Whats the most youve towed with your Astro/Safari Van?

[K-TRON]

Just as the title says, lets see what your Astro/Safari has pulled!

I am an engine collector, so im always hauling antique engines/machinery all across the east coast.

Two weeks ago I made a 1400mile round trip in my 97' Safari van (4.3/auto/AWD) - from Huntington, NY to Whitmore Lake, MI to fetch a 2405lb Hall-Scott gasoline engine. I also had a 750lb Maxim snowblower in the back of the van, a 200lb Wagner repulsion start induction run motor, and about 500lbs in tools/spare tires, trip supplies, etc etc. The van averaged 19mpg unloaded up, and 14mpg loaded back, at 70mph. Im honestly impressed, I was real skeptical of the van getting the job done as Ive never pulled that much that long of a distance before! Prior to the trip, I picked up a full size spare wheel/tire for the van, changed transmission oil, and greased up the front end. The engine burned about 1/2 quart of oil over the long trip. I had my foot buried in the floor to get through the mountains with the windows down and heat blaring on full! After this trip, im looking at replacing the rear leaf springs...




Enjoy the pics, Lets see some of yours!

Chris

[Leeann_93]

Pulled my Jeep Liberty from Michigan to Maryland in February (2 yrs ago) with snow and crosswinds. Except for the longest inclines without switchbacks on the MD side, I kept up with tractor-trailer traffic. The trailer's over 2000 lbs and the Jeep's over 4000; total load was about 6400 lbs. the Astro was empty except for the second-row seat, which I had folded and all the way forward.

[thegreenmachine]

I towed a skid steer about 90km, but at the time I thought the van had a 15,000lbs capacity.

Showed up at the diesel mechanic and he was shocked to say the least. He informed me of the trailer weight ( 4600lbs ) and the machine weight ( 11,000 lbs ).

Needless to say that. Was the last time I did that.

[deleteitall]

I've had my Astro towed 3 times. Beat that. Coincidentally, I've had the fuel pump replaced 3 times. Maybe I need to cut a hole in the floor.

Oh, wait...

... um, no tow hitch. Zero lbs on that. I lose. Again.

[Leeann_93]

Forgot to add: I got 12.5 mpg for the trip, tranny in 3 and Tow/Haul activated. I did not bury my foot on the long grades; I let the van slow rather than push the tranny or engine. I didn't use any oil on the trip.

I had changed the oil/filter and installed a new belt and tensioner along with a severe-duty fan clutch prior to the trip. Outside temp got up to 32° when I got into MD but was in the 20s for PA, OH and MI. Engine temp never rose above normal.

[dvil]

As mentioned here before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVyKS9OQys

[SilverBullet1997]

[highlight=][/highlight]

I towed a skid steer about 90km, but at the time I thought the van had a 15,000lbs capacity.

Showed up at the diesel mechanic and he was shocked to say the least. He informed me of the trailer weight ( 4600lbs ) and the machine weight ( 11,000 lbs ).

Needless to say that. Was the last time I did that.

No wonder why you just replaced your tranny.....

I've towed a boat 17' aluminum, a trailer with at and 14 foot empty aluminum boat on top of trailer, a few downed trees from the road....

[jrsride2002]

For me, I towed another Astro...



Gross weight was 11,160 lbs for both Astro's and trailer. Weighed it at a local truck stop.

~Junior

[Cologne]

As mentioned here before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIVyKS9OQys

That was incredible! ! Lol wow. Defenatly has the power. I guess.

[Meterpig]

Going is rarely the problem....it's the stopping.

[K-TRON]

A few weeks ago we picked up an Oliver 70 farm tractor, weighing in around 6500lbs. With the new heavy duty leaf springs and Timbren bump stops the ride was nice and smooth. The van accelerated and decelerated okay, but I was only driving with the transmission in 1 & 2. Luckily the trip was only about 7 miles, ~30mph top speed.



Chris

[Fishon621]

A lot smaller then all the other posts, but the van pulled our new boat home today like it wasn't even there.

[AstroGoat]

A lot smaller then all the other posts, but the van pulled our new boat home today like it wasn't even there.

That has me beat, the largest towed load that my Astro has carried is a 14 foot v-hull fishing boat. Unfortunately the bearings in one of the wheels gave out on the trailer so it made a 35 mile trip last almost 9 hours, with how hard the bearing was jammed on the axle.

[BlipOnTheRadar]

1974 Lincoln Town Car, 460 big block under hood, two core engines, one core transmission, two small 4 wheelers, an engine hoist, and all the recovery gear i needed to pull said Lincoln from behind a barn and get it onto the 18', two axle trailer. pulled that load from near Jasper Ar, to DFW Texas. It was slow, but it did the job.

[WimpTech]

WOW, I still can't get over the Astro pulling a FRICKIN LOADED CAR CARRIER!

Yeah, most I did was using my Astro (BatVan) to tow home the new Safari (TK421) on a dolly about 350 miles.. pffft not a problem!
#astro4LYFE

[astrometalvan]

A lot smaller then all the other posts, but the van pulled our new boat home today like it wasn't even there.

I can't beat anybody's records, but your boat looks a lot like my 21' Sea Ray Seville

I have pulled it with our 96 Astro a few times and it did very well. No problems at the ramp, even with 3.42 rear gears and tall tires.
It was something my regular/short S10 2.8 5 speed 3.42 could not come close to doing.
My S10 was good at pulling my Dad's little boat:

My Sea Ray is the biggest thing I have towed with our Astros...yet!

[Captn.Crunch]

I don’t know if this qualifies as towing but a buddy of mine was delivering clean fill to fill a hole in my back yard. He backed his mason dump too far back and his rear wheels sunk into the edge of the hole. He dumped his load but was stuck. He looked at me with a smirk as I backed my van up to pull him out. We hooked up the tow strap and on his signal we both mashed the happy pedals. Remember my 99 was equipped with twin torsens and Wrangler AT’s. I’ve put my van in some tuff spots but this was the hardest I’d ever pushed it. I had the pedal to the floor and it just sat down and DUG!
All four wheels were spinning, the 4.3 was howling and the dump truck was crawling out of the hole. It was only ten seconds or so but I could feel the torque transfer, how it grabbed, how there was no wheel hop-no misplacement of power placement-it was sooo very cool!
Like I said it probably doesn’t count as towing but it is a glimpse of what these vans have in them when pushed

[Mmusicman]

I've towed a few things:

Most I've towed is a 5000 lb lift slightly uphill in soft sand.
Here's a slightly different video than the one I usually post...



Getting a little assistance with AWD before I upgraded to the 4x4:

I've also towed this 2 1/2 ton lift all over South Florida (3 counties) many times, many locations

Sometimes towing this lift takes me to great locations:

Cool view:

One of the first things I towed with my 2000:

Towing sound equipment with my 92:

I've also "towed" my 92 with my 2000 using a chain...lol
And of course my favorite thing to tow!
Every year to N.Carolina from South Florida for the past 8 years..

It's a slow day here in South Florida with Hurricane Dorian 100 miles off our coast
(it's been stalled here for days destroying the Bahamas..waiting for it to turn north)..
so I thought I'd share a couple photos.

This morning:

Weather Hurricane Dorian 300.jpg (49.43 KiB) Viewed 1752 times

Last night:

Weather Hurricane Dorian 190902.jpg (41.49 KiB) Viewed 1749 times

[petema]

This may be considered pulling instead of towing, of course. I was about to give up when the idea of using the Astro as a tractor suddenly appeared on my mind.

This piece of rock was at least 6-700 pounds and well stuck in the ground. Pulled a little with the Astro, then yanked it out with the 2 by 4`s.

[Rinny]

over 8000 pounds