Durango for pulling

ladywendolyn · 05-07-2010, 11:20 PM

After pulling our 21 ft shamrock last year with our toyota van, we decided that we needed something stronger for heading for the mountains for the summer.

We just purchased a 2000 dodge Durango SLT with a V8 motor.
I am hoping this one will do the trick.
Our trailer is only 1500 pounds unloaded, and our van had a capacity of 3500 pounds towing capacity fully loaded and so we squeaked by last year, but stayed on flat roads.

Has anyone pulled a trailer with a Durango? How does it do? Anything we should know?
Thanks
W Peter

08flagvlite · 05-08-2010, 09:10 AM

YES, I have, and the news is not too good. I have a 2006 Ram 1500 hemi shortbed quad cab automatic that I normally always pull with, but thanks to my son, my truck happened to be in the shop getting repaired from an accident, so I figured I would pull my rig with my 04 Durango! Same engine, same transmission, and even the same rear end, and it is equipped with the towing package, which includes the trans. cooler, power steering cooler, HD. radiator, etc. By the way, I had a 2001 Coleman/Fleetwood Utah pop up before this, and the Durango woud sway side to side pretty badly beyond 55 with that, so I got a friction sway bar brake that is sort of a disc brake type apparatus that you use to control sway. This wasn't needed on the Ram- 75 mph, no problem) but I figured the Durango with the Reese dual cam setup that I use on the truck would be fine, and besides, the park we were going to wasn't too far away, about 20 miles.
BOY, what a scary pull! The trailer swayed no matter what beyond 55, and I even re- adjsted the chains on the Reese, but it still swayed. A couple of things that it could be; One, I put LT tires on the truck, which helped tremendously, and 2, the Durango is a narrower platform from the start; remember it's built on a Dakota frame. AND, to make matters worse, the axle is a lot farther back towards the hitch. GOOD LUCK, and MAYBE with some modifications to the Durango, HD shocks, LT tires, helper springs possibly, you might get it to work. Randy

NWJeeper · 05-08-2010, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 08flagvlite

MAYBE with some modifications to the Durango, HD shocks, LT tires, helper springs possibly, you might get it to work. Randy

X2. Most SUVs are equipped for a soft road ride not pulling trailers. To that end the spring rates and shock valving is different than a 1/2-ton truck and they usually come with "car" tires instead of LT "light truck" tires for a smoother ride which makes towing scary. You need the stiffer sidewalls of an LT tire.

cfsoistman · 05-08-2010, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladywendolyn

After pulling our 21 ft shamrock last year with our toyota van, we decided that we needed something stronger for heading for the mountains for the summer.

We just purchased a 2000 dodge Durango SLT with a V8 motor.
I am hoping this one will do the trick.
Our trailer is only 1500 pounds unloaded, and our van had a capacity of 3500 pounds towing capacity fully loaded and so we squeaked by last year, but stayed on flat roads.

Has anyone pulled a trailer with a Durango? How does it do? Anything we should know?
Thanks
W Peter

We towed a Keystone Litehouse 23ss, similar design as your Shamrock, with our 2000 Durango. It was heavier than your trailer and 2 feet longer. We didn't have any problems with it. We had a weight distribution set up. A longer trailer will present problems due to the shorter wheel base on the Durango but I didn't have any issues towing a 23 footer. We had a tranny cooler as well.

LadyWindrider · 05-08-2010, 07:50 PM

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, have been accused of doing that lately, but I have to wonder, why ask about the tow capabilities of the Durango after you have already purchased it? Shouldn't you have considered the tow capabilities of any vehicle before you purchased? The Durango is a short wheel base, and not the best tow vehicle, but it may be adequate for your use. You definitely got a vehicle with more power, which means you can go faster and pull hills better, and if that's all you wanted then I hope it works. Remember going faster may cause problems unseen before. The previous post say both ways, good an bad., so it seems that you will have to be the judge if it will work for you. Just be careful, because it will be different from towing with the van.

MightyMike · 05-09-2010, 05:10 AM

Curious to you Durango owners what kind of gas mileage you got pulling with them. My sister has an older one, and she's always complaining how bad the mileage is and she doesn't even tow anything.

NWJeeper · 05-09-2010, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MightyMike

Curious to you Durango owners what kind of gas mileage you got pulling with them. My sister has an older one, and she's always complaining how bad the mileage is and she doesn't even tow anything.

Friend at work said the same thing of his, horrible mileage and not towing a thing. He got rid of it for his first FR 5er and an F150, now has 2nd FR 5er and an F350 diesel. RV bug bit them bad...

08flagvlite · 05-09-2010, 10:28 AM

My 04 5.7 hemi automatic with 3:54 rear and 17's gets 23 at best highway mpg, which I think is great; and when I pulled my camper, it wasn't all that far, but I could only go 55, and I was scared to death from the swaying, and really not paying attention to mileage! I do however think it did better than my Ram, but it's hard to tell with the circumstances encountered. Randy

**bikendan** · 05-09-2010, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by windrider

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade, have been accused of doing that lately, but I have to wonder, why ask about the tow capabilities of the Durango after you have already purchased it? Shouldn't you have considered the tow capabilities of any vehicle before you purchased? The Durango is a short wheel base, and not the best tow vehicle, but it may be adequate for your use. You definitely got a vehicle with more power, which means you can go faster and pull hills better, and if that's all you wanted then I hope it works. Remember going faster may cause problems unseen before. The previous post say both ways, good an bad., so it seems that you will have to be the judge if it will work for you. Just be careful, because it will be different from towing with the van.

i have to agree. i know you were told, by many here, that you would not be happy with the minivan as a tow vehicle.

after that advice coming true, i would have thought you would ask this question before replacing the minivan as a tow vehicle.
IMHO, the Durango will be adequate. by the way, i think your 1500lbs. number is incorrect. Popups weigh more than that.

NWJeeper · 05-09-2010, 04:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bikendan

i think your 1500lbs. number is incorrect. Popups weigh more than that.

Forest Rivers own web site lists between 3189-3946 lbs for the 21' Shamrock depending on model. That's dry weight! No wonder a van with only 3500lbs capacity wasn't working well, you were probably overloaded the whole time.

ladywendolyn · 05-09-2010, 04:39 PM

O.K. . . so I will let you know that . .

-the van was working well, we just didn't want to take the trailer to the mountains, without something stronger. We never had a single problem pulling the trailer with the van, but I was also having to be obsessed by how much we packed etc. to keep the weight down. We still have the van and can use that if needed.

-The reason we didn't research a lot before buying the Durango is that my husband is a used car dealer, and he got an amazing buy on this Durango at the auction and so we figured if it is good for the trailer fine, if not he will just sell it. That is why I was asking questions , so we could decide whether to keep it and hook up the electric break, or sell it . . .

-Lastly the dry weight on our 21 ft shamrock trailer, is actually 2550 pounds . . that was a typo . . . As to the 2500 pounds (some people think thats not acurate either, we have had it confirmed, and there were no modifications done to the trailer to increase the weight. The year that our trailer came out, (2003) Forrest River seemed to be doing an experiment to see how actually ultra-light they could make these things. The 21 ft ranged in weight from 2500-2800 pounds that year depending on the layout. There are no slide outs on this model.

Thanks to all for your advice . . . I guess we will just try it out and see how it does. I am encouraged that the one other person who has pulled a small (23 ft) trailer with a Durango has a good report about it. Also we do have a sway bar (equalizer hitch) etc. so hopefully that will help.

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