good day all, I did post something similar a few weeks ago but this is now the confirm vehicule surprisingly I cannot find information about it regarding towing so here I am (again) looking for your good advice. The towing vehicule would be a Chevy 350SS 1990, The item to be towed would be an O'day25 on double axcel trailer. your thoughts? Any body know this particular Pick up truck (apparently offered for just a few years either as 455SS or 350SS)? Thank ya all... a.
towing vehicule
- Thread starter Alain Pascal
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how far
and what type of highway. I would recommend that the truck had duall tires in the rear for stability if you're going to travel on superhighway. All it takes with single tires on rear is a small jerk of the steering wheel to send the boat on a diagonal course to disaster. A "dually" can avoid that because of the width of track. My guy uses a 1990 Chevy dually with a V-8 gas engine and it works great. He towed it 800 miles in bad weather without a problem.
and what type of highway. I would recommend that the truck had duall tires in the rear for stability if you're going to travel on superhighway. All it takes with single tires on rear is a small jerk of the steering wheel to send the boat on a diagonal course to disaster. A "dually" can avoid that because of the width of track. My guy uses a 1990 Chevy dually with a V-8 gas engine and it works great. He towed it 800 miles in bad weather without a problem.
Without Knowing the Specifics on the Boat
I'd bet your at or just over the towing capacity of the truck. That said if you put in a transmission cooler and don't do anything crazy or stupid like crossing the Rockies for instance you'll be OK. Make sure the brakes on the trailer work, work very well.
I'd bet your at or just over the towing capacity of the truck. That said if you put in a transmission cooler and don't do anything crazy or stupid like crossing the Rockies for instance you'll be OK. Make sure the brakes on the trailer work, work very well.
CHEVY 350 POWER
I pulled a 75od 25 from the keys to just north of Clearwater/tampa. The truck had plenty of power to tow as fast as i wanted. I ran about 60-65mph. of course it was a chevy 1990 1/2t with 350/5.7l with automatic trani, with 170k miles on it. The braking was poor so i left plenty of braking distance ahead of me and left the keys at 0130 to avoid Miami traffic. Big boat, get it going sideways and it will pull anything sideways. I was able to change lanes smoothly, when I could tell that know one was back there!? Stock mirrors not too good for seeing behind, but i was going forward, right.
I pulled a 75od 25 from the keys to just north of Clearwater/tampa. The truck had plenty of power to tow as fast as i wanted. I ran about 60-65mph. of course it was a chevy 1990 1/2t with 350/5.7l with automatic trani, with 170k miles on it. The braking was poor so i left plenty of braking distance ahead of me and left the keys at 0130 to avoid Miami traffic. Big boat, get it going sideways and it will pull anything sideways. I was able to change lanes smoothly, when I could tell that know one was back there!? Stock mirrors not too good for seeing behind, but i was going forward, right.
Be more specific
Alain - I'm guessing that the 350SS or 455SS relates to the engine size, and that both are 1/2 ton, two-wheel drive trucks, models that were more biased toward acceleration etc.than carrying capacity. It will haul the boat, but there is really a bit more to trailering than just making the thing move. For a 'one time' move, at reduced speeds, you can probably haul it OK if you've got good brakes & tires etc on the trailer ( it's illegal & plain stupid to haul anything that heavy without trailer brakes ) provided you're running over fairly level ground. A load-equalizing hitch is probably necessary to maintain steering & control of the thing at anything approaching highway speeds, especially with a 1/2 ton truck. For towing any distance, or often, the axles etc on the 1/2 ton aren't sturdy enough. Ditto for the tranny. You really didn't provide enough detail to get a good answer to your question, but I guess the short answer is 'Yes,it's possible BUT not very wise'
Alain - I'm guessing that the 350SS or 455SS relates to the engine size, and that both are 1/2 ton, two-wheel drive trucks, models that were more biased toward acceleration etc.than carrying capacity. It will haul the boat, but there is really a bit more to trailering than just making the thing move. For a 'one time' move, at reduced speeds, you can probably haul it OK if you've got good brakes & tires etc on the trailer ( it's illegal & plain stupid to haul anything that heavy without trailer brakes ) provided you're running over fairly level ground. A load-equalizing hitch is probably necessary to maintain steering & control of the thing at anything approaching highway speeds, especially with a 1/2 ton truck. For towing any distance, or often, the axles etc on the 1/2 ton aren't sturdy enough. Ditto for the tranny. You really didn't provide enough detail to get a good answer to your question, but I guess the short answer is 'Yes,it's possible BUT not very wise'
1-ton dually
i use a 1993 dodge 1-ton dually with cummins engine and a 5 speed tranny with exhaust brake. very stable on the highway, lots of power on the hills and no need to ride the brakes on the downhill sections. have towed up to 20,000 lbs trailer without problems, luv my truck!!! get a dually if you can for the stability and get a diesel for the economy.
i use a 1993 dodge 1-ton dually with cummins engine and a 5 speed tranny with exhaust brake. very stable on the highway, lots of power on the hills and no need to ride the brakes on the downhill sections. have towed up to 20,000 lbs trailer without problems, luv my truck!!! get a dually if you can for the stability and get a diesel for the economy.
350ss ok
the 350ss would be ok to use while eightys and early ninetys V8's aren't exactly horsepower giants by todays standards most of todays V6's produce more horsepower than they did the torque they made was still very good. Thats what you need for towing. If I recall correctly both the 350ss and 454ss trucks were tuned up either the camshaft or computer settings where different than the regular truck line. Simply said they produce more horsepower and torque. They also had a lower rear end gear ratio to improve acceleration times thats also a plus for towing. I know the automatic transmission was a gm700r4 overdrive which was used in pretty much every rear wheel car and truck chevy made including the camaro and corvette was built the same. Maybe the torque converters had different stall speeds? adding a transmission fluid cooler would be wise. I'm not at all sure of the suspension the trucks seemed to sit low to the ground but most 2wd chevys of those years did .
the 350ss would be ok to use while eightys and early ninetys V8's aren't exactly horsepower giants by todays standards most of todays V6's produce more horsepower than they did the torque they made was still very good. Thats what you need for towing. If I recall correctly both the 350ss and 454ss trucks were tuned up either the camshaft or computer settings where different than the regular truck line. Simply said they produce more horsepower and torque. They also had a lower rear end gear ratio to improve acceleration times thats also a plus for towing. I know the automatic transmission was a gm700r4 overdrive which was used in pretty much every rear wheel car and truck chevy made including the camaro and corvette was built the same. Maybe the torque converters had different stall speeds? adding a transmission fluid cooler would be wise. I'm not at all sure of the suspension the trucks seemed to sit low to the ground but most 2wd chevys of those years did .
adding information
Good morning everyone, First many thx for the information so far. I see what everyone means reagarding "bigger is better" and I agree a dually diesel would be the sweetest (I had a Z71 4dr diesel, nice but sold) unfortunately it doesn't make sense for me right now to purchase another one. I need something I can drive daily that will not blow the budget every time I stop at the gas pump. That said here is the scenario: I have one run from NC USA to Toronto Canada (~900M) 15hr, the boat is on a new double axcel trailer with brakes. I intend to do the trip as 3x300M stopping a few hours each pit stop. I thought of having it delivered but the cost is prohibitive compared to buying a used truck (350ss= 3.5k$, delivery =1800k$). Since I intend to tow the Oday on occasions to lakes in Toronto's paygrounds (Muskoka, Parry sound etc) averaging 2hr drives to these lakes, I want something to tow. In these situation I will tow the boat and leave it up north for a week or so at a time. Other than that I will drive 20 min to use a ramp for lake Ontario that is close to the house. As you can see my budget for the truck is small, I even looked at old Chevy C20 etc. In wich case I would keep my current car as daily driver and use the truck solely for towing the boat. thank you all, a.
Good morning everyone, First many thx for the information so far. I see what everyone means reagarding "bigger is better" and I agree a dually diesel would be the sweetest (I had a Z71 4dr diesel, nice but sold) unfortunately it doesn't make sense for me right now to purchase another one. I need something I can drive daily that will not blow the budget every time I stop at the gas pump. That said here is the scenario: I have one run from NC USA to Toronto Canada (~900M) 15hr, the boat is on a new double axcel trailer with brakes. I intend to do the trip as 3x300M stopping a few hours each pit stop. I thought of having it delivered but the cost is prohibitive compared to buying a used truck (350ss= 3.5k$, delivery =1800k$). Since I intend to tow the Oday on occasions to lakes in Toronto's paygrounds (Muskoka, Parry sound etc) averaging 2hr drives to these lakes, I want something to tow. In these situation I will tow the boat and leave it up north for a week or so at a time. Other than that I will drive 20 min to use a ramp for lake Ontario that is close to the house. As you can see my budget for the truck is small, I even looked at old Chevy C20 etc. In wich case I would keep my current car as daily driver and use the truck solely for towing the boat. thank you all, a.
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