Oops...looked at GVWR instead of curb weight, so my Scrambler will be more
like 3500-3600, not 4500.
-Rodney
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rodney Lewis [mailto:rlewis@nicorenergy.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 8:15 AM
> To: 'dakota-truck@buffnet.net'
> Subject: DML: Towing...Should I smack my salesman?
>
>
> Well, I finally sorta joined the family yesterday...signed
> the next 5 years
> of my life away for a 2001 Durango SLT. It's got the 4.7 and 3.55
> gears...this dealer doesn't buy *any* with the 3.92's. They
> also heavily
> package them so that if you want a 5.9, then you have to pay
> through the
> nose since it's packaged with the leather interior, et al.
> Here's the issue:
> This vehicle was selected as a replacement for my full-size
> conversion van
> which gets some towing use with a car trailer and my Jeep CJ-7. I'll
> eventually be buying a car trailer instead of renting to haul
> the Jeep CJ-8
> Scrambler trail beast that I'm building. This Durango didn't
> have the tow
> package (the higher buck ones did) and in the process of
> price haggling I
> got the hitch thrown in, but the salesman insists that I
> don't need the
> tranny cooler (says to just switch off the OD) which I think
> is a load of
> bunk (I'll install one myself or have it done elsewhere since
> *I'll* be the
> one paying for a dead trans). He also quoted me the towing
> capacity which
> turned out to be (as I found out later while reading the
> owner's manual) for
> the 3.92 gears, not the 3.55's and said that that was with a
> 600lb. payload
> (again, wrong according to the manual which allows for only
> the weight of
> the driver). For those of you that tow, have you found these
> capacities to
> be hard & fast rules, or is there a fair 'fudge factor'
> involved? I'm not
> sure what a typical 16' steel tandem axle car hauler weighs,
> and my guess
> would be that my Scrambler will tip the scales at close to
> 4500 which by
> itself is over the tow rating...add to that another 160 for
> my wife & son,
> another 200 or so for tools & such and I think I may be in
> for some trans
> problems down the road. I'll definitely be expressing my
> displeasure to the
> salesman since the first words out of my mouth were "It's got
> to have the
> tow package and AC and I'll be towing very close to the upper
> limits of the
> Durango's tow rating...probably need a 5.9 but I don't think
> the 4.7 is too
> far off when properly equipped" and now I have a vehicle that
> isn't even
> rated high enough to flat tow my Scrambler (no way I'd even
> consider doing
> that). What are your opinions (feel free to b*tch slap me for
> believing a
> salesman)? Make him throw in a tranny cooler? Make him pay
> for a gear swap?
> Make him swap me out for a 5.9 (about a $3-4k price difference due to
> packaging) model?
>
> -Rodney
>
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