Jas504
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
So today I towed my boat with my Gladiator for the first time. Gladiator is a little over a month old. My truck is an Overland with towing package and has a 6k tow rating. My previous truck was a 2016 Sierra with the 5.3.
I generally only tow it once or twice a year. Once to go to Florida/Gulfshores and possibly to the dealer to get it served. The rest of the time it stays on a boat hoist. Today I pulled it out of the water to get it ready to go to FL next week.
Today was my "test tow" day.
I wanted to see if I was going to use the Gladiator, or one of the full size trucks from our office to tow it with. My boat is a Robalo 246. Boat weight with trailer is right at 6k. After about a 10 mile test run I can say it felt perfect safe and did better than I was expecting. At the ramp it pulled the boat out off the water with no issue. I had figured it would do fine pulling it out of the water. After we had it on the trailer, I wanted to see how it handled getting up to speed and how stable it was on the highway. The 3.6 got up to speed ok, but not as good as the 5.3 in my GMC.
At higher speed (65 mph) it did very well. It tracks straight and didn't sway at all. This felt very similar to how my GMC felt on the road. At 65 it settled into 5th gear.
The RPMs were around 3k. This was higher RPM than my old truck, but I expected that. For the 10 miles or so, I looked to be getting around 9mpg. The engine temp was around 210-215. Oil temp seems to stay about 220-230.
I'm in Louisiana, so this was on a flat highway.
After the 10 mile test run I'm comfortable using my Gladiator next week when we tow to Florida.
The engine power was about what I expected from a V6 in a midsize truck. The stability, brakes, and transmission were better than I expected. Overall it did a really good job.
I generally only tow it once or twice a year. Once to go to Florida/Gulfshores and possibly to the dealer to get it served. The rest of the time it stays on a boat hoist. Today I pulled it out of the water to get it ready to go to FL next week.
Today was my "test tow" day.
I wanted to see if I was going to use the Gladiator, or one of the full size trucks from our office to tow it with. My boat is a Robalo 246. Boat weight with trailer is right at 6k. After about a 10 mile test run I can say it felt perfect safe and did better than I was expecting. At the ramp it pulled the boat out off the water with no issue. I had figured it would do fine pulling it out of the water. After we had it on the trailer, I wanted to see how it handled getting up to speed and how stable it was on the highway. The 3.6 got up to speed ok, but not as good as the 5.3 in my GMC.
At higher speed (65 mph) it did very well. It tracks straight and didn't sway at all. This felt very similar to how my GMC felt on the road. At 65 it settled into 5th gear.
The RPMs were around 3k. This was higher RPM than my old truck, but I expected that. For the 10 miles or so, I looked to be getting around 9mpg. The engine temp was around 210-215. Oil temp seems to stay about 220-230.
I'm in Louisiana, so this was on a flat highway.
After the 10 mile test run I'm comfortable using my Gladiator next week when we tow to Florida.
The engine power was about what I expected from a V6 in a midsize truck. The stability, brakes, and transmission were better than I expected. Overall it did a really good job.
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