Perpetuating the Myth

**JRTJH** · 01-09-2021, 10:34 AM

Headlines in a recent Car and Driver article:
Best Trucks for Maximum Towing Capacity
How much weight a pickup can pull is all that matters in the real world.

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...wing-capacity/

According to them, payload, rear axle capacity, load configuration were never mentioned in the article. It's "all about pulling capacity".... No wonder people new to RV's are making bad choices... It's not just the truck and RV salesmen that say, "Oh, your truck will pull anything on the lot"...

Gegrad · 01-09-2021, 10:48 AM

Yep, I actually saw this on my FB feed a while back. I commented back in the comment section "No, how much weight the pickup can carry is all that matters in the real world". LOL.

**chuckster57** · 01-09-2021, 11:35 AM

Blame it on the people that made the commercial of that big powerful toy truck pulling the space shuttle!!!

rhagfo · 01-09-2021, 12:12 PM

Yep, that article sounds like each manufacturer had their marketing department send in the information and they just compiled it into one bogus story.
Our Ram 3500 Laramie 3500 DRW with HO/Aisin and 3.73’s, has a tow rating of 25,024#. Well even empty payload was 5,411#, almost enough for a 20% pin if I don’t put anything in the truck. In reality once loaded with us,
Tool box, and hitch we are down to 4,000# remaining.

QCMan · 01-09-2021, 12:48 PM

So now you are telling me I can't pull the space shuttle anymore??? Now I have to get my friend over with his Subaru to do it and he will probably want a few cases of carbonated adult beverages to do it. Damn!

Whitewolf · 01-09-2021, 12:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QCMan

So now you are telling me I can't pull the space shuttle anymore??? Now I have to get my friend over with his Subaru to do it and he will probably want a few cases of carbonated adult beverages to do it. Damn!

Is your friend one of the 'Hikey Bikey Swimmy Runny' people? I heard that description from a Canadian

friend

whose physique(or mine for that matter) didn't fit.

What's weird is that it "seemed" that every Suburu Forrester I saw after that had something on it's roof rack.

**flybouy** · 01-09-2021, 02:02 PM

The article is just evidence of what happens when a magazine no longer has "experts" in the editing room and rely solely on the bylines from the advertisers. Sad these days how far from truth media in all its forms can stray. What I don't get is how some folks become so "brand loyal" that they become obsessive.

I could never understand why people would PAY to advertise a product. Like all the Coke a Cola stuff people used to buy, the beer hats, shirts, etc. In my mind if you want me to advertise your product there should be some compensation coming my way. Yes, I'm one of those guys that's popped off more than one dealer badge and left it in the parking lot.

You gotta hand it to the advertisers for how they can generate such strong brand loyalty. JMHO

QCMan · 01-09-2021, 02:45 PM

Never bought a vehicle, boat or trailer where there was a dealer name on it. I always let the dealer know in writing that my advertising fee is $100 a month. If they do not want to pay the fee then there better not be a sticker on it or I will not take delivery. No negotiation. I can unscrew a license frame in the lot so I don't care about them. Never had to remove a dealer badge or sticker.

**sourdough** · 01-09-2021, 03:12 PM

When I was into sporty cars I always read C/D; subscribed for years. Cars were one of my things along with 4x4s and pickups. C/D does not have (and never did) a clue about trucks; pickups; towing or one single aspect of the genre. If they ever published an article about pickups I just skipped it....and this is an example why; simply regurgitating sales hype from the manufacturers while having no clue about what it takes to tow a lawn mower.

They do alright with acceleration tests; braking; lateral force tests; lap times etc. but that's where it should end. Unfortunately some folks read this kind of stuff and take it to heart. Don't get me started about Motor Trend.......

Gegrad · 01-09-2021, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by QCMan

Never bought a vehicle, boat or trailer where there was a dealer name on it. I always let the dealer know in writing that my advertising fee is $100 a month. If they do not want to pay the fee then there better not be a sticker on it or I will not take delivery. No negotiation. I can unscrew a license frame in the lot so I don't care about them. Never had to remove a dealer badge or sticker.

Same here. Anytime they tray to ask why I want it removed I say "I didn't' see an extra discount in the paperwork or a monthly payment credit on my behalf. I don't give free advertising"

gearhead · 01-09-2021, 09:09 PM

C&D is a bunch of Miata freaks. I use to read Road and Track like all Morgan+8 nuts.
Looking to C&D for truck info would be like looking in Vogue for squirrel and dumplings recipes.

Ppk123 · 01-14-2021, 10:14 AM

If you believe television advertisement my 60 lb Bulldog could pull The space shuttle also.
But can only carry 5 lb in his backpack. Lol

rlh1957 · 01-14-2021, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

Headlines in a recent Car and Driver article:
Best Trucks for Maximum Towing Capacity
How much weight a pickup can pull is all that matters in the real world.

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...wing-capacity/

According to them, payload, rear axle capacity, load configuration were never mentioned in the article. It's "all about pulling capacity".... No wonder people new to RV's are making bad choices... It's not just the truck and RV salesmen that say, "Oh, your truck will pull anything on the lot"...

For sure... my F350 can pull a 747 but I shouldn’t!

Thanks for calling them out. There is so much misinformation out there. Some of it even comes from people that should know.

**flybouy** · 01-14-2021, 01:03 PM

Just hire this guy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=X9ytmS2HxfY[/url]

blubuckaroo · 01-14-2021, 05:29 PM

The way I see it, there aren’t many circumstances where tongue weight doesn’t decide the towing capacity. Flat towing a vehicle is one. There’s no tongue weight at all. I used to tow cotton trailers. They had a pivoting tongue, so it had no tongue weight.

roadglide · 01-14-2021, 05:57 PM

I was at the RV Tampa show today amount of RVs was overwhelming. There was every imaginable named RVs With their own area. I suspect there was a half a dozen young salesman to every lot . I would ask the salesman a question they have no idea what they were selling. Trying to convince me that they were three-quarter ton truck that would Handel RVs with pin wright over 3000 pounds. Their answer was with the new 3/4 trucks can getter done .

German Shepherd Guy · 01-15-2021, 07:26 AM

Maybe its just we are all "Old F***s"

But when I came to adulthood if you wanted to get ahead in sales you studied your product.

You learned its strengths as well as its weaknesses. My Father, and his father, owned a car dealership. I grew up noticing which salesmen prospered and which were down the road in short order. We were GM guys but I could tell you about Fords and Mopar too.

Seems like now most salesmen (not all) have no clue about their product.

I sure relish the good ones when I meet them though.

**flybouy** · 01-15-2021, 08:45 AM

I'll reflect my experience with the salesman that just moved away that lived next to us for 22 yrs.

We bought a model home and I was in the garage marking the walls with a stud finder and laser level. My DW was standing in the driveway when our "new neighbor" intruded herself. She asked my DW what I was doing. She explained to her what a stud finder was and that I was marking the wall to install shelving. She stated that her husband should have done that and invited us to walk over and look at his handiwork.

Walking up the driveway I started to see his "handiwork" as the door began to open. The rear wall of their garage looked like it was used as a bullet trap at a shooting range. She said the "first time" he screwed into the wall everything was good until their daughter went upstairs to take a shower. Yup, he screwed into the sewer drain from upstairs and the wall looked like a lawn sprinkler. He found out what he had done after calling a plumber. I asked his wife (haven't met him yet) what he does for a living. Her reply "he sells home improvement for a contractor".

I could tell you many, many, similar stories on the guy's lack of even the most basic of construction or mechanical knowledge but he was/is a very successful salesman.

**sourdough** · 01-15-2021, 09:59 AM

Since we are moving down this road a bit....

The examples above are repeated on a daily basis on everything from cars/trucks/RVs to home improvement, homes or anything else. It seems a company wants a person that is charismatic and manipulative vs knowledgeable and helpful. To me that is a given in todays society. So;

I blame the companies, and the incompetent ones trying to sell things they know nothing about, but also the buyer HAS to take responsibility for some of the shortfalls they encounter or endure. On any and every purchase the new buyer has the option of saying no or walking away. If they say "yes" it should be with the understanding they have done their homework/due diligence and know what they are getting into. If all they did was listen to the salesman and depend on him for honesty and the "straight scoop".....well, you get what you get. Should it be that way? No. Is it? Yes. JMO (Uh oh, did that sound "curmudgeonly"?)

wiredgeorge · 01-15-2021, 10:12 AM

My missus looks at Facebook Marketplace camper ads; of course the bigger the camper, the niftier the floor plan and that catches her eye. Of course, the FB seller often doesn't included the model; only make and product line. Yesterday my wife saw a 2007 Sunnybrook Bristol Bay she really liked; and it WAS a great floor plan. Sent the seller a note asking specific model and got a picture of the weight sticker from the side of the trailer. 15000 lbs gross weight. I figured out the trailer was 37' long. Now my old F350's payload is about 4K lbs but I think this might be one of the cases where that is too much weight to tow for my truck. I have no idea what towing weight Ford conjured up for a 2006 F350XL 4x4 CC LB with 6.0/automatic with 3.73 rear end but I wouldn't really feel comfortable dragging 15K lbs except over the Bonneville Salt Flats (maybe). Ford chart I found claimed 15,400 lbs tow capacity. Right.

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