Jay Sixspeedrt Posted May 5, 2012 Report Share Posted May 5, 2012 Tonight picked my boat up from winter storage at the Marina, and getting fitted with a new trailering/mooring cover. First time I'd towed the boat with my Journey. Boat trailer tongue is fairly heavy - I would estimate about 250 lbs or so - but barely even budges the rear suspension of the Journey downward when hooked up - surprised at how much load capacity the rear suspension has. I thought it would be soft and car like - pleasant surprise to see it's more like a truck. And the Pentastar with six speed auto handles the boat with minimum drama - tows superbly well - feels like it could tow a lot heavier trailer if I needed it to. I'll bet the Journey with trailer could do 0-60 mph as fast as my old 2001 Mitsubishi Montero Sport could manage it empty - . In fact, seems kind of comparable to my 2004 Ram 2500 with 5.7 in the way it tows the boat - maybe the Ram had a little more umph going up very steep hills. Anyways, very happy with the Journey's hauling performance. I averaged 16.5 mpg over 20 miles of towing in some hilly country. PS - I just noticed that the roofline of the Journey is similar to that of the Magnum wagons with the shape of the rear window, roofline curve, etc. I never noticed the 'family' resemblance, but I appreciate it now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebus Posted May 7, 2012 Report Share Posted May 7, 2012 Smokercraft?...You mentioned ~250 tongue weight...what is the total package weight? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sixspeedrt Posted May 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2012 (edited) I am not sure of the total trailer weight - The hull weight is 1200, add another 350 for the 75 hp outboard, batteries (100 lbs) trolling motor - 50 lbs, miscellaneous gear (100 lbs) and fuel 200 lbs. Then the Load Rite trailer must weigh 500-550 lbs, so the total trailer/boat combo must be around 2500 lbs (and that's if the live wells/bait wells are empty). Usually tongue weight of 10% is a good ratio to total trailer weight. I did weigh the trailer tonque just now by putting my floor jack on a bath scale, and lifting just 6" behind the coupler - I got about 240-250 lbs so my guesstimate from lifting the tongue was quite close. The point is... it barely even pushes the rear suspension on the Journey down - it's pretty beefy. Edited May 7, 2012 by Jay Sixspeedrt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BUGS Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 (edited) I agree with you on the suspension travel with increased TW. I posted a while back (Sept 09) with pics of my 09 DJ hooked up to 3400 lbs of travel trailer. Without the load leveller bars in place my back end drops about 3 inches but returns to level once LL installed. TW estimated at 375 to 400 lbs. Not sure as my bath room scales can't reach that weight (yet heh heh) Edited May 8, 2012 by BUGS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sixspeedrt Posted May 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I don't have any load levers - just a class 4 hitch. That back suspension barely moves when I stand on the hitch drawer. The 2012 Journey has a stout rear suspension - capable of carrying some weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtsr Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I had 12 bags of topsoil 510 litres in bags at 30 lbs each in the back with the 3rd down and it was down about 3/4 of an inch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sixspeedrt Posted May 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 That's quite stout - very 'truck like' - the beauty is the Journey rides and handles like a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Sixspeedrt Posted July 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2012 I've used her twice now to tow to the lake and back - it's about a 150 mile round trip with over 1400 ft of elevation change each way. Truck tows great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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