RE: Towing a Trailer
Hello Hub:
Maybe I can help you. I was a Mopar technician for 17 years. The thing about a Voyager/Caravan is they do not like a lot of weight on the tail. You must keep the tounge weight down. I will guess around 400 pounds or less. I think 200 is a better guess.These are guesstimates. You will have to play with them. I am not sure but load leveling bars would probably allow higher weights. Ask some one at a U-haul or similar place. I am not real familiar with them. I do know they will allow a heavyer than normal load.
You must put electric trailer brakes on them. The standard brakes are ok for flat areas and slow speeds. But highway 55 and up speeds you will quickly overheat them. An electronic controller are easy to install. I believe that Teconsha(?) makes a small one. Check with a dealer many times they have access to easy to install aftermarket parts that are designed to fit your vehicle. They have harnesses and brackets ect. that would make the job easy. And prices are reasonable.
The other thing you must do is to look at the transmission. With the 3.3 and 3.8 you can only get the A-604 (or as they now say 41TE). It is very sensative to heat and the condition of the trans fluid. You can damage them easily if you are not careful. I know I rebuilt or replaced over 1000 of the things. I am not trying to scare you. Many of these were abuse or neglect. A few were parts defects. Now to tow with you MUST put an auxillury trans cooler. Transdapt and other manufactuers sell kits. Again check your dealer. They should have a direct fit kit in thier accessory cataloge. Install the cooler and if the vehicle is used you may want to look at servicing the transmission. Here I will warn all Mopar owners. The fluid in the transmission is NOT DEXRON! you must use the proper fluid. Up until around 1998 (where a mid year change occured) the transmissions used type 7176 fluid. It is marked as ATF+3 in the stores. after 99 as I recall they went to a 91?? ( I forget the number) or ATF+4 fluid. You can retrofit +4 into a +3 car! The proper type fluid is stamped into the transmission dip stick.
With these mods a minivan will do a very good job of towing a trailer. I appologize for the long post. There is an awful lot more info to this. If anyone has any spacific questions please start a new thread and ask for me by name. I will see it and answer any question. If you have questions on different makes or models go right ahead and ask. If I don't know I darn sure have the connections to find out.
Mark Shuman