Chevy S10

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Hello people. I'm a newbie in search of towing info. I have a 98' Chevy S10 2.2 ltr I4 5spd regular cab short bed pickup. Now I know that the book shows a 2000lb towing max limit. And the base 13ft Scamp is about 950lbs with the tounge at about 85lbs. I'm sure that when loaded with food, clothing, propane and other misc. stuff it's going to be within the 2000lb max. cap. of the S10. What I don't know is how well is it going to tow the Scamp. Is it going to be dangerously slow and sluggish. I read that I might want to run it in 4th gear, not using 5th except perhaps on flat road.

The question..... Does anyone have any experiance with this configuration of truck and Scamp? Have you seen any on the road or camp sites? This will be my first camper and my first time towing anything with any vehicle.

I few days ago I passed on an 84' Scamp for $2200. Heater(not working) Ice Box(no Frig) and no battery. It looked like a base model with not alot (if any) upgrades.

I'm thinking I want a 3 way frig. I'll do without the optional heater and go with a small ceramic one if needed. Advise on the heater would be well received as well. And I was thinking the solar panal charger for the Bat might be a nice thing also. Also thinking I might want 2 propane tanks. Oh and I see everyone loves the Fantastic Fan option too.

Did I miss anything? Anything else I might want to add or look for.

I want to get one fix it up and go man go.....


Thanks so much for ya'lls help

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Welcome to FGRV . little 13 footers run heavy you are really looking at 1300 plus minus . i pulled my trillium with a rav 4 it got the job done. slow but steady! most the time i was in 4th and 3rd gears
overdrive only on the flats or down hill lol . Towing in overdrive is a hotly discussed item. please refer to chevy on towing in 5th and foloow thier gudielines.
3 way or 2 way fridges are nice pricey but nice. and beat the heck out of runing to town everyother day for ice.
if you use the seach button on Mr. Heater Buddy Portable Propane Heater you will find lots of diccussion some dont work at high altiudes ect.
2200 for a striped scamp sounds a little high to me so if you passed on it dont feel to bad but then dont have all the factiods on it so its just an opinion
one propane tank is all you will need try it before getting a spare .
i get 2 weeks out of a 1/2 to 2/3 of a tank and that was running my furnace every night .
battery and fans are a must . personaly i dont go to campground that have trees you can plug into and on a warm night any brezze is welcome again there are 1500 members and about as many opinions on cooling but in greneral fantastic fans are a good way to go. enough rambleing from me now what was i supoose to be doing !!!:cheers

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Andy I pulled my 16 foot for a couple of years with a chevy astro
van and I thought it was over matched drove well up to 55 60, but
fell flat above that. big hills going to florida,new york, and minn. were a bear some times. a lot of people pull with small cars and trucks but they have more time than I do so they pull at a slower speed 50 to 55 I have the oportunity to get a leased f150 v8 4wd
crew cab for the payoff price. I plan on traveling out west next summer and don't want to worry about pulling power.
you s10 will pull a 13 foot just don't expect to much.

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Orginally posted by Al V
. personaly i dont go to campground that have trees you can plug into and on a warm night any brezze is welcome again there are 1500 members and about as many opinions on cooling but in greneral fantastic fans are a good way to go. enough rambleing from me now what was i supoose to be doing !!!:cheers

Trees have plugs?? cool.

[Legacy Posts]

Orginally posted by Andy Earthman

Hello people. I'm a newbie in search of towing info. I have a 98' Chevy S10 2.2 ltr I4 5spd regular cab short bed pickup. Now I know that the book shows a 2000lb towing max limit. And the base 13ft Scamp is about 950lbs with the tounge at about 85lbs. I'm sure that when loaded with food, clothing, propane and other misc. stuff it's going to be within the 2000lb max. cap. of the S10. What I don't know is how well is it going to tow the Scamp. Is it going to be dangerously slow and sluggish. I read that I might want to run it in 4th gear, not using 5th except perhaps on flat road.

We tow our 13' Boler with a 5000lb 4cyl normally aspirated 86hp diesel. You can pretty much not imagine a worse combination but it basically does ok. Your little S10 probably weighs half what our truck does, and probably has close to twice the hp. I'm sure you'll do "ok". Just try it and see. In our case, it's sometimes slow going up the long steep hills. I end up in 3rd going 60km/h for the last half of the hill, and my mileage for the trip drops to about 25mpg from over 30.

[Legacy Posts]

We used to tow our 13' boler with a 1981 Datsun 510 station wagon with a 4-speed stick. It was the original gutless wonder (78 HP, I think), but it did fine, even with the a/c running. We packed carefully, and didn't get in a big hurry.

You'll notice a lot of people claim their 13s run 900-950 lbs, and a lot of people claim that 13s really run 1200-1500 lbs. They are both right. Each egg is hand-laid up fiberglass, and each one is unique. Older ones tend to be lighter than new ones, and ones with rooftop air are heavier by more than the weight of the a/c unit - the factory lays up the fiberglass heavier.

When you find an egg you are interested in, you may want to run it across a scale before you commit to buy - a 1000 lb egg will tow fine behind your S10, but you'll notice a big difference if you get a 1300 lb one.

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Thanks for the help people. Please keep it up. I'll take all the advise I can get.

My little 2.2 produces 120hp @ 5000rpm
and 130lbs-ft torque @ 2800

I got a really good deal on the truck
98' with 34k on it for 3100 US Bucks....

So I'm going to keep it. I just want to make sure it can pull a Scamp or other glass egg type camper. Any other advise on anything to look out for in a Used Glass Egg would be helpful.

I've been looking info up on the web for a month and am getting closer to becoming an expert. The more info the better I say.

Ever so Gratefu

ECOmanl