Tow Haul.......When?
2003 GMC 2500HD pulling a roughly 11,000 LB 5th. Would you leave it in Tow/Haul on flat/level highways? Or do you put it in t/h and leave it?
Forum Discussion
APT wrote:wintersun wrote:
GM's engineers recommend using Tow Haul mode when the total load is greater than 75% of the GCWR for the truck.
Except that a 4000 pounds high wall RV is harder on the truck than a 10000 pound flatbed or boat.
Based on what calculations? Force on a trailer is equal to the area times the wind pressure per square foot times the area times the drag coefficient.
With a 60 sq. foot trailer at 60 MPH and using a Cd of 1.0 (like a brick) the force involved is 540 lbs. which is hardly the 6,000 lbs. increase you have stated. Even at 80 MPH the air drag force the tow vehicle needs to overcome with a completely square trailer is 983 lbs., which is not a lot for most tow vehicles to handle.
If the tow vehicle is a mini van pulling a 5,000 lb. trailer then the air drag is going to be a factor. With my truck that has a towing capacity of 17,300 lbs. this does not come into play at all.
This does assume that you are interested in the facts and not simply making things up as you go which has become so popular with politicians and Fox pundits and their cohorts in crime.
That depends on whether you are trying for a speed record and towing at 80 MPH and the grade. Going up a grade at 55 MPH I would much rather be towing a 4,000 lb. hard side trailer than a 10,000 lb. flatbed.
