Chevy Trailblazer, good tow vehical?
Anybody tow with a 6 cyl. Chevy Trailblazer? (could get by with a V-8 if necessary, love 6's) We've got a 2004 22' Tahoe Lite we are currently towing with our 1965 Chevy Van w/292 inline 6. Been ...
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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?
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?
