i have a 1st gen 22re 5-speed and have a question about towing. i've never towed anything before (heavier than a jet-ski) and don't really know how much my truck can handle. just today i recieved a free 93 dodge spirit from my girlfriends father, who just wanted it off his property. it doesn't run and hasn't in about a year. her dad says that it needs a new radiator, which is cake. anyways though, i'm gonna need to tow it (with MY truck and a car dolly) to either my college house (45 minutes away) or back home (3 hours away) because it doesn't work. is my little 22re gonna be able to handle it ok?

by the way, after i pop a radiator and new battery on there i'm gonna have a 1993 v6 dodge spirit for sale. let me know if you're interested.

 

You have a reasonable amount of torque with that engine so as long as you don't have any mountain passes I woul not wory about pulling something every once in a while.

 

The heaviest I have towed with my rig (93 pickup 22re 5spd) is a 1970 VW Bug for about 1/4 mile but it was better than I expected. I would plan farther in advance for stopping, and leave a larger buffer zone in front especially, and make the trip after 8:00 in the evening for less traffic.

 

You've got adequate power to pull with, just beware of braking. 3000 lbs seems to be the magic number that separates an easy tow from a hard one with the 1st gen 22re trucks in my experience.

 

well, i'm in southern michigan so i don't think i need to worry about too many mountain passes. but if i come across any i'll just go around them. haha

 

I'm with Foxtrapper. With my 4cyl 85 4runner I pulled my sailboat (3000 pounds on the trailer) over the mountains in Oregon regularly for years. Power really wasn't bad, just be really aware of stopping distances. I once pulled an old heavy 23 foot travel trailer for a lady who bought it (favor for a friend) and really turned heads, but I didn't have to go far and it was foolish. Equalizer hitch made it possible but it wasn't smart.
I've towed broken full sized 4x4s out of the mountains and all the way to town numerous times (they HATE that but a tow is a tow!) and had no problems at all.

 

what about the tranny? this may be a bad comparison, but one of my buddies who had a fairly new v6 blazer with an auto tranny had a LOT of tranny issues because he pulled a 17 foot boat every now and then. granted, blazer tranny's are crap, but i still gotta ask.

 

This one has a manual tranny, so that's no problem. I don't have towing experience with the earlier automatics, so I can't say if they are ok with it or not. But then, any automatic builds up some heat towing, and having a good cooler is important.