# Towing Capacity



## umlify (Dec 7, 2005)

Alright, I know the manual says for an 05-06 Frontier you can tow 6500lbs and if it's 4x4 you can tow 6300lbs. 

Just wondering if anyone has towed close or over this amount.

Reason I'm asking is I'm interested in buying a toy hauler trailer to go camping in and it's right around 7200lbs fully loaded with water and 4 wheelers. 

Any info would be great. Thanks!


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## truckfan (Jan 3, 2005)

umlify said:


> Alright, I know the manual says for an 05-06 Frontier you can tow 6500lbs and if it's 4x4 you can tow 6300lbs.
> 
> Reason I'm asking is I'm interested in buying a toy hauler trailer to go camping in and it's right around 7200lbs fully loaded with water and 4 wheelers.
> 
> Any info would be great. Thanks!


Not great... scary, IMHO. Stay within the tow rating and even under (margin for your kids, current or future). 

-TF


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## inyourface1650 (Oct 6, 2005)

I've towed prolly 7000lbs with it. At that point, I was seriously wishing we still had our armada. Getting going wasnt the problem, but at those weights, the trailor begins controlling our (lightish) trucks, and sometimes you dont ahve the power to fix it. 
For example, trailor wagging, Now on a titan (without the electronic brakes) the only way to fix this is to SLAM the throttle, and get the truck moving quickly. With the V8 you can do that. My 4L was getting pretty sluggish in that regard. 

Fortunately, the trailor had some pretty good brakes on it, but I could tell the Frontys brakes were beginning to lag a bit. They arent that great at 6500, and at 7000lbs, they are definately underpowered. 

Watch your tongue weight as well, at 700lbs tongue weight, I wasnt on the bump stops, but it was getting close. This brings your nose up, which causes vehicle wander while on the highway, generally not fun things. 

The main reason for the rating of 6500lbs is cooling, but with my manual transmission I had no problems. You will probably be fine with the 5speed as well, being that its the titan tranny. 

I have abused and overloaded MANY a nissan truck (mainly with the VG33) and they have never overheated on me. Very well cooled.

Also, remember, this truck is rated to tow 6500Lbs, at 50MPH up a 6% grade, in 120F Ambient Temp


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## avenger (Oct 7, 2005)

umlify said:


> Alright, I know the manual says for an 05-06 Frontier you can tow 6500lbs and if it's 4x4 you can tow 6300lbs.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone has towed close or over this amount.
> 
> ...


do not do that, the max tow rating and is just that, the MAX, and not recommended for long periods of time. 

how sure are you that it weighs in at 7200 lbs? that seems very, very high.

You'll need a much bigger truck for that


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## avenger (Oct 7, 2005)

inyourface1650 said:


> I've towed prolly 7000lbs with it. At that point, I was seriously wishing we still had our armada. Getting going wasnt the problem, but at those weights, the trailor begins controlling our (lightish) trucks, and sometimes you dont ahve the power to fix it.
> For example, trailor wagging, Now on a titan (without the electronic brakes) the only way to fix this is to SLAM the throttle, and get the truck moving quickly. With the V8 you can do that. My 4L was getting pretty sluggish in that regard.
> 
> Fortunately, the trailor had some pretty good brakes on it, but I could tell the Frontys brakes were beginning to lag a bit.
> ...


just hope you don't snap your axle with that kind of tongue weight


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## inyourface1650 (Oct 6, 2005)

Indeed, there is no point in pushing it. That one time I towed the 7000Lbs, it was because I needed that trailor moved once. and no other options. Im also a stupid Young person, and I Dont have ANYONE (DEFINATELY NOT CHILDREN) in the truck with me.

If you plan on towing that much weight regularly, you need a bigger truck. Get a titan or a F150.
I dont know if you have ever towed in a bigger truck, but its just EASIER...I dont know, you dont have to worry/work so much. I used to love our Armada for towing the boat, almost forgot it was there.
Hell, if your gonna tow 7200 regularily, I would get a F250 Deisel....I got to tow with that, and the diesel is just incredible. 570FT-LB torque at 2000RPM...Ill take 2


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## avenger (Oct 7, 2005)

inyourface1650 said:


> Indeed, there is no point in pushing it. That one time I towed the 7000Lbs, it was because I needed that trailor moved once. and no other options. Im also a stupid Young person, and I Dont have ANYONE (DEFINATELY NOT CHILDREN) in the truck with me.
> 
> If you plan on towing that much weight regularly, you need a bigger truck. Get a titan or a F150.
> I dont know if you have ever towed in a bigger truck, but its just EASIER...I dont know, you dont have to worry/work so much. I used to love our Armada for towing the boat, almost forgot it was there.


mmmmmmmmmmmmm V8


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## Denny06 (Dec 20, 2005)

umlify said:


> Alright, I know the manual says for an 05-06 Frontier you can tow 6500lbs and if it's 4x4 you can tow 6300lbs.
> 
> Just wondering if anyone has towed close or over this amount.
> 
> ...


You shouldn't tow anything beyond the recommended weight. You may put others on the road at risk. Not to mention the accelerated wear on the brakes and transmission.


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## scuba91ta (Aug 19, 2005)

i've had 5500 on my truck, towed it ok - made sure not to put too much wieght on the tongue and used a load leveler hitch...


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## ScopeTx (Nov 9, 2005)

I personally don't (yet) need to tow (or even approach) the rated capacity of my Fronty, but in the States the "powers that be" seem to use a higher factor of safety than other countries when coming up with these ratings (probably for good reason). 

We regularly tow a double jet-ski trailer loaded up with our two 10 year old Sea-Doo's, extra gas, a box full of supplies, etc. that I estimate to weigh about 1800-2000 lbs. No problem at all for our Tahoe, but we recently purchased a boat (I know, too many toys) that has a towing weight of around 3,500 lbs. 

Our second vehicle (at the time) was a 2002 Honda CRV with a tow rating of 1,500 lbs. On one occasion (the Tahoe was not available) it towed the jet ski trailer and did so without any problem. It even stopped the trailer fine (it was dry pavement) but I still made darn sure there was plenty of room for me to stop. Note that I was the only person in the Honda (rest of the family was out of town in the Tahoe).

The kicker is that I stumbled on the fact that the same Honda CR-V in Europe (no mechanical differences in overseas models, just differences in trim lines) is rated for 3,000 pounds. No wonder I had no trouble.

None of this really applies here, just some useless trivia to bore you  

-Scope


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## johnnyhammers (Oct 13, 2005)

I once had to pull an early 80's 7 series BMW. The car weighed about 3000lbs, the trailer to load it on weighed 2000lbs. The tow vehicle was my 90 Saab 900 5spd non-turbo. I've got to say that the factory tow package is excellent, but it really sucks making a 90 mile trip with 5k on the back of a Saab. The rated max was 2k BTW. It did make for some interesting photos though. Maybe I'll dig one up and scan it in, then post it. 

So in my opinion, it's totaly fine to go right up to the limit. there are offices full of engineers who make sure that it will do the limit and a good margin over before it fails. But I don't recommend going over it. Limits are OK. Yes you will feel it when you tow at the limit; it won't drive like it does when it's empty. But I think we all know better than to expect that, so just use your head when hauling heavy, and stay around those limits.


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## umlify (Dec 7, 2005)

Well I guess I'll re-consider going that heavy then. Thanks for all the info. I knew it'd be risky, but just doesn't sound like it would be worth the risk. Thank you all again...


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