Top Pickup Trucks For Towing
People buy pickup trucks for many reasons. Some of those reasons are strictly sensible; others lean more toward vanity and fashion. This hasn’t always been true. A few decades back, pickups were strictly utilitarian vehicles that people purchased to do work. Owners were willing to put up with certain discomforts as long as the truck performed its assigned tasks without balking.
Today, fewer private truck owners haul gravel or crates with their vehicles. Those who buy a pickup for its practical merits are likely more interested in its towing capacity. Outdoorsy families may need a truck to haul a camper trailer or boat on summer vacations or weekend journeys. And if that trailer or boat is heavy, only a pickup with serious towing capacity can handle the job. Each manufacturer issues ratings for towing capacity, measured in pounds. Ratings for a given truck model may vary according to several factors.
If a 4×4 pickup is available with a choice of engines, the larger-displacement version typically has greater towing capacity. A truck with an automatic transmission may be capable of hauling more weight than an equivalent model with a manual gearbox. Heavy-duty trucks may be available with a choice of single or dual (dualie) rear wheels. This means there could be one or two wheels and tires on each side. Typically, additional tires translate to greater capacity for hauling cargo, though not necessarily a significant increase in towing capacity.
When you need to tow a trailer or boat that weighs more than 4 or 5 tons, you have few choices besides a heavy-duty truck from Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford or GMC. These are the only trucks that offer towing capacities above the 10,000-pound mark. As a rule, you’ll have to turn to a one-ton model — Chevrolet Silverado 3500, Dodge Ram 3500, Ford F-350 Super Duty or GMC Sierra 3500 — to get the peak capacity, but a three-quarter-ton truck might suffice for slightly reduced weight requirements. On the whole, import-brand pickups trail the domestics where heavy-duty towing is concerned. Only the Nissan Titan vies with half-ton pickups from Detroit’s Big Three.
