Towing with a Dodge Caravan

Justin_NSA · Mar 12, 2019

Your Astro is RWD and much better to tow with. The FWD Caravan will slip on wet ramps but it might work...eventually. Are you considering AWD on the new van? Should be no trouble finding a hitch and a ball at the right height.

Rick Webb · Mar 12, 2019

An add on hitch is not a tow package. Try to find one equipped with a tow package.

Justin_NSA · Mar 12, 2019

Good point. If you are towing in hill country. Good brakes and extra cooling would be beneficial. Engine and trans cooling. Some kinds of towing void warranties. Check on it.

Project_Mayhem · Mar 12, 2019

I havent towed with a caravan but I have hauled equipment in them plenty of times. It wasn't hard to max out the suspension. Despite riding on the bumpers it drove fine all the way from Chicago to Minneapolis and back.

Towing with my SUV has taught me a few things. Tow vehicle suspension is far more important than trailer brakes. When your tow vehicle is overloaded you may experience front tires skidding during braking, loose steering, rear suspension sagging, trailer swaying, general instability, fatigue due to the extra effort it takes to drive an unstable rig. I would definitely look into getting air bag suspension, SumoSprings or add-a-leaf.

Air Bags work very well but they do require a little bit of maintenance. You must maintain at least 5-10 PSI of air at all times and sometimes the airbags or lines can develop a leak. Despite this I am not unhappy with them. Installation time is .75-2 hours
I've also used add-a-leaf's. They helped a lot but did not completely resolve the problem. There are heavier duty springs out there. They are virtually maintenance free and install in minutes. It was well worth the $30 I paid for them.
I've heard good things about SumoSprings but to me it seems that your vehicle must sag before they have any effect. Kinda defeats the purpose. As I understand they are virtually maintenance free

chuckwayne · Mar 12, 2019

I tow our H216 (2000lbs GVW) with our Town&Country with no problems. class 3 hitch, if the tongue weight is set correctly when you load you should be OK. The full towing package adds a bigger radiator and transmission cooler, which would be useful but hard to find.

Project_Mayhem · Mar 13, 2019

Most automotive shops should be able to add a larger trans cooler. I still wouldn't tow above the rated capacity even with the cooler on there

Justin_NSA · Mar 13, 2019

I had a '68 Firebird 400 convertible with V8. Miss that thing! Anyway, we tried to tow a 4X8 trailer back from San Antonio one summer. Hardly got anywhere before it would overheat. Added an external trans cooler and smooth sailing all the way. Standard trans cooling is in the radiator. When the trans fluid gets hot, the engine cooling temp raises too.

DrJudyB · Mar 13, 2019

Knuttle said:
I have an old 21' Venture sailboat. Trailer, boat, and stuff it weighs about 2500#. While the manufacture says the a late model Caravan type, Dodge Chrysler, etc, will pull the boat, what are the experiences of others using this type of vehicle. (Currently using an 2005 Chevy Astro Van as a tow vehicle.)
Specific concerns are:
Pulling the boat out of the water, especially on slipper ramps?
Any problem with attaching the hitch to the van?
What about the hitch height?

Hi,
We towed for 10 years with Dodge Caravans with a factory tow packages (transmission cooler, bigger brakes, heavy alternator). Rated capacity was 3500#. Boat and trailer weighed 2450#, fully loaded. Tongue weight was around 250#. No problems, just the usual precautions like leaving enough distance between us and the vehicle in front of us.

The tow hitch box was too low, so we used a hitch draw bar to raise the ball. Also, the hitch was so low that the trailer wiring got dunked in salt water, so we moved it to the inside of the trunk (we installed the male plug behind the driver-side tail light). To tow, we stuck it under the rear hatch door and closed the door on it. We would disconnect it before launching and stowed it inside the trunk area.

Please keep in mind that you have to reduce the payload in the car to stay within the GCVWR. Also, you need keep the weight on the axles under the rated capacity.

We never got stuck on a slippery ramp. Never overheated.

Mike Culik · Mar 13, 2019

We towed an O'day daysailor with both a Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan.

The Voyager had the 2.6 4 cylinder Mitsubishi engine and it over heated on a trip to and from the finger lakes from Delaware. Burt the #4 exhaust valve....later to find out that adapting that engine to the Chrysler mini vans was plagued with cooling issues.

The Dodge Caravan had the v6 engine and never gave me a bit of problems until it was just plain worn out at 280,000 miles!
I don't think it had the towing package that DrjudyB mentioned... Still the best vehicle I've ever owned.

martin230 · Aug 1, 2019

There are a lot of new trucks in the market which has the ability to handle boat better than old and some new features. If you take my suggestion i would suggest you a Ram 6500 truck have a great experience with this truck still using in a towing company roadside assistance nyc.

Tsatzsue · Aug 1, 2019

I towed with a Honda Odyssey for years. No problem.

MikeHoncho · Aug 1, 2019

Project_Mayhem said:
I havent towed with a caravan but I have hauled equipment in them plenty of times. It wasn't hard to max out the suspension. Despite riding on the bumpers it drove fine all the way from Chicago to Minneapolis and back.

Towing with my SUV has taught me a few things. Tow vehicle suspension is far more important than trailer brakes. When your tow vehicle is overloaded you may experience front tires skidding during braking, loose steering, rear suspension sagging, trailer swaying, general instability, fatigue due to the extra effort it takes to drive an unstable rig. I would definitely look into getting air bag suspension, SumoSprings or add-a-leaf.

Air Bags work very well but they do require a little bit of maintenance. You must maintain at least 5-10 PSI of air at all times and sometimes the airbags or lines can develop a leak. Despite this I am not unhappy with them. Installation time is .75-2 hours

I've also used add-a-leaf's. They helped a lot but did not completely resolve the problem. There are heavier duty springs out there. They are virtually maintenance free and install in minutes. It was well worth the $30 I paid for them.

I've heard good things about SumoSprings but to me it seems that your vehicle must sag before they have any effect. Kinda defeats the purpose. As I understand they are virtually maintenance free

Adding suspension components will not increase your specs. Brakes on the tow vehicle and trailer are just as or,in my opinion, more important than suspension.

Project_Mayhem · Aug 1, 2019

MikeHoncho said:
Adding suspension components will not increase your specs. Brakes on the tow vehicle and trailer are just as or,in my opinion, more important than suspension.

That all depends on what the weakest link is. On my SUV the suspension was the weakest link. Upgrading the suspension was far more effective at increasing braking power than installing a brake controller. 60-70% of a vehicles braking is done in the front. When there's very little weight on the front end then even the slightest braking can cause the front tires to skid. In addition, it increased handling ability significantly. It was downright dangerous before the upgrade. Now that brakes and suspension are performing adequately the next weakest link is most likely the drive train

MikeHoncho · Aug 1, 2019

Project_Mayhem said:
That all depends on what the weakest link is. On my SUV the suspension was the weakest link. Upgrading the suspension was far more effective at increasing braking power than installing a brake controller. 60-70% of a vehicles braking is done in the front. When there's very little weight on the front end then even the slightest braking can cause the front tires to skid. In addition, it increased handling ability significantly. It was downright dangerous before the upgrade. Now that brakes and suspension are performing adequately the next weakest link is most likely the drive train

Your previous post stated adding components to a already overloaded (illegal) vehicle will improve the handling. Although I agree with the concept, it probably will, it is still illegal assuming the overloaded vehicle is also over its spec’ed weight. Now you have a vehicle that you are already overloaded that can perform in a more perceivable safe manor but isn’t designed for it suspension drive train or brake wise. It’s all fine until you damage someone’s else’s property or injure someone then it’s negligence. The placards or vehicle specs are what determines the weight limitations, not bolt on parts (within most of the bolt on part world).

HEINZIR · Aug 1, 2019

I towed my Venture 23 from Minneapolis to Lake Havasu AZ with my 2012 Town and Country with no problems. It had the factory tow package but that only meant it had a hitch and wiring for lights. The tow package did not include bigger brakes, alternator, or tranny cooler that year. I had the rig weighed at a truck stop: 3660 lbs! This is just over the max towing capacity of 3600 lbs. (Advertised boat displacement w/o trailer or motor was 2000 lbs.). I did add electric brakes to the trailer and a brake controller to the van. Our trip was in February so overheating was not an issue. I had no problems whatsoever, even going over the mountains in a snow storm. Never any traction problems at the ramp either. We also made the round trip from Minneapolis to Phoenix with the same van a couple of years later with our Montgomery 17, which is a bit lighter.

Henry

bubby-joe · Sep 4, 2019

A guy in colorado pulls a 26S with a smart car but I drive a smart car I saved pictures and I think stopping is going to be the biggest thrill ever, I live in moose country.

Project_Mayhem · Sep 4, 2019

How often does he replace transmissions?

bubby-joe · Sep 4, 2019

I did tow my 26S around the loop on the street with my smart car, on the flat but a hill I think not and I got real weird looks when I hauled the garbage trailer to the landfill and back also I once hauled an 8 ft pontoon fishing boat home from crappy tire on the back seat of my 40 year old R-65 BMW, it was still in the box 14X20X 4ft. across the seat and tied down it was on sale. Now looking for half a truck to tow the boat to the marina not much on looks but free or cheap would be good brakes are a must have rust not a problem. As a second vehical I use an 05 Mazda MPV, not an ideal tow veh. the rear coil springs have very little weight capable, the reason for an older half truck, as something better than the MPV