Towing on a hot day

[falconbrother]

Does the outside temperature matter that much when towing? Leaving on Wednesday for the mountains and it's supposed to be 97 and humid.

[GrandpaKip]

Good. Now go spend that money.

[falconbrother]

Wasn't a big deal. It was 92 degrees at the bottom. I ran 45mph all the way to the top. The temp gauge changed about 2 degrees and that was it. We're chilin in the Smokies.

[bartlettj]

The main thing I do when towing hot is to let the engine idle a bit before shutoff if it is running on the warm side. This dumps some of the heat out of the system so it doesn't boil the coolant or overheat the transmission fluid. Even 5 minutes helps.

[theoldwizard1]

rbpru wrote:

We drove all over the AZ desert for a month, cold nights and hot days. the truck/trailer combo did what it was supposed to do.

Any newer pickup with a factory installed tow/haul package, towing within its specified limits, will have no problems in hot weather on long uphill runs.

[falconbrother]

GrandpaKip wrote:
I live in the mountains where you are headed and temps are in the 80’s.
If you are concerned with I40 East of here, I would just leave as early as possible.
I just came back from Lake Hartwell where it was in the 90’s. According to the TPMS, temp never got over 100.
We’ve gone up and down both Saluda Grade, Black Mountain and Hwy 25 many times with our horribly, undersized, puny truck pulling our just plain awful, held together with staples and spit TT at 55 with nary a problem. Usually, we have to do one of the three to go anywhere.
With your description, you should be fine. Come to our mountains, enjoy, spend lots of money.

No way to not spend lots of cash..LOL..

[GrandpaKip]

I live in the mountains where you are headed and temps are in the 80’s.
If you are concerned with I40 East of here, I would just leave as early as possible.
I just came back from Lake Hartwell where it was in the 90’s. According to the TPMS, temp never got over 100.
We’ve gone up and down both Saluda Grade, Black Mountain and Hwy 25 many times with our horribly, undersized, puny truck pulling our just plain awful, held together with staples and spit TT at 55 with nary a problem. Usually, we have to do one of the three to go anywhere.
With your description, you should be fine. Come to our mountains, enjoy, spend lots of money.

[falconbrother]

My trailer tires are the original for a 2017 model Dutchman Coleman. They are the Radial trailer tires. I have a spare as well. I do need to remember to switch out my jack though.. I have a 12 ton bottle jack on board from my motorhome days but, I don't need that much. I'll switch it out for the 2.5 ton trolly jack that I use to adjust brakes on the trailer.

[marcsbigfoot20b]

azdryheat wrote:
One thing I've noticed towing in the AZ summers is my temp gauge never moves. I guess it pays to have a healthy and strong TV.

Hahaha, exactly.
I laugh every time I see a thread about how much TV do you need ? and someone always says “ you don’t need a dually diesel blah blah blah”.

But it sure works great! :B

[time2roll]

97 is on the warm side but I give no worry until about 110+.
Speed down and rpm up and go have some fun.
I worry more about how long it will take to cool the trailer after arrival.

[azdryheat]

One thing I've noticed towing in the AZ summers is my temp gauge never moves. I guess it pays to have a healthy and strong TV.

[martinto]

falconbrother wrote:
I have never overheated. Temps are always in the normal range. I need to go up Black Mountain on Wednesday. I plan to run about 45 MPH up the mountain at about 3000 RPMs. Should be fine. My Suburban is an older one but very well maintained. I just replaced all the belts. Transmission serviced about 4 months ago. Fresh oil change. Hoses look good. Tires in good shape. Rear end rebuilt about 16 months ago. Fresh brakes. Just adjusted those GM parking brakes, lubed.. It's in as good of shape as I know how to make it. Since this is the first time we have climbed the mountain with it I'm a bit nervous. The 5.3 Burb isn't the strongest. I will have to keep the RPMs up. My brother tows up Black Mountain all the time with his Tundra and says there's nothing to it. His trailer is a shade lighter and he has the iforce 5.7 liter. I'm 5800 dry and my tanks will be empty. My tow weight limit is 7200. I have the tow package and I added additional transmission cooling which seems to work really well.

You TV sounds to be ready and willing. I’ve done Black Mountain and the Saluda Grade as well as 11000+ feet in the Rockies. Pulling near 7500 lb TT with a 6.2l 1/2 ton. Slower s is better up and down grade.

[Terryallan]

colliehauler wrote:
The only thing I worry about is trailer tire failure in that kind of heat. The asphalt will probably be around 130 add that to the heat generated by the tires. If the tires are marginal it could be a issue. In extremely hot weather I've gone so far as traveling during the night. Easier on the equipment and more pleasant for the passengers. Roads are usually less crowded as well.

I'm with you. Every blow out I have had on a TT has been in REALLY HOT conditions. Seems heat is hard on ST tires.

[campigloo]

Like someone said above, let the truck dictate the speeds and such. I think you should be ok. In my opinion the weak link, as usual, are the trailer tires. Best advice I can offer is relax, enjoy the ride but don’t push it.
Hope you have a great trip!

[BB_TX]

If your vehicle is in good condition and you have never had a heat issue then you likely will have no problem. I have towed for hours continuously in temps up to 108 across the TX panhandle and NM and the temp gauge never got higher than it does on 80-90 degree days.