Anyone towing with Chrysler Town & Country Van

[jameskwho]

What can I tow with a 2012 Chrysler Town & Counry minivan? Manufacturer says you can tow up to 3,600 lbs. It has v-6, 3.6 Liter, 283 hp with 6 speed auto/stick trans.
We are retired and looking at the Scamp and Casita camper trailers. Any suggestions, comments will be greatly appreciated.
Bytheway, we are new to Fiberglass RV.

[Daniel A.]

I would think looking into a transmission cooler would be in order.
Being front wheel drive I'd be inclined to think that you may want to stay light on the tongue weight.
The engine won't have a problem pulling.

[Ed in Pensacola]

I have a 07 Town & Country and tow a 16' Casita. I put on a tranny cooler and heavy duty shocks. I looked into air shocks but they will interfer with the ABS somehow. Have not done any mountains yet but it in the SE it works pretty good. If I keep it at 60 mph about 16 mpg and at 65 mph about 14 mpg. I usually get the mid price gas for towing.

[CompactJR-Sailor]

I tow a Compact Jr with an old 1997 Town and country and have towed boats and many other items over the 9 years we have owed it. The weakness in our and even the current vans is the transmission. I put a cooler on mine before I ever towed anything and service the transmission every 25k miles. At 110k it is still going strong. I will be purchasing a 2011 or 2012 when this one dies. I keep the title with us just in case, but it just seems to run too good to get rid of right now. I use a wind deflector on the van and gets 20 mpg while pulling the Compact Jr if I work with the van to get it up the hills.
The lighter you can live with the better. I have had motor homes, two scamps and now the compact jr and this is the best compromise for us. I tell people it is our retirement home.

[Meghan]

I have a 2000 town and country. Is mine the only one with a bigger engine? Should I put a tranny cooler in mine? I have pulled LOTS of stuff with mine, but I have the factory tow package and AWD, so maybe that the difference????

[rgrugg]

We have towed our Egg Camper with our 2010 Town and Country. 3.8 liter with 6 speed automatic. Tows it fine but now we tow it with our 2009 Chevy 1500 with 5.3 liter V8. Gets better gas mileage than the T&C and has more comfortable seats. Maybe the automatic switching back to 4 cylinders sometimes accounts for the better mpg or maybe it's because the V8 doesn't work as hard or maybe it's because the truck with topper gives a better airflow over the whole outfit.

[Daniel A.]

Originally Posted by Meghan

I have a 2000 town and country. Is mine the only one with a bigger engine? Should I put a tranny cooler in mine? I have pulled LOTS of stuff with mine, but I have the factory tow package and AWD, so maybe that the difference????

It likely has the transmission cooler as part of the tow package.

[jameskwho]

Originally Posted by jameskwho

What can I tow with a 2012 Chrysler Town & Counry minivan? Manufacturer says you can tow up to 3,600 lbs. It has v-6, 3.6 Liter, 283 hp with 6 speed auto/stick trans.
We are retired and looking at the Scamp and Casita camper trailers. Any suggestions, comments will be greatly appreciated.
Bytheway, we are new to Fiberglass RV.

Just today discovered from Chrysler that all 2012 Town&Country vans have:
H.D. Engine cooling
H.D. Radiator &
H.D. Transmission cooler

So I feel if I install a class 3 receiver hitch & tow wiring harness I'll be In good shape to tow a 16' casita or similar. Only item I would not have is: Load leveling & height control.
Hope this info. Helps someone else to.
Any comments, please post. Thanks

[monB]

I have a 2008 T&C and it has a replacement transmission...and THAT comes with the cooler.

Don't have my trailer yet, but since it would be just me and a dog or two, am thinking that a 13' Scamp and keeping the trailer as light as possible would be the best deal...I tend to travel light anyway.

Just happy to see there are other T&C's out there pulling!

Mon

[Cathi]

Hi, James!

You have your towing capacity number. The total weight you have should be under that number when you add the following:

The weight of passengers, gas and cargo in and on the tow vehicle,
Weight of the trailer, and
Weight of the cargo in and on the trailer.

It is common to have many hundreds of pounds in the tow vehicle and many hundreds, even up to a thousand or more, in the trailer.

The above is a start on weight consideration. You can go further into it with information from your manual on Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) as well as weights for the total allowed in your vehicle (could possibly be in the door jamb) and total allowed in the trailer.

Good luck with your searching.
Cathy

[Cathy P.]

Originally Posted by Cathy

Hi, James!

You have your towing capacity number. The total weight you have should be under that number when you add the following:

The weight of passengers, gas and cargo in and on the tow vehicle,
Weight of the trailer, and
Weight of the cargo in and on the trailer.

It is common to have many hundreds of pounds in the tow vehicle and many hundreds, even up to a thousand or more, in the trailer.

The above is a start on weight consideration. You can go further into it with information from your manual on Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) as well as weights for the total allowed in your vehicle (could possibly be in the door jamb) and total allowed in the trailer.

Good luck with your searching.
Cathy

I do not believe that the GVWR includes anything but the trailer and its contents, maybe the hitch weight. You would be looking at the GCWR when you look at the weight within the tow vehicle: people, cargo, etc. Right?

Was glad to see this thread as I saw a nice van like this, a 2008 on the car lot this past weekend.

[Meghan]

My van lists different towing weights for different amounts of people riding in the van. It's right in the manual

[Cathy P.]

Under "Trailer Towing" in my owner's manual and that of my husband's it states "Your vehicle is capable of towing a trailer of up to a maximum of 2,000 (mine) and 5700 (my husband's) lbs. gross trailer weight with a maximum tongue weight of 200 lbs (mine) and 570 lbs (my husband's). It goes on to say that 10 to 15% of the loaded trailer's weight should be on the tongue. However, the tongue should never exceed 10% of the maximum weight that your vehicle can safely tow.

Now, I don't have my husband's information right now but we did compute it once starting with the GCWR - total weight of the vehicle and its contents being subtracted from the the GCWR which then would give you the towing capacity and we came up with a higher total of around 7,000 lbs I think but then they recommend not towing more than 80% of that so that still would put us almost exactly at the suggested maximum towing capacity for the van, 5600 lbs. Sort of makes the "math" check out!

Once you become familiar with the "numbers" if you are way off, you'll realize it. Be sure to watch when looking at the towing capacities in some of the listings because they will have little letters/numbers referring you to the "key" and listing the requirements the vehicle has to have in order to tow that amount. I have used the ones for Trailer Life most frequently.

I have no idea what manufacturers are listing different towing capacities depending on the weight in your vehicle but we aren't having that problem with Ford or Lincoln so it does not apply to all vehicles.

[Bryan L.]

I tow with a 2001 T&C with all-wheel drive and the factory towing package which gave me a towing capacity of 3500 pounds. I sold a regular T&C and bought this one because the regular ones could only tow 2500 without the factory towing package and I wanted the extra capacity as insurance. I remember being so frustrated with sellers that listed it as having the tow package when what they really meant was that it had a hitch receiver installed. The factory tow package (for that year) had a PS cooler, transmission cooler, full sized spare tire, and the wiring harness. Mine also has self-leveling suspension. Not sure if that is from the tow package or because it is the Limited Edition. My mileage totally stinks while towing. I'm in the 11-12 mpg range.