Towing with a 2-door Tahoe

I have a 2004 SANTE 210 and I'm thinking of buying a 1995 2-door Tahoe to pull it with. I want to minimize the wear and tear on my daily driving truck. Has anyone ever used a 2 door Tahoe as a tow vehicle? How did it handle? Thanks.

it'll pull fine...but those 95-99 5.7's are a dog for towing, for some reason. Works, but don't expect to do anything in a hurry Maybe it was just mine, though.

I had a '95 a while back. I towed my MC with it. I only used it for going local. More wheel base and power is better. It will pull it fine, in fact mine was a '95 too. Just remember its the old 351, that will last forever.

My storage building is 9 miles from the boat ramp, so it should be ok. Thanks for the feedback.

I tow my 2001 Maristar210 with my 96 2dr Tahoe all the time, Never really have much of a problem. Total weight of everything is about 4200-4500lbs. I would try to stick with a 96 hoe IMHO. They changed the motor from a carb system to EFI in 96, which was also the first year of the Barn doors and the 4door verison of the tahoe.
The power difference of the 95 carb motor vs the 96 EFI is tremendous. I test drove nine 2door models all 95-96 till I found the one for me, but the motor had a lot to do with the decision.

Towing, you might find the short wheelbase makes it harder to driver 75-80mph without the tahoe drifting or being pushed a little from the trailer...but then again that is pretty darn fast while towing. If your trailer is dual axle (mine is not) it will reduce this signifigantly.
One the plus side, b/c of the short w/b I can put the boat nearly anywhere I want.

I used to pull my 95 Maristar to the lake (40 Miles each way) 3-4 days a week with a 94 2dr Yukon. It had a difficult time pulling to Powell, but locally it was okay. But did go through the brakes kinda fast

(Message edited by jbongo3535 on June 21, 2007)

"I want to minimize the wear and tear on my daily driving truck."

Say what? Is your daily driver not a full size truck, with decent power?

The two door Tahoe has a short wheelbase, and will not be very stable towing a SANTE. Jack knifing it would not be that hard to do.

Peter,

I have a 2006 Chevy Crew Cab with a V8, it is full size and has plenty of power. I just don't want to use it to tow my boat, is that hard to believe?

YES! You already own a really nice truck and it would be the only thing I would think of towing with. Do you not own your vehicle too use and enjoy it? Doing the math it does not add up to any savings, but instead costs you thousands of dollars. Insurance and repairs will add up quick, let alone purchase price. Nope still doesn't make sense to me, and doubt it ever will.

If you wanted to haul a bunch of building materials, would you rent a truck or load the crap out of yours, and risk scratching the bed up?

It will tow fine. I've got a 94, and it does fine, just not getting up any grades in a hurry. Its a full size truck, with a v8, it will get the job done. BUT, if you are buying this just to tow, why not buy an older diesel or a 3/4 ton truck? If its just going to be a tow rig, get a tow rig.

Also, some corrections. The 351 is a FORD motor, the chevy has a 350. Also, 92-94 Full size blazer (2 door tahoe starting in 95) was NOT carbed, it was TBI, Throttle body injection. Basically an electronically controlled carb - not the best for power, but very reliable. No problems like a carb. 95 is the newer interior, 96 is the newer Vortec motor. I'd get a 96+, like everyone reccomended.

Really though, your 06 crew cab is designed to tow, just like this truck would be. YOu will save nothing trying to buy/maintian another truck to keep some wear off your new one. Tow with what you have and dont' look back!

Thanks for the advise. I will probably just keep what I have.

We just turned in our '95 2 door Tahoe for a 2007. We towed our VRide for the last 2 years with it, and didn't have any problems. It worked great. On big grades we would drop it into 3rd and just take our time at 50mph. No Big deal.

Actually, you're not supposed to tow in overdrive on that year range 5.7...always 3rd

Why not get a cheapo commuter car to keep miles off the truck?

IMO you should tow in 3rd with any (stock) half ton. Most in my experience are constantly downshifting unless you're going over about 75, or downhill.

"Why not get a cheapo commuter car to keep miles off the truck?"

Depending on the commute it is not cost effective to own and maintain two vehicles. Do the ROI on it and you will see. Plus why would anyone want to drive a POS commuter car when they own a nice newer vehicle is beyond me. I would happily pay more to drive a nice vehicle, at least within reason.

What I do not understand is why people are so affraid to use something they own or are making payments on, because it might or will get damamged. Did you buy it to look at, or to use it?

I would shift to overdrive when it hit about 3000 rpm, depending on the road (hills or flat). If hills, then I wouldn't shift until it was flat. No transmission issues for us. Just my 2 cents.

I bought a third car, a Nissan Sentra. Yes, it is not the most luxerious, but it has CD, AC, power everything, basically everything I need on a daily basis.


20,000 miles per year / 35 MPG ave = 571 Gallons

20,000 miles per year / 15 MPG ave = 1333 Gallons


762 gallons x $3.00 per gallon = $2286 saved annually
Extra insurance = $500 annually
Maintenance (routine) = $200

I believe I save roughly $1500 per year, which will get better if gas gets out of control. That's not counting what I save not having to do as much maintenance on a 4x4 truck also.

Erik, did you factor in the purchase price of the second/third vehicle, and depreciation on two/multiple vehicles? If you are doing $200 a year in maintenence, that is very cheap, and it must be a vehicle under warranty. Which means an average purchase price of around $18,000, that needs to be factored in. Trace suggested a "cheapo" commuter car though, and that would typically entail a higher maintenence budget, along with cash up front.

I left out an important word, that would have helped explain better what I was trying to say. So I fixed it; "Depending on the commute it is not necessarily cost effective to own and maintain two vehicles". Ones persons commute maybe less than 10 miles. Others commute over a 100 miles a day. We always need to do an ROI before purchasing any major product. For long term or short term...

With that said I commute all over the Bay Area in an '06 Prius with HOV (Carpool Solo!) stickers for CA, and my truck remains parked mostly. Worth every penny.

I should say that I am married and very mechanical, so having a third set of wheels allows me to do up to 100% of all maintenance and repairs. This cuts the cost of ownership down significantly on all our vehicles.

I'm with Trace on that one. Maintenance probably doesn't get as high as $200 a year, just oil changes, which are maybe $7 apiece done myself. Oh, I put on new brakes up front myself(first replacements) at 85k to the tune of $50. Rear drums still have 50% life!

Car is a 1999 Nissan Sentra. I paid $4800. Using my math, I'll have it paid for in savings over three years, and it will still be worth $3000 or $3500 at that point. Sure, it may need an alternator or starter someday, but this car is so simple, things are pretty cheap. I'm sold on the idea, at least for the number of miles I drive.

(Message edited by etakk7 on June 22, 2007)

Erik. I hear you man.

I have a 2007 Chevy Silverado 4-Door that I have had since November and it only has 3200 miles on it. I only drive it on the weekends and use it to pull my boat to and from the lake as well.

I drive 100 miles per day to and from work so I bought a 4 cylinder 97 Nissan hard body pickup on Craigslist for $2,000. Sure the horn doesn't work and it has a crack in the windshield but who cares. I've had it for almost two years and the only thing I have done to it is change the oil. 170K, 27 miles per gallon, and running strong. Keeps the miles off my full size truck which greatly slows depreciation, plus saves me fuel cost.

There are probably many people on here that would gladly pay $1500 a year to drive a nice vehicle and many more drive Bimmers and other luxury cars, that cost even more.

Personally I would not own a vehicle with over 100K, or a commute vehicle that does not have satellite radio, and bluetooth integration for my phone (Safety/convenience). Well and a navigation system too. Climate control would weight in pretty heavy also. The car needs to handle pretty good as well. Currently my commute vehicle with 36K miles on it and over a year and a half old is worth what I paid for it, if not more. Plus I got a $3000 tax credit for buying a hybrid. Most would consider it a smart move, especially with the HOV stickers. Everyones situation is different.

If you are doing $7.00 oil changes let me know how please. I get all my parts at wholesale or jobber and pay over double that per service + my time. It is great that your guys are doing most of your own service, but you are few and far between.

After being in the automotive field for more than 17 years, I have never seen a vehicle that can be driven year after year for $200 a year, once the warranty is gone. Things eventually fail, and for most it is a trip to their auto shop or the dealership at a minimum of a $100 an hour + parts. Repairing your own vehicles these days is gone. Try pulling the driver or passenger seat, on a new car, and putting it back in and let me know what happens. You will need a scanner with air bag capabilities to reset the system. Tail lights or interior lights go out? Get your scan tool out, and not a generic unit either. Many vehicles today require a scan tool, just to reset the service indicators.

Having just done intake gaskets, and other service work on a 1999 P30 last weekend, that only had 34k miles on it. I would have handed a customer at least a $1200 bill. What most people do not realize is dealerships make more money through their back door, then by selling vehicles out the front door.

Aaron D wrote, "Sure the horn doesn't work and it has a crack in the windshield but who cares."

The police or vehicle inspector, depending on state of residence, would care, as they are both ticket able offenses. LOL The average windshield price is over $300 so add that into your budget.

My oil filter is roughly $2.50. Also, there is always a Sunday add with $0.97/quart name brand oil. I stock up when they go on sale. My car uses 3.5 quarts. As I said, roughly $7.

How much is my time worth exactly? I bill out to my clients at $175/hour but the partners at the firm get most of that and hand me an average salary. I'm certainly not too busy to spend 20 minutes and save $20 changing my own oil every 6 weeks or so. I do realize that I am in the minority here on Wakeworld though as far as throwing money around, but I can proudly say that my boat and three cars are all paid for with cash too, which I attribute to saving $20 any chance I can.

Also, it is true that things will eventually fail. I won't keep the car forever, when things start to fail I'll either sell the car or make a decision to fix them and drive it into the ground.

I agree with you about the complications of wrenching on a new car, but that is not what I'm talking about here. I'd gladly remove the seat on my Sentra and I wouldn't find much but some pocket change and maybe some Honey Nut Cheerios.

I run into very few situations that I've had to have something reset with a scan tool. The only time I can remember is when the master cylinder went out on a 96 Tahoe - couldn't bleed the ABS valve body without a scan tool.

I've pulled airbags 3 or 4 times to rebuild steering columns - follow the Chilton's manual - unhook the battery for a few minutes, and unplug it. The seat sensors are different?

I've rebuilt an electronic transmission, a/c, brakes, suspension, exhaust, emissions, electrical, etc etc etc. Maybe I've been lucky so far, but throwing codes really has never been much of a problem for me.

I drive a 93 Nissan pick up with 245k on it and it burns no oil and runs strong. Even the a/c still works like a new one. It has been in the family for years and has never had anything done to it that cost over $200 bucks. I guess i am the exception to the rule. Or maybe just lucky.
It was repainted a few years ago but that is cosmetic.

I think most cars will go 200k these days without major problems if they are maintained. I put 245K on a 92 Camaro of all things, with no problems worse than starter, alternator, stuff like that. I sold that car in 2002 or 3, and I still miss it.

itll tow pretty much anything fine , just keep it in third otherwise youll replace the tranny every 75k miles, i drove my boat with a 97 2 door with no problems but they are notorious(towing or not) for needing the transmissions replaced, do yourself a favor and install a secondary transmission cooler and youll never have a problem.