NEW SCOUT OWNER!!!!

What rm is trying to tell you is that the tail be wagging the dog. Your toad will outweigh your tow pig by roughly a thousand pounds. That factor by itself isn't necessarily a deal breaker. Its that plus the other factors he mentioned that turn it into the proverbial dog that won't, or more accurately, shouldn't Hunt. Engine power, once you have the tuning in tip top shape, is not the issue. The issues are: weight of the loaded trailer, gross combined weight of the fully loaded trailer and tow pig, extremely short wheel base of the tow pig (which really sucks for towing btw), and poor tow pig brake system. The gentleman who related his towing experience using his Travelall failed to recognize that there is a considerable size and weight difference between a ta and a Scout II. Think suburban versus s-10 blazer. Can your Scout move your boat? Hell yes. The engine won't even break a sweat. Should you use the Scout to bomb down the highway with the boat in tow and a load of gear and good ol' boys? I wouldn't do it. Call me crazy, but I think a bigger tow vehicle or a smaller boat would be the way to go.
 
Congrats on the new Scout. I put a new holly 2300 list 0-7448 that I bought thru Jeff here at IHPA about 3 yrs. Or so. Jeff sent it to michael mayben when he was still here and set it up for my altitude here in lake county. I can go from sea level to 7000 ft. Without any stumbling at all and I couldn't be happier with it. Spendy? A little but well worth the peace of mind when I'm on top of hull mountain at 7000 ft. Just my .02. Good luck and these guys on this forum really know what they are talking about. Danny
 
Thanks Danny did u say u had some in lake country install ur stuff to ur needs??? If where I ain't that far from there I was gonna have my buddy install it for me
 
Danny phillips said:
congrats on the new Scout. I put a new holly 2300 list 0-7448 that I bought thru Jeff here at IHPA about 3 yrs. Or so. Jeff sent it to michael mayben when he was still here and set it up for my altitude here in lake county. I can go from sea level to 7000 ft. Without any stumbling at all and I couldn't be happier with it. Spendy? A little but well worth the peace of mind when I'm on top of hull mountain at 7000 ft. Just my .02. Good luck and these guys on this forum really know what they are talking about. Danny
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That's great that it's not loading up with fuel on you at elevation. What size jets are you running?
 
Sounds like your safer not towing with it....I tow heavier than that with a dodge caravan but if you go to home depot they will let you put more weight in a caravan than a half ton pick up so I guess they are better suited for towing than a Scout.
 
kiks1272 said:
thanks Danny did u say u had some in lake country install ur stuff to ur needs??? If where I ain't that far from there I was gonna have my buddy install it for me
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I do all of my own work. Installation is really easy if you're somewhat mechanically inclined. Just make sure you use the heavy gasket with the fuel bowl shield. I actually have a 345 with the edelbrock 4 bbl that I'm going to freshen up to use when I'm done with the body swap. Danny
 
rmscout said:
that's great that it's not loading up with fuel on you at elevation. What size jets are you running?
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I don,t remember what jets mayben used when he set it up for me, but it doesn't stumble at all at that altitude. I'll see if I can find the invoice from IHPA or it might be in the fuel section of the forum. Danny
 
Well, if there is no better alternative on your horizon, here are some things you can and should do to make it a more workable situation. Someone already mentioned the addition of anti-sway/control arms between the hitch and the trailer tongue, so I'll pick it up from there. Next order of business would be to go through your Scout brake system like an anal retentive nazi on meth. Get that thing stopping as good as humanly possible. Don't go the cheap bastard/guud enuf fer gummint werk route on any brake parts. Look into performing a hydraboost conversion for increased stopping power. Lots of information about that process scattered across the webs. Yank your rear axle shafts out of the housing and replace the rear wheel bearings and grease seals. Service the front wheel bearings. Hopefully the tires you're running are load rated, were produced sometime after 2010 and are all inflated to a proper level. Assuming the boat trailer has electric brakes...and you for damn sure want some help from the trailer in slowing this procession down...make sure you have a controller module installed inside the Scout cab and run the necessary wiring to the rear of the vehicle so that the proper electrical coupling between the Scout and trailer can be made. If your Scout doesn't have one already, purchase and install a slip-in style receiver hitch that bolts to the frame. This is far superior to a ball hitch on the bumper. Reese and other manufactures make versions for the Scout II. Last, but certainly not least, keep your speed down!!! In addition to the previously mentioned shortcomings the Scout has as a tow vehicle for heavy trailers, there's one more to add to the list. That would be track width. The Scout is narrow, in fact significantly narrower than your boat trailer. If that trailer starts fishtailing, your narrow, short wheelbase Scout is going to have a tough time resisting the temptation to join in on that nasty dance. If you were wanting to tow a light camp trailer, utility trailer or small fishing dingy, this conversation wouldn't really be necessary.
 
+1 on scoutboy's suggestions. I have had some hair raising experiences with faded brakes while towing.

I think the biggest thing ever towed behind the Scout was a 35' travel trailer. Yes no kidding. The neighbor's tenant was given the trailer and the donor towed it as far as the driveway and chickened out. (probably a smart guy) so I volunteered to tow up the side of the mountain on a 1.5 mile dirt road. There was a couple of steep switchbacks at the start of the driveway and of course as soon as I started up the road a neighbor with a low level of patience pulls up behind me, so I pull over to let him by. Of course in doing so the wheels of the trailer dropped into the ditch on the side of the road. Pulling that thing out was interesting. The Scout spun all 4 wheels in 4l while it tried to pull to the middle of the road and finally started to gain some forward momentum.

After that the rest of the trip was rather uneventful except for the in slopped hair pin turn with the tree on the inside of the curve. To navigate that one we needed to put rocks in the road to tip the tip the trailer up enough to clear the tree.
 
+1 on scoutboy's suggestions. I have had some hair raising experiences with faded brakes while towing.

I think the biggest thing ever towed behind the Scout was a 35' travel trailer. Yes no kidding. The neighbor's tenant was given the trailer and the donor towed it as far as the driveway and chickened out. (probably a smart guy) so I volunteered to tow up the side of the mountain on a 1.5 mile dirt road. There was a couple of steep switchbacks at the start of the driveway and of course as soon as I started up the road a neighbor with a low level of patience pulls up behind me, so I pull over to let him by. Of course in doing so the wheels of the trailer dropped into the ditch on the side of the road. Pulling that thing out was interesting. The Scout spun all 4 wheels in 4l while it tried to pull to the middle of the road and finally started to gain some forward momentum.

After that the rest of the trip was rather uneventful except for the in slopped hair pin turn with the tree on the inside of the curve. To navigate that one we needed to put rocks in the road to tip the tip the trailer up enough to clear the tree.
 
First thing, since you're going to be 1000 lbs over what's legal upgrade your ins. Policy to $1,000,000 at least. No joke.

Post up pictures of the suspension, front and rear.
 
Rear
 

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Also my current trailer has surge brakes on it now, Scout has a brake master cylinder and any recommendations on the slip-in style receiver hitch and hyro boost kits??
 
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You need to take to a good shop like IHPA for inspection and upgrades, and let them know what you plan to tow with it.
 
IHPA?? There an International dealer less then 5 mins away from me but it seem its all diesel trucks and towing truck havent seen and scouts there
 
IHPA is an authorized ihc light line vendor who happens to own, maintain and provide this forum, which is used as a vehicle for driving business to their webstore. There are no more dealerships that cater to the light line vehicles such as the scouts and pickups since that division of what was formerly ihc went tits up in 1980. IHPA is located in Grass Valley, CA.
 
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