Chevy Trailblazer, good tow vehical?

I have an 07 TB LS 6cyl. Been pulling a 27` prowler lite 1999.
been out west two times and up to Smokies a few times. from tampa fla. also many trips in state. so far no problems. I know I am at my max towing weight but the TB has been fine. no complaints.

We have a 2004 Rainier with 5.3 V8 with 3.73 gears and it is rated to tow 6,500 pounds. Would I do that? NO! Wheel base is a bit short to make it a good tow rig. These 360 vehicles on body on frame and heavy for their size at almost 5K. As stated by ifkmk lots of little things happen. I had to put a new AC condenser in ours this year. Only has 65K on the clock and is a garage queen. Got really funky when we returned in Feb and it had been sitting for a month. All kinds of dash errors displayed, air bags, seat belts etc. Had Costco warranty the battery and re-seated all of the connectors I could find and it just slowly got over it.

Gets an error code all the time for loose gas cap. Replace the vent solenoid valve and it was better for a while.

Chris

We took a 17' 3500# TT with an 06 Envoy and have had absolutely no problems towing with it. It is generally just me and my wife without a whole lot of extra gear. We've been all over the east coast with it. While our "mountains" aren't the Rockies it does well in the hills.

As mentioned in a previous post, fluid changes seem to be critical for these vehicles. They also have more than their share of non-maintenance repairs, but no more than other GMs I've owned. If you do your own work, it's not cost prohibitive. Things like hub assemblies, hvac actuators, stepper motors in the instrument cluster, things like that

As mentioned, the 4.2L I6 was designed for use on this platform. It was one of Wards Auto Top 10 Engines of the year when it came out. I once read that the bad thing about the engine is that GM didn't put it in any of the cars. Remember, they were still making Olds 88's, Auroras and other larger cars at the same time this engine came out.

We towed a 5000 GVWR hybrid travel trailer with a 2004 Envoy XL I6/3.73. It did fine in my opinion, but I wouldn't have wanted to towed any more with it. Due to the long wheelbase and short rear overhang, this was the most stable set up I have ever towed.

The 4.2L was rated at 275HP and 275#-ft of torque when it was introduced. Being an I6 it has a flat torque curve with decent low end torque. The problem is that the HP doesn't really start to build until over 3000 RPM. Above 3000 RPM it will really scoot. The one thing that I loved was that at 4500 RPM it wasn't screaming...another attribute of the I6. I had no problems pulling hills in Michigan. Ours also went like mad in the snow.

If you aren't opposed to the added length, I would look at the extended length models.

blt2ski wrote:
Th trailblazer will have more HP than the 292. so it "SHOULD" go faster up hills etc.

issue I see, is that the 292 usually only came in an 8 lug truck thru the years. So my question will be IF the trailblazer has the payload etc that you may or may not need for HW, People, Dogs etc in the TV of choice. Then again, back then, an 8 lug truck was a lower gvwr etc than todays trucks.....

Marty

I had a 63 Sub with a 292 and 4 speed with granny gear and 3:73 gears. It would pull a house over. I swapped a warmed up 283 in and it cruise the highway much better and still towed an E Racing Runabought flatbottom race boat in the early 70's just fine! You might have seen it towing E-500 then! It went on to tow a local drag hydro. Rear panel door made it an ideal tow truck for boats, with tool box inside back doors.

Each engine had its pluses! Chris

LVJJJ wrote:
Being a pretty good mechanic and maintenance freak, I should be able to keep it on the road for a while. I guess the one thing I worry about is will the engine and trans with over 100,000 miles typically be too worn out to tow well? (I know it depends a lot on maintenance). Is the 4.2 I6 considered a truck engine?

As I said above join gmtnation.com. Big help, lots of knowledge there and lots of willing helpers.

I towed with mine up to 160k. The only reason I sold it and got the Sierra was that I was very marginal on towing capacity with my current trailer and was looking at about $1k in maintenance over the year, things like exhaust, etc. and I just didn't want to stick any more money into it.

Yes the 4.2 is a truck engine. It was designed from the ground up to be only used in GM trucks. Doesn't matter that they never put it in the full size trucks. At it's introduction it had about 80 more HP and torque than the 4.3 V6. Using it in full size was part of the original intent but being an OHC engine it was expensive to build. The newly redesigned 4.3 has closed that gap.

The I6 and the I5 where used in midsize platforms and never full size therefor I don't consider this a full size truck engine

Thanks much all. As usual the response is mixed, and that's what I hoped for to hear the good and bad. rjstractor hit it right on, the 292 is full of torque but light on HP. It's a remanufactured long block I installed in 1988 with a purpose built TH350 tranny. It does slow down on long hills, but just keeps pulling with no pinging all the way down to 40mph. The only time I have to shift into second is the 6% part of mountain passes. We've as far east as South Dakota and to Disneyland a couple of times. Never has broke down.

The wheel base is only 90 inches but with special anti-sway WD bars I invented there is no sway whatsoever (eliminated the chains). It is a lot of work towing with it, brakes aren't real good even though they have been rebuilt, gotta pay close attention front and back and start stopping early. We usually take the blue highways and go 55 mph. That was the speed limit when I built it.
But I love towing with it, we get lots of thumbs up and we are the center of attention at campgrounds.

For a while had a 454 '88 Suburban we towed 30' TT's with and an '05 Roadtrek with 6.0 engine we towed with also. I actually prefer towing with the van.

Sooo, almost anything will be easier to tow with. Don't mind slowing a bit on hills. Sounds to me like the Trailblazer will do us just fine cause I don't expect blazing speed and my antisway bars will keep it straight and level. Since some of you have been successful towing with it, that's good enough for me. Being a pretty good mechanic and maintenance freak, I should be able to keep it on the road for a while. I guess the one thing I worry about is will the engine and trans with over 100,000 miles typically be too worn out to tow well? (I know it depends a lot on maintenance). Is the 4.2 I6 considered a truck engine?

My parents had a gmc envoy and that engine would eat water pumps and just had various running issues.

I would look for one with the v8 if you need a midsize sport ute. Better yet get a tahoe

I wouldn't normally reccomend a trailblazer, but compared to a 50 year old van, it will be awesome!