Why is my tow rating so lame?

[AnotherWs6]

Originally Posted by special-K

The fact is, you can toss all those ratings out the window and haul anything that fits in that Longhorn and it will get it there. No marketing stategy involved, just a truck you can load to the snubbers and get on down the road. That's what trucks did before truck wars in auto marketing. The new trucks will break when overloaded, too. I've seen beds wanting to fall apart from hauling in newer trucks. These old truck just say thank yu for making me work so hard. New trucks are also much heavier empty. Also, I've never heard of a spring going up through the bed due to a busted spring hanger on one of these trucks, but have on newer ones. Quite a few in fact. Back in the day you got a bigger truck for these bigger loads. Now, if hauling all they claim they can, you are required to run through the scales, register at the higher GVW, and are restricted from many roads and bridges with a 5t limit. The roads and trucks have been built to the 5t standard. Back then, only dual rear 1Ts had to hit the scales or fall under the scrutiny of DOT. Now it looks like most all are technically required. Screw that! Better not be looking loaded to capacity next time you run by a scale.

I had a spring hanger let loose on my 2000 Silverado a few years ago basically due to rust. Sounded like a shotgun went off and then the truck was leaning funny. Drove it the last few miles to work and then 20 miles home that night with the spring end resting under the bottom of the bed which it dented LIGHTLY.

New trucks are built like brick S-houses compared to old ones. 1,500 pounds worth of junk in the back of the bed is no problem brake, power or handling wise.

The amount of things I have hauled in 310,000 miles is a extensive. Including loaded car trailers with no brakes hookd up. And I'll pull steep hills at near 3,500 in 3rd to cruise along at highway speed for miles on end, over and over. I don't think I'd load up my Suburban with well over half a ton of people and equipment, strap a trailer to it and expect it to perform the same. It would be a ridiculous thing to do.

Liking old trucks is fine. I imagine we all do. Saying new ones are no good because we ONLY drive old trucks is not a fair thing to say.

And like a couple of people have commented on already, just look at the frame of a new truck versus an old one. I was shocked to see how rinky-dinky the frame on my Suburban was after having been working on my Silverado for more than a decade.

Nothing to be proud of, but I rear-ended a car during a snow storm 7 or 8 years ago. It was a Jeep SUV actually, traffic had stopped on a long off ramp. I buckled the quarters on the jeep, pushed it into the car ahead which ruined the back of that car and the front of the Jeep. Me? Dent in my steel bumper. It's still there, right in the middle. Just bought a new license plate frame, straightened the plate out - DONE. No other repair needed. My Suburban would be in sorry, sorry shape had I been driving it.