and U-haul really killed it with the box truck. The box could easily fit 4 pallets of sod. Any idea what this weighs???!!!There was a local AC company that had 6 trucks with the Koenig tool box sides beds installed and they were fully loaded. Thy had to be off-loaded to be lifted on an 8000 lb. lift! Many people never actually weigh their load, so crazy things happen......

[Wayne Collier]

My point being that those Toyota's could only carry 2000 pounds not counting the bed.  The Ford, Chevy, or Dodge one-ton pickups of that time period could safely haul more than 4000 pounds in addition to the standard pickup bed and not exceed the manufacturers recommended gross vehicle weight.  Incidentally, in the late 80s and early 90s Isuzu was marketing a diesel powered cab chassis light truck that could easily manage a box bed plus 4000 pounds.  I worked at a dealership that sold them.  For parts runners we used two F-150 Ford that could manage a full pallet of oil or antifreeze or even a complete 3208 CAT crate engine without a terrible amount of rear end sagging.  In my opinion Toyota was playing a dangerous advertising game with those little one ton chassis cabs and 3/4 ton pickups.  In a market where most 3/4 ton trucks could safely manage a two ton payload, many people were misled by Toyota's advertising.  The bed, the passenger, and the standard tank of fuel should not have been considered part of the advertised payload.  People should look farther than advertising or the name of a vehicle before assuming it is solid enough for a certain job.  Fast forward to today and Toyota is making a far more substantial truck to compete in that same market.  By the way, those Koenig beds you mentioned are awesome when mated to a truck that can handle them.

[Leo Mehl]

I used to haul my airplanes out to the RC field in the early 90's. It was a 40 mile round trip on my Bicycle with a trailer hooked on. Some days it would be dark before I got home. Three bottles of Pepsi was all the fuel I used and that is about as economical as you can get to produce gas. Not only thar it was heathy except when the contonwood was blowing off the trees. Did not even know I had a trailer on the bike if I stopped for a few Brews at Washugal. I was also a lot younger then. Only in my 60's. Yup I'm braging!

[Wayne Collier]

When I was a teenager I often packed my 1/2a planes to the flying feild on a bicycle.  It was no where near a forty mile round trip.  Maybe it was a mile round trip.

I salute you Leo.

[Steve Scott]

Maybe for the Car & Driver Forum...  This thread has been highjacked and is no longer about model airplanes.

regards,
bill marvel

How was it hijacked?  It started out as an off-topic thread about towing with a hybrid automobile.