Nissan frontier 2.5 4cycle.

[eagle of flight]

I just recently bought a 2014 Nissan Frontier. It has a 2.5 4cy engine. I am curious if anyone pulls a 13 ft burro or scamp with a truck like this. I hope that this truck is adequate to tow my burro. The Nissan dealer in CookevilleTn assured me that it would tow 3500 pounds. I dont want to damage my new truck. Sometimes I wonder if car sales people say whatever just to make a sale. Should I have bought a 6 cy? I believe that I have read that my 1982 burro weighs approx 1000 pounds. I hope that I haven't made a costly mistake. I would loose a lot to trade again. I appreciate everones input. Thanks

[Wyowill]

WE have a 2014 Toyota Tacoma with a 2.7 4 cyl/5speed.
Pulls our 16' Scamp just fine. Scamper weighs right at 2000 pounds ready to camp. You should be fine.

Will

[Jon in AZ]

Two things you need to look into.

First, check your owner's manual. Read everything in the section on towing. Unfortunately, salespeople will say anything to make a sale. Your owner's manual will tell you what it can tow and whether any optional equipment is required to achieve that capacity.

Second, find out what your Burro really weighs when loaded for travel. I'm pretty sure it weighs more than 1000 pounds, possibly a lot more. Based on the thread http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html, a figure of around 1400 pounds seems more likely.

Before you panic, a quick check on the internet (not a substitute for reading the manual) appears to support the 3500 pound figure for four-cylinder models, but it didn't reveal whether that requires any special equipment.

Good luck!

[Darral T.]

Joe,

TRUST Me, I have a '99 Nissan Frontier with a 4 cyl and I pull an 1800 lb 13' Scamp and you will NOT have a minute's trouble pulling the Burro. I AM curious as to what it weighs AND is it an automatic or manual shift? Mine is manual and I LOVE it for pulling the trailer.

One thing I was warned and I will you as well....do NOT "lug" that motor!!! Dont be scared to let it rev when climbing steep grades....3000 r's will NOT hurt that engine. It gets its torque that way and will pull like a dream. I say that because I see you're from Tennessee and so am I and we have some bodacious hills .

I avg. 20mpg with my trailer and love the combination. You will too. 3500 lb tow capacity and I've pulled apx 6000 miles on the bumper. If you have any more questions...ask away! Welcome to the FG camping!

[BillF]

We pulled our 13' Scamp 9000+ miles from Mass to the west coast and back with our poor little 2002 Nissan 2.5L 4 cyl automatic 2 wd. It didn't like the mountains, needless to say. The manual said the Nissan truck was good for towing 2000 pounds and 200 pounds of tongue weight. I assumed that was with the bumper hitch. I had no idea how much our full-up scamp weighed (all options except wood interior) so I called Scamp and they said, "No problem!" and we went fat, dumb and happy on our 6 wk journey. Well, the bumper and hitch dropped about 3", somewhere in SD we caught the foot of our jack exiting a parking lot and bent it back. That had to be fixed. Otherwise all was OK. On return, I pulled out our bathroom scale and put it under the trailer jack and slowly set it down onto the scale. Well, it passed the 300# max and had more to go so I rigged up a 2:1 lever to the scale and it registered about 175# or 350# equivalent and that was with one empty propane tank; we started with two full tanks. The bottom line is, be sure you have a proper frame hitch (which I now have). Your newer model should have more torque for better pulling. Hopefully you have a standard, because the automatic in mine is bulletproof but it SUCKS. It goes into full OD converter lockup at 35 mph. We did get 17 mpg for the 9K+ miles.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by BillF

so I called Scamp and they said, "No problem!"

And, they were absolutely correct. No problem for them.

[Darwin Maring]

A car salesman telling you what you want to hear to make a sale, you got to be kidding.

[deryk]

Joe, when I was shopping for my Rav4 I looked up online the tow capacity of different vehicles before even bothering to look at it..no point in wasting my time. Salespeople will tell you anything to get a deal.

You should be fine, the prior owner of my ParkLiner had a v4 pickup(dont remember was either toyota or nissan)

[eagle of flight]

Thanks Bill. My new Nissan is an automatic. I pray that I don't have a problem with the transmission. Now that I have bought the truck, friends tell me that I should have got a standard 5 speed manual shift. Too late now. I would loose my ass to trade again so soon. Hopefully I won't have problems. I am currently at St George Island Florida helping a friend build a house near the beach. I plan to return to Tennessee in May to begin hopefully a summer filled with great camping trips. I have a small farm near to Fall Creek Falls State Park. There are beautiful waterfalls and great hiking trails. If you are ever there or near, be sure to look me up. I would love to see your camper. Again, thanks for the info. Joe

Sent from my QMV7A using Fiberglass RV mobile app

[Bob Miller]

Good Grief, there a lot of answers here looking for different questions. I found it interesting that someone with a 15 year older version of your truck started out with the same words as your car sales man may have used, "Trust Me, it's great". And then the next post or so later, the owner of an almost as old vehicle described it as being our "Poor Little 2002 Nissan".


Lets all make a deal here by understanding that the only real accurate sources of towing specifications are the owners manuals specifications and second, information/opinions from owners of essentially identical make, model and year vehicles.*


IMHO: Especially in these times of seemingly rapidly changing towing specifications, I find that making comparisons based on substantially older/different vehicles or comments like "I have that same engine/platform/color of vehicle, are not all that helpful and can be misleading to the point of creating a safety issue.


YES, all information picked off the web should be carefully vetted before application, BUT there are always those that are merely looking for others to support their own uninformed or misguided or even completely unsafe, decisions.


In short, stick to the question.....


*NOTE: For those than haven't seen this earlier.... Even seemingly identical platforms can have substantially different towing specifications. As my personal example; the 2003 2 door Chevy/GMV, Blazer/Jimmy has several different towing specifications, from 2000 lbs to 5900 lbs, all with the same drivelines etc.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by eagle of flight

I just recently bought a 2014 Nissan Frontier. It has a 2.5 4cy engine. I am curious if anyone pulls a 13 ft burro or scamp with a truck like this. I hope that this truck is adequate to tow my burro. The Nissan dealer in CookevilleTn assured me that it would tow 3500 pounds. I dont want to damage my new truck. Sometimes I wonder if car sales people say whatever just to make a sale. Should I have bought a 6 cy? I believe that I have read that my 1982 burro weighs approx 1000 pounds. I hope that I haven't made a costly mistake. I would loose a lot to trade again. I appreciate everones input. Thanks

I have a 2012. I checked my owners manual and 350 lb tongue, 3500 lb tow limit is what is listed for a 2 WD king cab with the 4 cylinder engine. Nissan hasn't changed the truck so I suspect the dealer is telling the truth. We had a similar question regarding a Ford Ranger. What I said to him I will repeat to you.
Smaller engines on pickups tend to be adequate at best. Going up hills will be slow and merging into fast moving traffic will be an adventure. Don't be surprised at poor mileage. That said, stay within the tow ratings and you'll get where you are going.

A thread you might find useful:http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html



Finally let me add that setting your truck up is very easy. There are 3 wiring harnesses available at the dealer at a fair price. Plug and play. You can get a hitch from the dealer or etrailer. Both bolt on to the frame easily. The oem is more expensive but has a holder for the 7 pin connector. The whole thing takes about an hour to install.

Towing :: Accessories :: Frontier Parts (D40) 2005-2014 :: Nissan Parts, NISMO and Nissan Accessories - Courtesyparts.com


Edit: and I forgot I posted this.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...hed-57971.html


Raz

[Darral T.]

Raz,

You brought up a point I havent thought of before but will use it when giving advice in the future....and that's think about "MERGING"! I have a 4cyl manual shift. But honestly, I TRY to stay off of interstates but sometimes it's just not possible and/or feasible. And you're exactly right, I've had some mighty "adventurous" times when I gear down with that 4 cyl and 1800 lb trailer to get the RPM and try to build some run-on speed! Yes, it pulls it fine up mts and everything else. But again, when you NEED the extra "umfff" and can press down an accelerator on a 6 or v8? It's just not there for me and can be a bit scary at times.

Great point! What to do? When possible, plan WAYYY ahead and if you're entering an interstate...all I can say is get a "head start"...you're most likely going to need it.

Originally Posted by P. Raz

I have a 2012. I checked my owners manual and 350 lb tongue, 3500 lb tow limit is what is listed for a 2 WD king cab with the 4 cylinder engine. Nissan hasn't changed the truck so i suspect the dealer is telling the truth. We had a similar question regarding a Ford Ranger. What I said to him I will repeat to you.
Smaller engines on pickups tend to be adequate at best. Going up hills will be slow and merging into fast moving traffic will be an adventure. Don't be surprised at poor mileage. That said, stay within the tow ratings and you'll get where you are going.

A thread you might find useful:http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rld-43010.html


Raz

[Jack L]

Originally Posted by Darwin Maring

A car salesman telling you what you want to hear to make a sale, you got to be kidding.

Do you know how to tell if a car salesman is lying ???



His lips are moving.

[Darwin Maring]

Darwin thinks Jack L is a genius.