Towing with a four cylinder truck

[Olebiker]

I have a 1999 Mazda B2500 with a four cylinder engine. Right now I fish out of a 12 foot jon boat that is no problem to tow.

My Dad passed away back in December and I can have his old 17 foot Tracker Tournament TX if I want it. It is in Louisville, KY and I am in Tallahassee, FL.

Would that boat be too much to tow with my truck? If I rented a bigger truck and towed it back to Tallahassee, would I mess up my old truck just towing the Tracker around here locally?

Dick Durbin

[TopDog]

You should be fine!  Not ideal, but a 17 foot tracker is not that heavy.

Sorry about your Dad :-[

[josh]

you'll be fine towing that. I tow a 2700 lb fiberglass rig with my 2001 s10 2.2 liter that i bought new, and it has 165,000 miles on it, with nothing more than front ball joints, timing chain at 100k, oil changes, and other routine maintenence.

Even better if its a 5 speed, but if its an auto, before you think of towing with it, install an external transmission oil coiler, and tow it in drive, not overdrive.

[HPBB]

you should be fine. That tracker isn't that heavy and you don't have many hills down there. You will notice that you go through breaks faster, but that is with any small truck.

I Live in Pittsburgh and its all hills, and some of my favorate lakes are in the mountains. I had a 1988 GMC S-15 ( same as a Chevy S-10) 2.5L 4 Banger with a 5speed, and towed a 14 foot starcraft, and a 16 foot tracker around with no problem, then I bought a 17'6 sea Nymph deep V( its a heavy boat). The truck wasn't fast with the bigger boat in tow ( rearly got into 5th grear and over 60mph on the highway) and didn't pull the hills that good, but it pulled it. I even took it on a 1400 mile round trip to cananda. I only towed with it for one year then moved up to v6 S-10 ( now V8 Tahoe) if it wasn't for the hills I would have used that 4banger longer

a Freind used to pull a 17' Lowe ( very similer to the tracker) with a 2.2L S-10 and had no problems with it

[DMB Fan]

Sorry to hear about your father. You need to get that boat to home, there's no better way to remember your father than spending it with him every time you go fishing.  You should be fine pulling the boat. I'm pulling a 18' Ranger w/ an '95 4 cyclinder 5 speed w/148,000. The hills kill me and the highway's are a joke no more than 60 mph.  If you pull it back make sure you give yourself a little more time than you expect it to take. AAA is always a good thing to have.

[Olebiker]

You boys have just about talked me into it.  

About my Dad: When I was a teenager my Dad and I had no interests in common and barely spoke to each other.  We both took up bass fishing at about the same time, and those days in the boat together became the catalyst for developing a friendship that lasted until the day he died.

My avatar is a picture of Dad with the biggest bass he ever caught, 9 pounds and 8 ounces out of Lake Jackson here in Tallahassee.  He released it.

[RobDar]

It is great you got to be freinds with your dad. Proof again that fishing is soooo much more than just throwing a shiny thing in the water.

You should be fine towing that boat with that truck. That Madza is actually a good stout little truck. My brother in law does some things with his Ranger ( same truck) that you would never think he should, but it does everything he asks it to. He just hauled an old cast iron furnace with brick lining from a job that weighed a crap load more than that boat does and it did fine.

my mechanic would likely suggest a tranny cooler and to keep an eye on all the fluids etc.