Towing capacity: Chevy 350

[steelman ny]

Sent: 10/2/2004 8:30 AM


does anyone tow a car with a chevy 350 engine?? my book says don't tow anything??

[denisondc]

Sent: 10/2/2004 2:56 PM


I am sure you could tow a light car in some circumstances, or a boat trailer, also light; but the engine isnt the only factor, probably not the most important either. You need to think about the stopping power of your brakes, the transmission and cooling system, and what and where you will be towing ? including the tow weight and the tongue weight, and how the hitch will be connected to the frame.
If you live in flat country and will only be towing a boat to and from a lake in your state, that?s one thing. If you want to tow a 4000 lb. car or a car trailer, all the time back and forth across the rockies or the adirondacks, that?s different, and I wouldn?t advise it; even with brakes connected in the tow vehicle. In most states you are required to have brakes on the towed vehicle if it weighs over 3000 lbs, controllable by the driver.
Its possible the book says not to tow anything because the end of the frame isn?t designed for the stress. On my 72 winny the Dodge frame has been extended, with a 4 ft length of channel iron welded onto the end. A butt weld. I added a hitch at the back of mine, but I don?t plan to put much tongue weight on it. The most I have towed was a 470 lb. tow dolly with a 2100 lb. car on it. If I were going to put 400-500 lbs of tongue weight back there, I would probably want to add a channel iron brace that ran up along the frame rails on each side, for 2 or 3 feet of overlap beside the original frame, and were well bolted. I would think decent braces would weigh about 100 lbs for the pair.
I don?t know what transmission yours has, but I assume it is an automatic? The turbo 400? You would want to know that it was in good condition; and in any event I would advise adding a good sized auxiliary transmission cooler, and a transmission temperature gauge ? if you were going to be towing anything at all.
I don?t think the extra strain on the 350 will be a big issue, assuming your cooling system is in good shape. Even when not towing, I consider it important to be certain your radiator is clean. I do this by removing the thing and having it cleaned, and doing it again after about 8 years. If you are going to be towing something, it will be even more important to have a clean radiator; along with good radiator hoses, belts, water pump, etc.
And if you havent had the brakes apart, to clean out the wheel cylinder and examine the shoes/drums, and clean out the pistons in the caliper, and examine the pads/rotors, and check the master cylinder for seepage, then you are only guessing about how good your brake system is. Just like 99% of the other drivers.
You wont go up hills as fast as some folks with bigger power plants, but then some people tow with rigs powered by the 318 engine.

[FullGreyhound]

Sent: 10/4/2004 4:18 PM

Hi...

Another factor is the gear set up in the rear end, you can pull a lot with a high enough gear, my 350 Chev pickup pulls my mobile home very well here in the North west but it had the trailering package to do it! My friend had a pickup without a hauling package and thought he was going to blow up his engine running sown the Oregon coast with a rig lighter than mine!

Just a thought

[pwf16129]

Reply on: February 20, 2011, 10:57

run a 350 in my four wheel drive 3/4 ton truck with a turbo 400  and 3.73 gears have been towing with it for 12 years have been up to 19,200 lbs gross a couple of times generally stay around 16,000 lbs normally  never had a problem but is in good condition even with 250,000 miles but you need to keep everything up to snuff, you will be a little slower but it will do the job 

[jkilbert]

Reply on: February 21, 2011, 07:44 AM

with the right gears, transmission , etc you can tow just about anything. i remember seeing a guy towing a 31ft park model with a '66 chevy carry-all inline 6 with a 3spd manual. both dad and my pap towed trailers with suburbans with 350's in then bid diff was pap's had 3.73 gears dads had 2.73's. pap's did alot better on hills and such. both of the 'burbs were 1978's. also, don't forget that because of the gas crunch, EPA fuel economy regs v-8's of that era are notoriously anemic when it comes to making horsepower. a 350 chevy was lucky to make 140hp. the new 6.2l (388 cid) make over 300hp and get better fuel economy than the old 350's

[Thomas Budzowski]

Reply on: August 10, 2011, 03:19 AM

I just made a journey from Pennsylvania to Arizona with my D19 with dodge 360 towing a 20 foot enclosed trailer of at least 7,000 pounds.  I have a 4 barrel and headers and reinforced the frame splice.  While I was in AZ, I installed an Airlift kit on the rear axle an it made for much better handling on the way home.