Cheap Tow Rigs

I'd recommend looking into a full size SUV. Trucks are insane right now, and midsize SUV's/compacts are pretty popular right now.

Particularly, a GMT800 tahoe/suburban. They're extremely reliable, sub-$5k, replacement parts are EXTREMELY cheap/available, and they're absurdly easy to work on with a huge community. We've had an 01 1500 burb (5.3/4L60E), and currently have an 01 2500 burb (6.0/4L80E). The 1500 towed any open trailer <7k like it wasn't even there, but once we upgraded to an enclosed trailer we upgraded to a 2500 burb. Our 1500 was purchased for $2500 but it was a beater, and we paid $5500 for our 2500 but it had a huge stack of service records and was completely turn-key and needed nothing. I wish we went with the nicer 2500 the first time around, but if you never plan on towing an enclosed trailer or more than 7k lbs a 1500 burb will get it done.

Also, there are more times that I've been happy that my cargo space is enclosed or I can seat 8 people, than I've needed an open bed. Full size SUV's are cheaper than trucks but I feel like my burb can do more things for me for less $ than a truck.

Late GMT400 3/4 ton Suburban.  V10 Excursion.  If you are going with lighter car and trailer, first gen Durango hemi with their max tow package.  Go with just a car dolly, Toyota Sienna after 2006.  If you hate yourself, any Ramvan.

At the end of the day, Hertz commercial pickup truck rental unless they have removed the unlimitted miles they used to have is cheap than all these options.

Totally agreed.  Excursions were owned mostly by a different group of people than non-conversion van E350's.  In our region, E350's do drop in price fast but they are also abused by tradesmen or neglected by churches.  There are tons of exceptions of course.  Most of the Excursions were bought for one of two reasons and the V10's usually only the latter: Soccer mom or dad wanted the biggest thing running or tow the horse to events.  Both tended to maintain them better than the E350's.

Now, 7.3 Excursions were only purchased to tow and I almost bought a 350K mile example because the records the guy kept showed a level of car one does not see every day.  He moved campers for a living (common in my area as Elkhart, In is an hour away) as a retired truck driver taking his wife and three dogs everywhere.  The stuff he had to replace was insane but as he stated "It was the cost of doing business,and business was good."

Agree that for two or three weekends a year, renting a truck is cheaper. But when you’ve been doing this for enough years, you end up wanting to avoid the Uhaul silliness. I lucked out and found a ‘90 F250 supercab 460 for $1500 back in 2019. Yes, at current prices of diesel, it goes notably further per dollar of fuel than my teammate’s 6MT Cummins Dodge. The Ford pulled our Vette back from KC to Phoenix on an open trailer like it wasn’t there…

This is true.  For us in the LA basin, there is 20-30 miles of 5-8% grade between us and every racetrack we run.  Having a lot of engine is important to me so as not to spend 60 minutes at 30mph and 5000 RPM..

Ah...This just popped up on Facebook near me. It's an 05 Chevk 2500HD 4x4. Its listed at $7k but will work very well as a tow rig.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3743479 … 6405719484

After my teammates E250 van got stolen, we rented uhaul trucks for towing for several years.  But over a year ago I started watching CL for tow vehicles. Mostly I looked at Fords up through 2002. My son talked me into including suburbans up to 2006 in the search. A few months ago I got a 2002 Suburban 1500 4x4 with g80 locking diff, nice interior, and only 166,000 miles on it for $2700. I saw many of these for sale claiming to be running fine with nearly 300,000 miles, so they seem reliable. I've replaced the shot shocks with Bilsteins and done most of the maintenance items. It tows great (up to 7,500#) and I love it, except when I pull up to the gas station. The tank holds something like 35 gallons and goes through them fast. BUT it'll take e85, which is a sometimes more than a buck a gallon less around here. 

It probably would have been cheaper to keep renting, especially since I still rent the trailer from uhaul, but it is sooooooooooo much nicer to be able to load up ahead of time, instead of on the morning you're leaving for the track. Last time I rented a uhaul truck, I parked it on a slight incline on some wet leaves.  The brand new mighty Silverado was completely immobilized by some wet leaves under one tire. Pathetic. It was a huge effort to get it out. With the locking rear diff, the Burb wouldn't have even needed the 4x4 to get out of that embarrassing peccadillo.

The other thing I didn't like about the rented pickups was that ALL of my tools, parts, and supplies were sitting in the back of an open bed. So stopping for food or lodging on the way to a race meant constant worry that things would be stolen.  My suburban has locking doors and a factory alarm. One last benefit, it has a 5.3L LS engine. It's my first v8. I feel like a real 'Murrican now.

That $1 discount on the E85 is probably not worth it.  Depending on the actual fraction of ethanol in the E85 it could have 30% less energy per gallon, so unless you are getting it for something like $2.35 per gallon you're losing.