Borderline ok tow vehicule

as an owner of a 2008 Grand Caravan 3.8 SXT/6 speed: I will NEVER tow anything with this van. It has gone through 2 transmissions WITHOUT towing a thing.

Chuck_thehammer wrote:
have an extra transmission Cooler installed...
AND
have upgraded Front brake pads and rotors installed... maybe calipers as well
look into trailer brakes (electric) also.

otherwise .. upgrade the tow vehicle
if it does not GO.. its an inconvenience .. if it DOES NOT STOP... you know this answer.

Don't do any of this. Pure conjecture that you would need to.

have an extra transmission Cooler installed...
AND
have upgraded Front brake pads and rotors installed... maybe calipers as well
look into trailer brakes (electric) also.

otherwise .. upgrade the tow vehicle
if it does not GO.. its an inconvenience .. if it DOES NOT STOP... you know this answer.

4x4ord wrote:
I wouldn't be concerned about a thing if I were you. I would hook on and enjoy the trip. That said if you wouldn't be able to enjoy the drive without doing something then I would suggest putting an electric brake controller in the van and puting brakes on the pop up.

You think the weight is not enough?

I wouldn't be concerned about a thing if I were you. I would hook on and enjoy the trip. That said if you wouldn't be able to enjoy the drive without doing something then I would suggest putting an electric brake controller in the van and puting brakes on the pop up.

Ist thought is Transmission.........

2nd when you say the popup is 1500 lbs is that empty weight or loaded gross weight????

Load everybody up and get it weighed.

You may have more than enough payload left for the trailer tongue, but you will never know until you get it weighed.

We're only guessing here without an actual weight.

what a bunch of silly answers. It will be fine. If the transmission pukes tell Chrysler to replace it...guess what....THEY WILL. It has 160000Km warranty. (managed a Chrysler store so I have knowledge, not speculation like the rest).

If it slows on a hill , punch it and put it in 3rd gear. Will it rev...of course..does that hurt a gas engine...absolutely not..they even put protection to stop you from over revving. It will climb any hill at 65mph.


I have a Rav4 with 4 of us and I load the rav up with mini fridge, Bikes, wood and have towed 10000miles over every hill in NH and had the odd moron pull out in front of me as well and stopped perfectly....Listen to people who have done it not the speculators that run rampant on this site.
Brakes, sure why not if it has them. If the trailer doesn't..well that means the D.O.T. and the trailer manufacture didn't feel it was necessary. My 1800lb dry pup doesn't have them.

Chrysler transmissions came a long way by 2010. There are more out there with no issues than without. Being it is a 3.3L i would be more concerned when coming to a small Hill! No power!!!

Issue will also be total payload for the caravan. Does it have at least 1500 or so lbs to work with. This would be my swag that the people, hw, dog etc should weigh in at. Or at least it would with 5 of my 6 at younger ages, and 1/2 of my 2 malamutes I had at one time.

Reality is, ANY trailer with yours or my larger family will be tough with a caravan or equal minim van. We put an Astro at its gvwr and above with out trying. Took a SW 3500 with a 9200 gvwr and an empty wt of 6600 lbs to tow a 6500 lb trailer, and we were in the 900-9500 gvw on the axels hooked up ready to go.

People can kill tow ratings really fast and quick. I will also agree with those that said, make sure the pop up HAS brakes! other wise, you will more than likely be in a world of hurt with lack of braking for all the above.

Marty