Towing with Chevy Traverse

[Allen]

I have been researching brake controllers. My old one was an "instant on" on that I never liked much. I have settled on a Tekonsha P3 (the latest version of the Prodigy) - I found it online for about the same price I could get the Prodigy -- don't know how well it will do, but all the reports is that it is much smoother and safer than the old kind.

[Allen]

I seem to have started something with this thread -- unibody vs. ladder frame! Everyone knows that a truck frame is stronger -- but even these frames vary depending on the tonnage of the truck -- Dodge won't even put the Cummins Diesel in the half ton for fear it will twist the frame.

But I get the feeling that some think of the unibody as inherently weak -- like the first ones produced. But they vary also depending on the vehicle - the unibody of the Traverse is made much stronger than the unibody of say, the Toyota Camry. It is hard to get hard facts on what this strength is, but I get the feeling from some of the posts about the unibody is that it has no frame at all, and can be just "pulled apart" by towing. I am going to try to post a couple of pictures below of the frames in question -- they have come from CarFax (being new to this forum, I may fail here!).




The unibody does have a frame - and the factory installed hitch is attached and reinforced to this frame - I guess the question is whether it can withstand the towing of up to 5200 lbs. Chevy says it will.

Owning a truck to pull a small trailer is not convenient for many families that wish to pull this small trailer - they do not have the seating capacity and some of the other conveniences that a SUV or even a mini-van does. Chevy says it is trying to get into the market of pulling small trailers for families with the Traverse.

Another note: I have heard that Chevrolet, and some other car manufacturers, have considered or are considering using the unibody for their half ton and 3/4 trucks -- I don't think anything has come of it yet other than a persistent rumor that the new Ford Explorer will be unibody.

[BigDTx]

I am not sure what unibody vehicle you posted is showing, but i can assure you that I worked at an auto repair facility and I have seen hundreds of cars up on the rack, Not all unibody's have a frame. They have a subframe that bolts to the front end and on FWD vehicles it is also the engine cradle. I personally owned a volvo 850 GLT and it did not have a frame, only a front engine cradle and rear suspension. A true unibody does not have a rigid steel stamped frame that runs from the front of the vehicle to the rear, and they def do not have side frame members that run under the door sills, that is why they have special jacking points for changing a tire, if the jack was just put under the car anywhere else to rase it up, it would damage the cars underside.

[2011 keystone]

I say go ahead and do it. LEARN THE HARD WAY.

[BigRed]

Allen.....If you read my previous post I was going to purchase for towing a 2011 Ford Explorer.......dealer said No,No- uni-body(even though its rated by Ford to pull 5000lbs.)....buy something with a frame..new or used. so he didnt say it just to sell a Superduty or a F-150. He actually took me out to look at much cheaper used Ford Explorers and used Rangers.

[BigDTx]

Body-on-frame construction means a vehicle body utilizes a rigid steel frame separate from the body. The ladder-style frame provides the vehicle’s strength, and attachment points for the mechanical components. An older, less-sophisticated style, body-on-frame remains the foundation for pickup trucks and most true SUVs. In the more modern unibody construction used in most cars today, the integral floor pan is the main structural element.

SUVs like the 2008 Ford Explorer and Chevrolet TrailBlazer use body-on-frame construction. Body-on-frame construction typically has increased towing capacity versus unibody-constructed SUVs due to the ruggedness associated with the chassis. Newer crossover SUVs like the Ford Edge and upcoming Chevrolet Traverse are loosely based on a car chassis and use unibody construction, which is often more forgiving as far as ride quality. It also provides better gas mileage because of these vehicles’ smaller engines and lower weights.

A true unibody does not have a full frame only front and rear subframes.

[BigDTx]

A suv would look more like this:

[Covfam]

you have to be carefull lumping SUV's into the unibody group.. while the majority are, some arent. curently the Nissan Armada/pathfinder are body on frame the suburban/yukon xl/escalade are body on frame the toyota sequoia is a body on frame and the ford expedition is body on frame.


Both the nissan/pathfinder& armada share the titan 's platfrom and the toyota sequoia shares the tundra's platform

its been announced that the Suburban/Yukon/escalade will be going to the lambda (chevy traverse)unibody platform in 2012 and ford announced that the Expedition/lincoln navigater will share the same unibody d3 platform thatthe new ford explorer has.

wich for a short time will leave the Toyota sequoia and nissan amrada/pathfinder the only body on frame SUV's left.

[great white]

Just a note of clarification on Tekonsha brake controllers:

The prodigy and the P3 are different controllers -ttp://www.tekonsha.com/content/default.aspx

They do have a lot of the same features, where the P3 pulls ahead is in user interface and a few other options the Prodigy doesn't offer. Both will work fine though! Cost and personal preference is the main deciding factors here. I have a P3.

The unibody/frame discussion?

Well, you can tow some things with a unibody, but it completely depends on the specifc vehicle and what you intend to tow.

I'd say if you plan to get close to the max toweing rating and then load the vehicle with the fam and all the associated bits, you're probably going to be over the vehicles ratings.....