i have decided to not ruin my truck but to just buy another rig to tow,,, i am thinking about a 93 on up landcruiser. It should have no problems.

For what it's worth, when I was a like 7 till I was 13, my dad used to tow our 17' boston whaler about 300 miles to the outter banks. Coolers, chairs, food, etc. in the back as well. Not many hills but we had no probs with the carby 87' 22r. Actually, he would pass people on some of the then 2 lane roads. Trailer brakes would have been nice though.

The issue is weight. You can have a small boat and trailer that weigh 1000#'s and it's no big deal to tow it. You could also have a boat that isn't terribly long, but with a thick hull, big V-8 engine, and a heavy trailer, as well as coolers and gear is over 4000#, which is a problem.

I've heard recomendations that you should look at the the recomended max tow weight of a vehicle, and plan to tow a load that is 50-80% of that rating, and that seems prudent to me.

What is the max tow weight of a 87 toy 4x4 with a 22 re. Is there a place where i can even look that up?

Here is my answer

Must be the Drawtite that stiffens it up.It looks like they put additional steel plates on the outside of the frame as well.
Pretty stout bieng bolted to the frame in six places.
I was going to remove it now that the boat is gone but it looks like it might be a good starting point for a "real" bumper. That chrome tin can from the factory is pathetic and the mounts look just as flimsy.


Sold the boat to Earl and rebuilt to motor. No more towing for this rig, V8 is in order if I do it again. Too much wear on the brakes and replacing the trans was $pendy.

I am using part of a DrawTite hitch to hold my rear bumper on. The frame still flexes more than I like in the very back, and I even beefed it up a bit with rectangular tubing! I would run the rectangular tubing up further in the frame rails if I had it to do over, or run more tubing beneath the rails, but that would be tedious work.

The DrawTite is what caused the rail damage I referenced above. Came with the truck.

if you put better brakes on the truck its just going to make it so the truck can lock up the tires easier... its not going to help it stop. you understand? i have read in the boston whaler forum about a guy who towed a 22ft boat with a cherokee (lord i appologize for that word on this forum <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> ) and when he got on the brakes for a yellow light, his boat pushed his truck (with all 4 tires locked up) right through an intersection... just the momentum of the boat.
id say get one of them electronic brakin systems fo tha trailer this way you can use them to stop the truck.

http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/trailerbrakes/trailerbrakes_ele.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KODI...073QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

keep us posted! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />