Let's see the boats you’re towing with your Gladiator

[Labswine]

‘24 Gladiator Mojave X stock with 2.5 Fox shocks on 35’s towing 23’ StarCraft SVX231 w/ Yammy 200 deck boat. Tandem axle trailer w/ surge brakes. Boat, motor, trailer, filled with 60gallons of fuel and our gear right at 4900 lbs. Tows great. Keep it at 65mph in 6th around 3200 rpm. Stays in 3rd gear longer than I would like up to about 5500rpm before it shifts to 4th. Hardly ever will find 7th gear unless I shift to manual. Would tow better imo with a weight distribution hitch and some airbags. The softer Mojave suspension makes it squat more than I like. I plan to add some airbags in the rear soon.

You will find that manual shifting will be your best friend. Your boat is only a couple hundred pounds less than my travel trailer. It's 27' and around 5,100 lbs with all we want or need.

I shift manually and never see 8th unless going downhill with a tail wind . I can cruise at 65 MPH in 7th at around 2,100 RPMs with my Overland (ordered 5/19, delivered 7/19). When I encounter a grade, when speed drops below 60 MPH, I drop a gear, to 6th at around 2,500 RPMs and when I crest the grade and am back to 65, it's back to 7th. There have been a few grades I've had to drop to 5th at around 3K+ RPMS to even maintain 50-55 MPH but still, when the top is reached, then it's back to 7th when I hit 65 MPH.

My up-shifts are between 2,500 and 3K when moving out from a traffic light. When merging into traffic, I'll hold a gear longer just to get extra MPHs while merging in then, settle in to 7th at 65 MPH. I average 13 MPGs towing.

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