What does NOT RECOMMENDED mean ... ?

... in the owners manual as far as towing ?

According to the manual ... it’s ok with a 3.6 .., but NOT RECOMMENDED with a 5.7 6.2 or 6.41 ?

Someone explain that to me !

Not enough info to say. What's the rest of the towing statement.

Synonyms for not recommended include inadvisable, ill-advised, unwise, imprudent, injudicious, impolitic, inexpedient, brash, foolhardy and foolish.


Go against the recommendations and have an accident where others are hurt or there is major property damage and you will really know.

Last line ... I can understand the HellKitty combo ..,,but the others ??

I

That awful BRASH of you Hash Brown !

Doc, not sure what your wanting to hear but you might call a different dealer then you use and ask there service dept.

It says not recommended, so either safety testing showed issues or component issues, you might ask if you did borrow your friends car and did it what could happen and would the void the warranty.

Your pretty quick witted for a 40 year old.

Brashy poTOE .. I’ve talked to 2 service managers .., and they are both HALF BAKED as far as that knowledge...



It’s ok to TOE with a 3.6 charger ... but not with a 6.4 .... a more heavy duty combo ALL AROUND than a 3.6 rig ever HOPED TO BE ...

Being totally TRANSPARENT.... poTOE

SLIGHTLY over 40 !

Here Doc.

https://www.chargerforums.com/threads/a-370-horsepower-charger-v8-can-only-tow-1000-pounds.148938/

Interesting read poTOE ..

But those guys are talking about older vehicles ....

HELL ... I’ve towed a Chrysler Laser with a 440 with my Carrotvan with a 3.8 !

I cant find nothing on a newer one.

Id just think its not designed for the added strain like ones spoke of on the earlier ones.

Id not think brakes, but cooling, trans heat????


What are trying to do doc if I may ask?

......JUST a small trailer ... single axle... like a small single axle utility trailer... jet ski or small boat trailer just locally

They obviously have some concerns, maybe its a stability thing if the owner has the power to go to fast with a trailer?

They rate the hellcat and 6.4 powered grand cherokees for towing decent amounts so its not a drivetrain thing most likely. Its likely a legal deal covering their ass because something about that combo is less than ideal for towing.

That, and they will look to deny warranty coverage for anything mechanical that goes wrong if they can show that you towed with it.

some of the manuals are generic, the intent of that statement is if you own a charger they don't want you to tow a 28foot enclosed trailer that has gvw of 12000 lbs. those statements are specific to the type of vehicle and motor. i use the U-Haul website to see what they spec as legal tow for a particular vehicle. not sure what vehicle you are towing with, Charger, Challenger, Pacifica, Ram?

I have had poor luck with service managers in the past. Got our 2005 Cummins stuck in low range. Could not get it out. Called three, three, dealerships on how to get it out. None of them knew. Was complaining to a friend and he said, jack up one of the front wheels, it'll come right out. It did.

When we bought our 2010 Cummins the owner's manual said you HAVE to run synthetic oil in it or engine damage will result. I again called up the same three dealers. One said it was the first they heard of it, one said they were aware of it but didn't know what the problem was running conventional, and the third gave me a dissertation on how their new shop truck was a Cummins and all they were running in it was conventional.

No, I have little faith in service managers knowing anything but how to ask for your phone number.

I'll throw a guess in here: the more powerful engines would put more strain on everything in the car that shares all the engines. Like the subframes, diff, axles, driveshaft, and maybe the tranny. For some items, the 6 doesn't have enough power to hurt things under the additional load of towing, while the 8s may.

Hell, my Neon can do better than that.

Maybe they figure someone is going to load up a trailer behind a hemi and then drive it like a race car...
But hemi trucks are pretty good too yet you can tow with them so I dunno

Wonder what changed from 2018...

2 choices:

- follow the recommendation and don't tow with it
- tow with it anyway, and prepare to accept the consequences should something go wrong

I'm thinking something other than drivetrain itself. Ride height?

Maybe the excess heat from turbo/supercharger equipped engines
running above the designed RPMs to road speed was their caution??

Joe

Edit Also, turbos under a constant load is tough on those not designed for that
type of use.

HaY DoC ! i'll hold yer BeEr and WaTcH ! ...............

This, would you use your jet boat in place of a tug boat.... no.

Great. NOW you tell me. I've been doing this for years.

Doc, maybe its not the car that cannot handle it, maybe it the trailer cannot handle all the Mopar horse power?

More than likely it has to due the components in the car, the trucks have the same size motors and you can tow with them.

Man ... do I need some catchin up to do !

I’ll bbl ...

As I read it, it specifically reads "on supercharged vehicles".

Back in the 90s, Dodge did the same thing with the turbocharged cars, limited the towing capacity. The thought process back then was the forced induction puts extreme loads on drive line and drive train parts and towing would only increase that already high load.

Imagine a 6.4 supercharged Challenger leaving a stop light, pulling a steep hill, in the rain, probably a white knuckle ride. Now picture that same car at the same traffic light, looking at the same hill, in the rain, but now has to get 5,000 extra lbs to move that is hanging on the back bumper. The 1st event eliminated 75% of the "new" hellcat owners. The second event eliminated all but about the top 5%, and those guys are not going to hang a trailer hitch on their Hellcat, and probably wouldn't be driving in the rain.

Do the same deal except instead of rain, you add a 90 degree day in July, how long do you think that trans is going to last? The trans may do the actual towing just fine, the problem will come 20,000 miles down the road when those burnt up clutches in the trans show up. Got a trailer hitch, yep, your problem, not theirs. The car companies are covering their butts. Gene

Note that the SRT Durango and SRT Jeep Cherokee, and TrackHawk Grand Cherokee all have towing ratings. Motor Trend even tested the new ram TRX 0-60 pulling a 24' airstream trailer(6.8 seconds BTW).

I don't believe its the drivetrain at all, its the fact that if you hammered it from a stoplight with any significant weight hooked to a hitch it would probably rip it from the unibody ofd the LX cars.

I don't know anything about those cars but a few possibilities come to mind.

Do the hemi cars have a rear facia that hangs to low to clear a hitch?

Does the exhaust system on a hemi car get in the way of mounting an adequate hitch?

Will the wider tires on a hemi car rub if the back of the car sags from too much weight?

There's a guy on hellcat.org that has a hitch on his Charger and has no issues. I questioned whether having that trailer back there and no tow package with a button to turn off rear sensors that it would be beeping everytime you turn. He said no issue.

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I can tow all of them,,,,,2 atta time. Use the caRRoT VaN to ToE......

Probably got more to do with compression and cylinder pressure than anything else / DETONATION !

"What does NOT RECOMMENDED mean....?"

When I see this statement, my instinctive reaction is: It's probably fine, unless you're a moron.

Remember, manufactures have to protect themselves from anyone that purchases the product.

I can easily see a manufacturer, and its lawyers, concluding that it's not a good idea to build a hot rod/performance car without the words "not recommend" when it comes to towing because of how Joe Q public might tow with it.

If there was a "real" problem with towing with it, they would use language different than "not recommended".

Day..... ummmmm ... where do I start ? I’ll get to it ! ... thx fur the input

The same engine in the Grand Cherokee or Durango (the 6.4L) is rated to tow. Even the HellCat engine is rated to tow in other platforms.

A friend has been telling me of this rigged up kitty..... hea ya go Doc, get yous a big ole hitch and a pushbar for when the brakes fail.

Friend says this owner is wealthy and does as he wants weather rational or not.

Good grief, does that look stupid.

Look at how close the rear facia is to the ground and the tires are to wheel openings and then go back up to my original response.