Towing 3,000 Pounds

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Caddywhompus wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:

Redsky wrote:
A Subaru wagon will pull a 3,000 lb. trailer and without the trailer it will get 30 MPG on the freeway.

Dunno which "wagon" you're referring to, but I doubt that any Subaru except possibly the Tribeca is capable of towing 3,000 pounds of travel trailer. Limiting factor is tongue weight- limited to 200 pounds on just about every model. You can't tow a 3,000 pound TT safely with such a low tongue-to trailer ratio. The "high" number really only applies to boat towing- due to differences in design those can be towed with a 5-7% ratio.

Again excepting the Tribeca, Subaru max tow limits are between 2,000 and 2700 pounds...And let's keep in mind that the weight of everything in the car except a 175 pound driver has to be taken off that number in order to stay under max GCWR.

This tongue weight limitation is for the Subaru factory hitch, which is only class II. The aftermarket makes class III hitches for most Subarus that can handle higher tongue weights, as well as WD hitches.

That is not correct, though VERY commonly believed. Putting a "higher capacity" hitch on does not raise tow limits on any vehicle. A hitch itself is only one of many design considerations, and the numbers stamped on a receiver reflect only that component's capacity. As for aftermarket W/D, Subaru warns against their use on any/all of its vehicles.

Also, aftermarket hitches are very often inferior to those supplied by the manufacturer- never more true than with that supplied for the Forester. Below is a picture illustrating just ONE major difference. The pic is from a very detailed discussion, complete with illustrations, of an install of a factory hitch on a Forester at this link. It shows the bumper removed to expose the engineered channels into which part of the factory hitch slides. NO aftermarket hitch supposedly "designed for a Forester" does that.



Furthermore, here quoting from that discussion

Post number 28 wrote:
The OEM hitch connects to the body/frame in 12 places in a design that is engineered specifically to interface with the design of the Forester versus only four connection points (two of which require drilling) for any of the aftermarket hitches that are a standard design. Despite taking a little bit longer to install and roughly $100 more expensive, the superior design of the oem hitch is more than worth it to me. Hitches have the potential to apply extreme forces to the body/frame of your car, and on my car, I would rather have one that has 3X the number of connection points.

None of that, of course, will stop folks from doing just as they please, but as someone who's in the market and having looked at a lot of used cars I can tell you that the effects of using inferior equipment and/or ignoring mfr. limits does show "down the road".

Drink more Kool-Aid and buy what the commercials tell you.

Tongue weight limits are SPECIFICALLY a function of the hitch. As long as the tongue weight you are carrying doesn't overload the GVWR or GAWRs, nothing else matters besides the hitch and it's attachment to the frame/chassis.

Interesting to note that the factory hitch is SO tough that is must slide into the frame and be bolted in 12 places, yet is still so weak to carry a 200 pound TW limit and no WD use permitted.

Yet the aftermarket hitch on my Forester was made of much better steel, attached in 4 places with huge bolts and backer plates to protect the chassis, and had it's mounting points spread out far enough to support a WD hitch. The factory hitch I took off was a joke trinket in comparison.

I am not alone in my knowledge of what can be SAFELY towed with a Forester. Thousands of others around the world already know by experience, not internet hearsay or supposition by people who bought too much truck. In Australia, you can get a Class III hitch on a Subie from the factory.

P.S. Note my signature, I have plenty of options to tow with. For light-duty towing under 3000 pounds, the Subaru was clearly the best.