pnichols wrote:
Wear and tear of course afffects other things other than just the engine and transmission. The E450 would have had an easier time at towing than an E350: The E450 has bigger brakes, a lower range rear differential ratio, less transmission clutch slippage due to the lower range rear differential ratio, a larger diameter driveshaft, and thicker metal used for it's frame.
Shouldn't there be practically no transmission clutch slippage in any automatic transmission, regardless of load? The slip when starting up etc. is provided by the fluid connection in the torque converter; the clutches to shift gears or lock up the converter engage and disengage pretty nearly instantaneously, and should have minimal slippage and wear in general. I don't believe there's any maintenance schedule for them, nor have I heard of the automatics often requiring rebuilding due to worn friction materials (though I have no doubt that it could and probably does happen on rare occasions).
The clutch in a manual transmission is an entirely different beast, of course. I guess that may come into play with some of the Toyota class C's...but I suspect towing with them would be a patience and character building experience on any sort of uphill grade.
