M1009 Pintle hook rating?

[Parablazer]

Here is what I thought of when I read this thread:

Noice. And an S-10 at that. he's good though, that things got the V6 under the hood.

 

[WARWAG]

OMG! Thats the same tow vehicle but he had a "smaller" 5th wheel! Maybe he was getting tired of being pulled over? LMAO! This smiley seems appropriate! lol

 

[2deuce]

I put a M1008 on a HD car trailer and my M1009 pulled it fine, up and down 6% grades, I went slow 25mph up and down and tried to keep it at 50mph the rest of the way. I have one of those convertible bolt on hitches in place of the regular pintle hook. The 1200lb rating is rather cautious, I went 300 miles and didn't have any problems, but the blazer isn't the greatest tow vehicle and even if it can be done don't buy a M1009 for towing. Also make sure the trailer has good brakes. I like towing my M101a2 with the blazer but even that size trailer is too big according to the TM. I did it to see if it would do it. I read where guys were towing some pretty heavy weights and others saying the blazer can't do it. I have 32" tires on mine also. I'm not recommending pulling more than you feel comfortable with, just that my blazer did pull alot without a problem.

 

[WARWAG]

I dont think the pintle bumper attachment is rated at 1200 lbs? Maybe max tongue weight. I tow a 12,000 lbs snowcat and trailer (both combined). Thats twice what my 1 ton Dodge weighs in at or close to twice. As long as you have "electric trailer brakes and you drive like your towing ie never exceed posted speed limits and go slow going down grades AND pulling out or over when people get behind you then you shouldnt have any problems. Having said that my new Chevy work truck (2010) chevy 3500 durmax 4x4 Less than 5,000 mile on it had a major problem. I was towing our Kabota backhoe and going down into Jackson hole wyoming (renamed Jackson for some reason) anyway on the 10% downgrade and in low gear I lost brakes and power steering. The trailer brakes wouldnt even activate since the brake pedal had zero resistance to activate the brake lights. I pushed in the emergency brake (parking brake) and used the hand control to activate the trailer brakes. hit my emergency lights and turned it into the runaway ramp. Anything can happen! Oh and Chevy uses the power steering unit to also power the brakes! So if it goes you loose the TWO most important things you need to control a vehicle, steering and stopping. Good thing I was on the straight down hill section. Turning was a bitch! Anything can happen.

 

[67_C-30]

Here is what I thought of when I read this thread:

Holy ****!!! That is insane!

 

[mf5129]

5000 lbs is a heavy load for a m1009.i have three of them.they tow about 3500 lbs reasonably well.you have light axles and brakes are small for that weight.

 

[2deuce]

I agree totally with Warwag. You have to drive like anything can happen at any time. I came down Cabbage hill with the M1008 on the trailer which is 6% for 6 miles. I stayed behind a semi doing 25-30 all the way down. I even turned in the hubs to give me alittle more rolling resistance before I went down. I have a 2008 Ford F450 that lost a master cyl also. Anything can happen. I would have normally used it for towing, but it has a camper on it that I didn't feel like removing. The blazer isn't really meant for it but it can tow if you have good brakes on your trailer. I had about 1500lbs in my M101a2 once that it pulled easily, and I just used it last weekend to pull a M116 with a LDS engine in a can on it down from Seattle and it pulled nicely. The idea that you can only pull a 1/4 trailer which is written on my blazers bumper is caution to the opposite extreme at least by my experience. One thing I would recommend anyone towing with a blazer is to test your brakes with your loaded trailer to find out how well it will stop so you don't have any surprises and drive accordingly. Then use extreme caution on any down grades. One thing I will never do again is flat tow(I did that once) or use a tow dolly with a blazer, the blazer is too light even if the brakes were sufficient which they aren't.