Towing big with the Path

Any topics related to 2005-2012 R51

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eluwak
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Location: Huntsville, AL, USA

Postby eluwak » Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:44 pm

disallow wrote:Pump them up to 45-50lbs and you will notice a big difference.
I'll keep that in mind for the next time 8)

For the trip home I modified the loading a bit and it helped.

Image

Somewhere in the last 50 miles the right rear tire of the trailer blew and I had no idea :shock:

edit: Oh yeah, I ended up towing in 3rd for most of the ~450 miles. There was too much downshifting with all the hills/mountains in TN. That said, I was absolutely stunned at how well the Path can tow!


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volvite
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Postby volvite » Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:07 pm

Nice set up.

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gear1975
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Postby gear1975 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:59 am

Here's my 2006 Pathy pulling my 19' boat. Seemed to pull it ok, but now that i'm looking at this pic, the back end looks like it's sagging a bit.

Didn't pull it far, and it seemed fine.

Image

I did end up cleaning that waterline off the hull though, it's shiny now! :D

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Oly 22
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Postby Oly 22 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:23 am

You should take a look at the Airlift 1000 or Firestone Coil-Rite 4166. Either one will look after your sagging problem in the rear. They are very popular with forum members.

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gear1975
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Postby gear1975 » Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:55 am

Awesome suggestion Oly 22! Thanks! I'll look into them.

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Oly 22
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Postby Oly 22 » Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:40 pm

No worries, Gear1975, I didn't know about them until I joined this forum. There is a lot of good ideas here. Because of what I read, I purchased a set and they stiffen up the rear, there is less body roll and my Pathy sits dead level, when I tow. For the money, IMHO, you can't go wrong.

allaboutfun
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Location: Nebraska

Towing

Postby allaboutfun » Thu Nov 01, 2012 12:24 pm

Been towing this bad-boy around for two years without any problems - It's around 5000 lbs. with the trailer and accessories. I just make sure my maintenance is up to date.
I'm new to this forum and I'm still trying to figure out how to post a picture??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz_HgL_dJUw

Calicajun
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Postby Calicajun » Sun Nov 04, 2012 10:30 pm

Picked up a 2012 PF two weeks ago and today we hooked it up to our tent trailer for a little test run. My trailer with cargo weighs about 1,400 lbs, not much of a load but it sure made my 2011 Honda Pilot work hard to pull the trailer. My PF pulled my trailer up the same hills and this time with no trouble at all, smooth, responsive and plenty of power. I'm real happy with how it tows.

Calicajun
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Postby Calicajun » Mon Sep 16, 2013 6:00 am

Anyone out there still towing with their PF? We are thinking of getting a larger camp trailer, something about 24 feet long and weighing about 4,200 pounds. Right now I get 21-23 MPG on the open road not towing and about 20 towing the small tent trailer we now have for camping. What kind of MPG is everyone getting towing larger trailers?

CPLTECH
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Postby CPLTECH » Mon Sep 16, 2013 10:51 am

Last winter bought a 2003 Amerilite 21’ 3300# empty, 7.5’ wide. Took it 160 miles to Zanesville using I71 & I70 a week ago. Got 13.2 mpg going & 12.5 coming [headed into wind], with prem fuel. Tires on the PF were at 40-45psi, camper at max sidewall, 50 psi. Set the cruise @ 55 since it is more capable than my foot to maximize MPG. Found that a number of the trucks that passed me weren’t going much faster. May not be the case where you live. Used 4th gear, but on flats or downhill used 5th. On the mild rolling hills the water temp would go up to 213º in 4th. On the flats, 4th avg 207, yet in 5th was ~200. Shows the inefficiency of the torq converter. Torq conv is programmed to lock-up in 3rd & 5th only. 4th is slush-a-matic.

As for the chosen speed, when I brought it home I did 60MPH and got 10 MPG in 4th. With a similar trailer, doing 60-62 with a ’98 Tahoe (5.7L) it would avg in the low 11’s. Back in 2000, went to Mouse World with an S10 Blazer (4.3L) and got 13 MPG but only because I kept the speed 55-57, otherwise it would start to overheat. So, my thoughts are from these observations are that much over 55 and you really put a strain on a power train and pay dearly if MPH is exceeded, just that a larger truck can dissipate the energy better although expressed in poorer mileage. I recall a thread in a RV forum where owners were upset that the campers shaped like an upside down bathtub also got lousy mileage above 55. More mfg are designing with aero in mind, if willing to pay the upfront price. Frontal wind resistance & rear drag affect performance more so than weight. Too much length can be treacherous without sway bars and WD hitches.

I feel that the 4.0L engine in the Pathfinder is strong, just mated with a less-than-stellar trans. For that reason I monitor the temp with a ScanGauge2. For some reason it won’t read the trans temp. When it comes to replacing this PF, others have 6 & 8 sp trans and maybe by then the CVT in the 2013 & up PF will have some of the kinks worked out. Or if I want to stay in the Nissan family, Xterra has a 6sp manual…

skinny2
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Postby skinny2 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:10 am

Where do you camp in Zanesville? Not far from my back door. We have family in cinci and have made that trek many times with all sorts of trucks and trailers. This pathfinder pulls better than my last couple gas V8 pickups. Granted they were a generation older and not as strong as the latest trucks...but still. I pulled a 6x12 Uhaul back from Cinci awhile back with the PF and probably had about 2,500-3,000# total. Those are very aerodynamic but i don't get too concerned with mpg...I ran 70mph all the way and got around 12. Tailwind coming that direction too. But it only downshifted a couple times the entire trip.

Calicajun
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Postby Calicajun » Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:20 pm

CPLTECH--
Thanks for posting how your PF did towing. The information you gave will be a big help in my RV decision making process. At 10-12 miles per gallon I may look into a motor home with a diesel pusher engine, as they get the same mpg. At least on paper they get the same mpg.

skinny2
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Postby skinny2 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:29 pm

Calicajun wrote:CPLTECH--
Thanks for posting how your PF did towing. The information you gave will be a big help in my RV decision making process. At 10-12 miles per gallon I may look into a motor home with a diesel pusher engine, as they get the same mpg. At least on paper they get the same mpg.
Eh, they can do that kind of mpg. Of course the investment is just a TAD higher than a trailer....and the repairs/maintenance/upkeep will blow your mind. Proof: I've owned one!

CPLTECH
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Postby CPLTECH » Mon Sep 16, 2013 5:50 pm

Skinny2
First time the destination was Zanesville and the famous Y bridge. Even took a ride on the Lorrena Sternwheeler. Camped at Wolffie’s Good Sam while took in the nearby sites. They had a number of temp workers at the park assigned to a nearby nat gas line project. Went 2 days to a place run by Col Zoo, a 10k acre strip mine reclamation project near Cumberland– wild. Even talked into a zip line ride. When on the curvy back roads, thought about you. Few gas stations once off the main roads.
Fueled up at a Kroger on North 60 there in Z. My ScanGuage2 showed that that gas must have had a little less ethanol than the garbage they sell in Cincinnati.
Tho always wanting to monitor engine performance with gizmos, it is somewhat required since retired. You know, there’s a big difference at the pump between 10mpg vs. 13mpg. I hear what some of you pull and the speed you pull and get anxious that if I did that, I’d be stopping to fuel up every 100 miles and worried that I would face a $5-6k trans bill before I made it home, which I can ill afford.
In the 4 yrs I’ve owned this PF, thanks to this forum the repairs have been minimal when compared to what I paid to keep a 98 Tahoe running. The Tahoe had more towing guts than this PF. Altho locally I get ~15% better mpg, towing it is worse, and I have the records. On the trip ran across 2 XTerras with the 6sp man. You don’t know how envious I was. Then I think of the cost to trade this PF in. So for what little I tow a camper, is it really worth it? After all it is running just fine… for the moment.

skinny2
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Postby skinny2 » Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:05 pm

The Wilds is pretty cool. Been awhile since I was down there though. My normal commute out those back roads is 30 miles between gas stations. Not extremely remote but as a bonus there's no cell coverage for about 10 miles. Oil and gas workers are filling up everything just east of Zanesville. It's getting crazy but the money flowing in is nice. I have property over there where they're drilling but luckily I live just west where the gas drops off so I don't have to deal with the craziness everyday. Best of both worlds I guess.


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