Would you tow with an Astro if you had the choice?

[geoff]

I know a lot of people tow significant loads with their Astros/Safaris. I need to replace my tow vehicle and I'm not a fan of big vehicles and an Astro would be plenty large enough. I tow an 18 foot dual axle enclosed car trailer (probably 2000-2500lb?) with a 2200lb race car and about 100-200lb of extra wheels/tires plus a few hundred pounds of tools and spare parts in the tow vehicle. I live in New Hampshire and there are a significant amount of hills on the back roads that I need to go on to get to some of the places I go. I tow all over New England and will probably be going all over the north east as well. I've towed the race car on a Uhaul open deck trailer before using a '99 Blazer (same drivetrain as an the Astro). I don't know what the rear axle ratio was but it did fairly well though it was sort of slow on long hills. I of course would take all the precautions if I were to chose an Astro (inspect hitch points before, get a wight distributing hitch, brake controller, replace trans fluid with Amsoil synthetic, big tranny cooler, etc.). I know people tow that kind of weight with their Astros but if you were to buy a used vehicle just for towing would you stay with Astros or go bigger/tougher?

Thanks!

[skippy]

If it were me , i'd change out my gears to 4.10's also . other than that looks like your on the right track . go with the biggest tranny cooler you can, it will only help .

[Gary]

When you walk the pits at the race track,how many Astro's do you see doing what you suggest you want to do??.Will it do it-sure,but will it do it with a comfort zone-no.The main thing is the frontal area of the enclosed trailer.Then there is the question of a wt limit.Astro's are about 5 grand to 5500.That is with load bars and all.Your a shade beyond that.I guess If it where me-I would buy a larger tow something.Just be reasonable with a safety margin in mind.

[geoff]

yeah, I should probably go with something more capable. I'm looking at a '93 C30 van with a 6.2 Diesel... Pretty much the same torque and about 40hp less than an Astro.

I don't see any Astros at tracks because I don't race at tracks, the scenery gets boring

But we in the US are kind of wimps when it comes to what vehicle can tow certain loads. When I was in Europe last summer there were small cars towing travel trailers (VW Golf with probably a 15' trailer), cars towing cars on flatbed trailers (Volvo 240 towing a Volvo 240 on a trailer, SAAB 9000 towing a SAAB 9000 on a trailer), Mercedes pulling dual horse trailers etc... Of course, its more comforting to be towing with a more capable vehicle.

[afsigma21]

Is comfort an issue? If it is, then consider an Astro.

How many passengers? that is a huge factor as well.

I have an Expedition, rated to tow 8000lbs and it tows my 23' camper just fine, but it is a horrible ride for anything more than 150 miles with 5 people.

[chops]

If it were me , i'd change out my gears to 4.10's also . other than that looks like your on the right track . go with the biggest tranny cooler you can, it will only help .

shippy skippy skippy you forgot to mention the V8!

gary arent you building your astro to pull a enclosed trailer and what not.

in all sence Ive towed with mine a s10 pickup on a uhaul trailer with no problems lil slow up long hills but other than that no problems and the vans engine was on its way out at the time!

[Gary]

If it were me , i'd change out my gears to 4.10's also . other than that looks like your on the right track . go with the biggest tranny cooler you can, it will only help .

shippy skippy skippy you forgot to mention the V8!

gary arent you building your astro to pull a enclosed trailer and what not.

in all sence Ive towed with mine a s10 pickup on a uhaul trailer with no problems lil slow up long hills but other than that no problems and the vans engine was on its way out at the time!

Yeah-this trailer which is only a 6x8 and 2500lbs fully loaded.Ole Yellar will be a V8 too.

[ript43]

Hi everyone,

I know this is an old post,yet I 'll share my towing experiences with a '94 2WD Astro w/ 4.3 TBI, 3.42 rear end. I towed a 24 ft travel trailer weighing in around 5000#. My first experience was hairy. I didn't have adequate tires, (I recommend a sturdy LT tire), and I don't believe I had the`weight distributing hitch properly adjusted for the van, though the trailer and van sat level...I had small helper coil springs in the rear,those may have contributed to the instability, but I'm not sure. The first trek out (650 plus miles) !!! I blamed the sway and and poor handling on the tires. The van, power wise, seemed adequate for the weight. But I was hauling on fairly level terrain for the most part.

Still convinced this van could and would handle the job, I bought Toyo light truck tires. Heavier side walls I figured was the ticket to stop the sway. Second trek... The van handled considerably better. But still there was a slight sway at speed. Not as hair raising but still there. I went through much hillier terrain this time ..Pennsylvania. The van did ok, though long hills were slow. It wasn't intil I got to one of my destinations that really showed the limitations of my beloved Astro. I had to tow up a very steep incline without any running start. The torque converter stalled half way up the hill and the hill was getting steeper. I was on paved road. And when I say steep, it was greater than a 10% grade. I had to be towed up the remainder of the hill. I do think if I had been able to get a run on the hill I 'd have made it. But just torqueing it up that grade didn't happen. For straight forward towing over the road I'd say staying 4000# and lighter you'd be okay. 5000# leaves little or no room for error or comfort. I went to a 1ton Dodge van w/5.9l V8 w/3.91 gears. A much better vehicle suited to towing that trailer. Shoulda bought a Chevy though ...Dodge trannies blow.

[Nm12tbird]

Hello

I use my 94 Safari to haul my oval track race car. Open trailer. Short range mostly flat road conditions.
5 tires, Many parts Tools box all go into the Van.
Plus Jack & 4 Jack stands.

Paul

[lmo]

I used my 93 AWD Astro with 3.73 gears to pull a 20ft travel trailer (4,000lbs) for 1 season around Calgary (3,500ft elevation).

I always knew the grade of the road and the direction the wind was blowing.

At best it was passable. At worst, climbing any kind of slope and/or going into a head wind, it was brutal. I switched to a G30 van, then a 2500 4wd suburban (vehicles that will seat 6 comfortably and the suburban will go in the snow).

I still have the Astro, I love it, but it is getting long in the tooth. The rational side of me says it is time to say goodbye to an old friend, while the sentimental side says that with a little work (ok, more than a little) it would have a few more years left in it.

[Big_kid]

My Astro just pulled a popup camper, 5 of us and all our assorted stuff on a 400 mile trip with no trouble. We started out flat, ended up in the mountains, and got 18.88 MPG.

[Mr_Bowtie]

I would definatly pull stuff with my Astro.

[astro355]

The only thing I haul with my astro is my a$$.

[MVMan]

this is my second Astro/Safari to use towing. The first was a 1988 Astro which I towed a 27 foot Starcraft travel trailer which I towed for 6 years and over 50,000 miles with no problems. The 2005 Safari I just purchased and am now installing brake controller to start pulling my 22 foot Prowler travel trailer. I have found the Astro/Safari to be a great tow rig if you use correct class hitch for your load and do not exceed the gross weight of the van / trailer combo.

[MVMan]

I know it has been a while, but here is the photo of my 2005 Safari and the 2002 22 ft. Prowler TT I tow.

[MVMan]

Skippy, there is a 5.30 gear set on the market for the Astro/Safari rear end if you really want the max tow power for the buck.

[Phantom]

Nice looking camper ,

5.30 gears ? gonna need alotta bucks for the gas it will be drinkin

[MVMan]

I put 5.30's in my 1988 with a cat back and a towing chip, running with out the 27 ft. tt I still got around 18, the good side is with towing the trailer it went to 13.8 to 14 on cruise at about 57 mph

[astroturf]

I know it has been a while, but here is the photo of my 2005 Safari and the 2002 22 ft. Prowler TT I tow.

MVMan,

Do you run any kind of Timbren or Air bag set up in the back?

Thanks, Jim

[jeephunter16]

Homemade sled trailer with 2 sleds and a back full of tools and usually 6 passengers. As soon as I get mine back on the road I'm going to try and hook the BIg Tex trailer and see what happens, I have a felling the front wheels are going to come off the ground haha