towing with saturn vue

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Re: towing with saturn vue

I own a 4 cylinder Toyota Camry with a smaller lighter boat (16' Aluminum Starcraft supersport 16 70 HP OB). I generally have the smallest tow vehicle at the boat launch and some tow vehicles make me laugh (14' boat and a 3500 model truck towing it). FWD getting out of the launch we have traction control which is almost never needed, but handy if one wheel slips. No need to roast a tire, any understanding of friction you have less available traction when spinning your tires. My Max weight is 2k for my tow vehicle and I run a 1500 lb boat trailer with extra gear. Generally just use for short trips to the lake or at most 3 hour drive up north 1 / year. Passing and Stopping isn't a problem at 65 mph zone I go 65 to 60 mph best to always keep extra space when towing. I also drive a semi with 60k lb of dry corn at our farm same driving pattern. Now for the disclaimer. I have driving years with trailers with farm experience, just because you have a V8 AWD doesn't mean you know how to drive with a trailer. I've seen light pop up trailers take out a large truck flipped it right over. Sway is bad and if caught when it starts you can easily control and make weight adjustments to correct, make sure you can see and watch how the trailer is handling when driving. Remember the pivot spots of a trailer are the ball and the wheels and your car if it has a short wheelbase can turn quickly verse the longer truck wheelbase backing up this can be a good thing in tight corners. If you turn to sharp your back of the tow vehicle could get hit or if backing up a jackknife affect may happen which isn't good. Best to hook it up and do some short trips and try to stop quickly, quick turn, and general feel of the boat. Brakes can be added to many trailer and in general I recommend a P3 controller and brakes if you have a 3k plus trailer. Remember if a tire goes out, high cross winds and other events that cause the problems not driving with everything going as planned. In general enjoy the boat and get to the launch safely. I get 24 MPG highway towing the boat driving up north 3 hrs..... Truck gets 16 towing and isn't as comfortable heading to town when it is raining.

 

[jkust]

Re: towing with saturn vue

Iwe have traction control which is almost never needed, but handy if one wheel slips. No need to roast a tire, any understanding of friction you have less available traction when spinning your tires.

On my former tow vehicle mentioned above, the minivan, we also have traction control but it simply applies the brakes to the wheel and you lose your forward momentum so you can't get moving. The instances where I was forced to spin my wheels with plumes of smoke bellowing out are when I was forced to turn off the traction control just to keep the momentum going. I found it is a hindrance at the ramp or on any hill when towing such as in the winter towing snomobilies. All my cars have been a generation or two behind the times so maybe they have modified traction control technology...I don't know but I never thought it a help for towing.

 

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Re: towing with saturn vue

In general if you get tire slip w/o traction control just feather the gas. Give gas till it breaks loose, then back off and start again. Object in motion keep it moving is correct. Roasting is sometimes used when needing to melt ice to get to more traction when other means such as cat litter or gravel isn't available. Jerk on the transmission when you hit a pot hole or other change can be hard on your drivetrain. If roasting is the only way to get moving try to keep your speed down to avoid any serious issues if it catches the unexpected.

One suggestion I forgot to mention is if needing more traction for the pulling out and better suspension loading (tow vehicle) get a weight distribution hitch. This allows a % of the weight to be transferred to the front wheels. This works for mini vans, cars or trucks. Anytime you start pushing close to max trailer weight this should be considered or when suspension is noticed to not be balanced. They also have sway control options which helps eliminate the sway issue when caused by high crosswinds or poor loading (1st is to load weight correctly or set up trailer correctly but will help correct as well).