I'm checking out tow ratings on trucks.
There's a pretty good deal on a '94 Nissan Pathfinder but I check the tow rating and it's only 3500lbs.
Then, out of curiousity, I check a '94 Nissan Pickup 2WD long bed. The tow rating on that truck is 5000lbs.
What gives? Same engine, trans, etc. In fact I don't know that there is any difference in the two short of wheelbase.
Could wheelbase affect the tow rating that much? Also, what if I tow 5k lbs with the Pathy? Would I be hanging my butt out in the breeze that far?
IIRC the 94 pathy is unibody and the truck is body on frame, which probably accounts for most of it. On top of that, the pathy probably weighs a thousand pounds more and has the same or smaller brakes and a softer rear end.
I wouldn't tow 5000 lbs with a 94 pathfinder... underpowered, underbraked, and under sprung. It wouldn't be fun even if you could argue it was safe enough.
I'll be that it has to do with the number of seat belts.
In the truck you could have two 200lb people inside (400lbs) and haul a lot of trailer load. In the Pathy you could have five 200lb people (1,000lbs.) Attempting to then haul the same trailer load would be much more taxing on the combined weight of vehicle, passengers and trailer load.
Or it could be unibody as noted above.
I do know that when the pathfinders went from the VG33 to the 3.5 dohc motor, the capacity stayed the same at 5,000 lbs, and in an article I read, the engineers said it was because the tow capacity was actually limited by the cooling capacity for the automatic and cooling system, not by the physical components.
and now that I think about this more, I'm guessing the truck probably has a different gear ratio out back, too. And that also has a lot to do with towing capacity.
I owned a '94 Nissan Pickup - SWB 4X4 Regular Cab.
The towing capacity was 3500#.
I towed a 3500# trailer with it a couple of times - it was scary.
The same trailer behind a F150 - you hardly noticed it was there.
according to wikipedia, 94 pathfinder was still body on frame. So I'm going to guess that if there is a difference its because of the additional weight of the SUV over the truck body, the softer suspension, and a difference in gear ratios.
At any rate, that vehicle was available with a ka24DE or a VG30E. I've owned vehicles with both motors. I wouldn't even THINK of towing a 5000lb trailer with either. The ka24de is a decent little four banger but its not going to be able to get 5000 lbs moving up a hill. the vg30e has more torque than hp and it only makes about 153 hp and 180 ft lbs. Yikes. I towed a 2000 lbs trailer with my suzuki vitara once and it was foot to the floor everywhere and not fun at all. the tail wagging the dog, etc.
I think the GVW that was mentioned earlier has something to do with it.
The pathy went to unibody in 96. Other than that, I'm really no help here at all.
Thanks for the info guys. I'm ignorant of towing and the details involved. I'll keep my cash in hand and wait for a better, or more appropriate, deal to come along.
