Trailering 101
The Eternal Quest for Knowledge...
(Searching the
internet for towing information
To sum it up...Good Luck)
DISCLAIMER: Always read all operating manuals, for tow
vehicle, trailer, hitch and related components for towing suitability and compatibility
before operating.
In the wee hours of the morning with nothing better to do,
I decided to search the web to see what useful, if any, vehicle trailer
towing information was available. In my "wee hours" frame
of mind, combined with constant dead ends, and long load times, it
became quite comical after a while. Finally I couldn't take it
anymore. My next challenge was going to be how to present my
findings. So I came up with this hokey idea of presenting each one with a fictitious
"award", So without further ado, go get your black tie attire ladies
and gentlemen here we go. (drum roll please)
1.) The award for the THE
MOST DIFFICULT to use but EXCELLENT INFORMATION (once you find it),
goes to FORD, www.ford.com.
When you first arrive at the FORD home page you are presented with the
list of car companies that FORD now owns, which seems like half the
world. Click on FORD, which sends you off to that companies home
page, once there, you click on "FORD COUNTRY" real
intuitive to send you off into TRUCK land. There you are presented
with the 4 major categories of trucks. Once you select one, you then
have to select "Details", than you have to select
"performance", then you have to scroll down thru the spec sheet,
and then and this is the tricky part there are these "O"s
next to certain specs which you can click on and get more
information. Finally when you reach the towing capacities click on
the little "O" and you will be presented with the towing
charts for that vehicle. These seem to be the charts directly from
their printed towing guides, giving engine size, axle ration, etc.. and
then towing capacities based on that configuration.
A few items, now we all know the internet is not a perfect place, we won't
even go there, but this website was really slow and it seems to hang my
browser to the point of no return, particularly when I tried to go back up
a level. In fact I got to the point I totally disconnected and tried
again. I'm sure it was my browser, (not), but be forewarned just in
case it happens to you.
2) The award for: EASIEST
to use but VAGUEST INFORMATION & read the FINE PRINT, goes
to Chevrolet, www.chevrolet.com.
I really thought I had found a winner here. Easy to get to well presented,
only to find that they really didn't tell you anything. They didn't
give you the break downs like FORD did, they would just give you general
statements of high towing capacities like you see in ads. The reason
I gave them the FINE PRINT award was because when checking out the
Suburban, once I got to it, they again just listed generic high end towing
capacities but at least they listed their disclaimer regarding towing
capacities and reductions need for additional cargo, equipment,
etc.... The fine print was right on the screen for you at eye level,
they get an extra bonus for that.
3) The award for: BIGGEST
DISAPPOINTMENT, goes to GMC, www.gmc.com.
Again I thought I had found a winner, easy navigation, fairly fast site,
only to hit the final button to find that you need to download a ".pdf"
and view it through a reader if you wanted to find out anything at all
useful. Shall we waste the rest of the day while we're at it.
4) The award for: EASIEST
to use & EXCELLENT INFORMATION, goes to TOYOTA, www.toyota.com.
Easy to use, fairly fast site, with the information you need. Go to
the home page for the USA, click on the model, once there just scroll down
to the bottom of the page to the "weights and capabilities" and
there you go. The only problem is the chart is so long you may have
to scroll back to see which version of a vehicle you are actually viewing,
but that's about it.
5) The award for: NOT
HARD TO USE BUT IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED TRY AGAIN, goes
to NISSAN, www.nissandriven.com.
Sticking to my original game plan I typed in www.nissan.com
which led me to a computer company which appears to be at odds with the
motor company over the name, but at least they were nice enough to
redirect you. Their website wasn't to hard to use but at one point
when I finally reached what I thought was a towing spec sheet, the row for
"towing capabilities" was empty. So I went back to the home page
of the vehicle I selected, and then clicked on "engine", that
eventually had a spec sheet with the towing capacities filled in.
6) The award for: THE
MOST DIFFICULT TO FIND WEBSITE, has to go to chrylser/dodge or
whatever other name you wish to call them. As with the other
companies, I just typed in www.dodge.com only to
find that according to my part of the internet it didn't exist, now mind
you it may have been down for who knows what, but several attempts at
various times through out the morning resulted in the same "cannot be
displayed" page. So, next I tried www.chrysler.com
which actually sent me off to www.chrylsercars.com,
and there wasn't a link there to send me into anything that appeared to be
truck land. So I though uh huh, we will try www.chryslertrucks.com,
nothing, or www.dodgetrucks.com, nothing, www.amc.com
and www.ramtough.com , was getting desperate at this
point and again nothing. The last thing I could think of was jeep,
so we did www.jeep.com
which sent me off to www.jeepunpaved.com,
now that's intuitive. Once again there were no links to go to
anything that resembled truck information, so I checked out the jeep
towing information, only to find there was nothing. As a last ditch
effort while writing this article I tried www.dodgeram.com
only to find a website about dodge's that is run by a private individual
that disavows any association with Chrysler. Oh well I guess we will
just list them MIA for now.
The bottom line is basically, do not count on finding out
a whole plethora (always wanted to use that word) of information.
Patience is required as most of the major manufacturers want to "Gee
Whiz Wow" you, which usually equates to lengthened down load
times. If you are shopping for a vehicle and have time on your hands
you may actually find something useful that could narrow your search
somewhat, but don't set your expectation too high. We feel for the most
part you will be disappointed. One side note however, most of the
major sites have a build a dream truck while your here button, that can
provide for some entertainment.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
We did finally find the dodge website, www.4adodge.com
maybe they should get the award for the "least intuitive"
also. Be forewarned lots of "remaining items..." to deal
with, but once you get there, you select the truck, then
"features" from the main menu, then from a pulldown menu select,
"capabilities". Once there on the right hand side is some
pictures and next to one will be "towing and payload
charts". Finally you will get to the towing charts. The column with
the towing capacities has a little (2) next to it, make sure you scroll
down to the end of the chart and you will find the fine print that goes
along with that (2). I really need to get a life!
Happy Trailering... See you Next Month.
If you have any comments, suggestions or topics for
a "Trailering 101" article we'd be happy to take them. Trailering
education is our goal.
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