On Jan 23, 1:24 pm, wrote:
On Jan 23, 12:37 pm, Gene Kearns



wrote:
On Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:40:09 -0800 (PST), Frogwatch penned the
following well considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats:

|My new Nissan Frontier supposedly has a 6600 lb towing capacity.
|However, it seems to take a while to accelerate when towing my Tolman
|(with trailer prob weighs less than 2500 lbs). The old Dodge
|Ramcharger towed it effortlessly (318 cu in engine). I dont have
|enough experience with towing to evaluate this.

Well, let's compare.....

Ramcharger:
318 Cu. In.
155 HP @ 4000 RPM
255 Ft Lbs @ 2000 RPM
3.55 Axle Ratio (maybe 3.90)
2116RPM @ 55 MPH (assumes 1:1 transmission/Xfer case and 31" tires)

Oriental POS:
241 Cu. In.
261 HP @ 5600 RPM
281 Ft Lbs @ 4000 RPM
3.12 Axle Ratio (I think)
1890RPM @ 55 MPH (assumes 1:1 transmission/Xfer case and 30" tires)

So, as you see, Nissan attempts to maximize fuel mileage by turning
ridiculously low RPMs while forcing the (too small) engine to create
(needed) towing horsepower and torque through ridiculously high engine
RPMs. In short, you won't see that torque need for towing except at
4000 RPM.

So..... your only recourse is to drop the tranny into at least one
gear lower than you want to or change the axle(s) ratio to one more
suited to trailering.

I would imagine you could get an external plug in engine/tranny
controller and program in what you need or use a preset probably
included in the package. I have never used one, but I have seen ads
for them and from what I can tell, no reason they wouldn't help...

Gene:

Makes sense except I dont normally need the V8 of the Dodge when I am
not towing. Maybe I'll keep the Dodge for local towing and use the
Nissan for long distance where I will need to accelerate less (fewer
stops/mile).