surprised at what I read

[CoMaddMax]

Originally Posted by Greg in michigan

That for every 1000' you go up in elevation you have to subtract 500 pounds of towing capacity because of the thin air.

This just is not true... otherwise no one would be able to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado because the elevation is @ 11,000 feet. You would loose 5,500 lbs of capacity.

[SeaDog]

towing capacity does not change with altitude however your ability to accelerate or maintain a higher speed my diminish due to reduced engine power on a normally aspirated engine but thats what lower gears are for. the transmission will still pull the same amount of weight and the braking system will still stop it.

[Greg in michigan]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

towing capacity does not change with altitude however your ability to accelerate or maintain a higher speed my diminish due to reduced engine power on a normally aspirated engine but thats what lower gears are for. the transmission will still pull the same amount of weight and the braking system will still stop it.

Thank you for your input. As I said I was told this was a fact but I was looking for others feedback.
I have a second question for you....
As I have pulled our 6000 pound trailer over the Appalachian mountains on our way from Michigan to Florida 9 times with a Nissan Titan, towing capacity of 9400 pounds. Do you think with this set up I could go over the rocky mountains or would it be too hard on the truck. Truck is a 2004 I bought brand new it has 51000 miles on it
Thanks in advance
Greg in Michigan

[acadianbob]

IMO, a certain magazine is either uninformed or purposely deceptive on some of their articles. I read an article on 1/2 towable 5er's. Some of the trailers they featured had DRY pin weights of 2,200 pounds. They never made mention of payload capacity and instead focused on the overall weight of the trailer. You always run out of payload first. IMO, they do a dis-service to people who are new to RV's and towing.

[SeaDog]

Originally Posted by Greg in michigan

Thank you for your input. As I said I was told this was a fact but I was looking for others feedback.
I have a second question for you....
As I have pulled our 6000 pound trailer over the Appalachian mountains on our way from Michigan to Florida 9 times with a Nissan Titan, towing capacity of 9400 pounds. Do you think with this set up I could go over the rocky mountains or would it be too hard on the truck. Truck is a 2004 I bought brand new it has 51000 miles on it
Thanks in advance
Greg in Michigan

think of it like a simi that is pulling 80K pounds it does 70 mph all day but when it hits the rockies climbing up hill it does 35mph they don't max the RPM just pick lower gear and slow down. Same with your rig you will just have to slow down and not run with your foot on the floor and max rpm. Watch the temps and be realistic about the speed you want to maintain. this is just my opinion.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by CoMaddMax

This just is not true... otherwise no one would be able to go through the Eisenhower Tunnel in Colorado because the elevation is @ 11,000 feet. You would loose 5,500 lbs of capacity.

Correct. Can't be a static number. Would have to be % based. I've actually seen a % based reduction in Ford lit, but don't remember what it was. Something like 10% reduction for every 1K over 3K in elevation or something.

[dustman_stx]

Originally Posted by SeaDog

think of it like a simi that is pulling 80K pounds it does 70 mph all day but when it hits the rockies climbing up hill it does 35mph they don't max the RPM just pick lower gear and slow down. Same with your rig you will just have to slow down and not run with your foot on the floor and max rpm. Watch the temps and be realistic about the speed you want to maintain. this is just my opinion.

Keep in mind that semis are turbocharged and aren't experiencing a loss of power due to elevation like NA engines will. Their loss of speed is because of incline- they would perform the same or very close with the same type of incline at sea level. An NA engine would perform very differently on a 7% grade at 1K and a 7% grade at 10K.

[Sterlingsilver]

IMO most manufacturers sweat the warranty on their transmissions. Having pulled the same 5th wheel with both a Chevy 2500 gas and then a diesel, I found the gas would do the same job pulling but the revs and trans temps were off the map, thus I knew why the gas was not rated for the job and the dealer had said so. Now that I have the diesel, I look at the numbers in the glove box and the numbers in the book and I don't think I understand them. My CC 38CK tows easily and has been in every state in the Union as well as up in Canada. I have a very large umbrella policy and I go with what works. I have never had a tire issue or an accident.