Hello all,

Thinking about buying a travel trailer with a gross of weight of about 6k pounds. Our Durango(2015 Limited V6 AWD) did not come with the tow package, but wondering if I buy and install the heavy duty radiator and fan assembly if that would keep it in check warranty wise. Not really interested in buying the self leveling shocks as those seem to be a nightmare right now. Thoughts?

Thank you,

Chris

 

A 6k trailer is too much for a 3.6l Durango. I pulled a 3500lb enclosed trailer 500 miles last year with a 13 D 3.6l with factory TT pkg and found the trans in 3rd and 4th gear most of the time. The 3.6l is a great engine but lacks the torque to pull a heavy trailer. The 5.7l would do it easily. Regarding the warranty, if you have a failure that could be linked to the towing, you could have an issue. If you really want the trailer, trade for a 5.7l with the factory TT pkg.

 

First of all (and maybe this should be a sticky here since it comes up so much), the Magnuson-Moss warranty act prohibits manufacturers (and dealers) from denying warranty coverage for aftermarket parts being installed or maintenance services done by independent shops (or the owners themselves) unless the manufacturer/dealer can prove that the aftermarket part or maintenance procedure performed was the reason for the break down/failure/damage, etc. And even then, the only thing not covered under the warranty is the piece that was damaged by installation of an aftermarket part.

Example: You install a cold air intake on your vehicle from K&N. This is aftermarket. You then have an issue with your transmission. They can't say, "sorry, aftermarket air intake, warranty not valid" and deny coverage for the transmission. There has to be an actual link between the aftermarket part and the damage sustained. And, most importantly, the burden is on the dealer to prove it.

Now, if you had an open CAI and a ram air hood and water got in the engine compartment and the engine hydro locked because of water getting through the air filter, now the manufacturer has a link between the engine damage and the aftermarket part.

So with that info in hand, now we turn to your case. Installing an aftermarket tow package isn't going to void your warranty. If you sustain damage to the vehicle and they point to the tow add on as the reason, they'll need to prove that link. That's going to be hard to do with towing things as long as you're towing within the manufacturer's recommended capacities. So that leads us to my last point: Check the owner's manual and the truck capabilities. There will be specs as far as what you can tow with your current set up. If you exceed that and blow up the engine or the tranny, expect denial of your warranty claim accordingly. But if you're towing within the recommended specs as your truck is currently configured, you won't have an issue.

If you want to install the heavy duty radiator and fan assembly to up the capability and still want chrysler to recognize the warranty, then the parts will need to be MOPAR and installed by the dealer. That's the only way to ensure the manufacturer will warranty that part. Otherwise, if you go aftermarket on the radiator and it fails to cool the engine properly, chrysler will deny warranty coverage (aftermarket part caused the failure) and you'll be left going after whoever manufactured the aftermarket part and their warranty on that to cover the damage (good luck with that and read that warranty paperwork carefully as it probably only extends to the part itself, not anything "down the line" like your blown/overheated engine).

FYI, the tow capacity on a properly equipped V6 AWD durango is 6,200 lbs. With only the light cooling setup (your current configuration), it's 3,500 lbs.

http://www.dodge.com/en/towing_payload/2015/

Properly equipped means tow package with the engine cooling, suspension, etc. If you tow outside of that or tow without that stuff, expect warranty denial.

Also, keep in mind that tow capacity doesn't tell you everything. More importantly, you need to look at the GCWR (Gross Combined Wt. Rating) which is the weight of the trailer + weight of the car + weight of everything loaded in the trailer + everything loaded in the car like cargo, luggage, and passengers + tongue weight. On your car, it's rated for 8,900 lbs. On a heavy duty cooled V6 with tow package, that number is 11,600 lbs. But, the gross weight of the vehicle itself is 6,500 lbs (vehicle + occupants + baggage + fluids). The curb weight is 4,913 lbs (vehicle weight without occupants or baggage).

So, here's the calculations:
11,600 lbs
- 4913 lb curb weight
= 6,687 lbs left for trailer, occupants, baggage, and tongue weight (which must be included as a load on your vehicle and is usually 10%-15% of trailer weight.)

Subtract 6,000 lb trailer (assumes nothing extra inside trailer), leaves you with only 687 lbs for tongue weight, passengers, and baggage.

In other words, that's too big of a load to tow with even the heavy duty set up and a V6.

Start at page 515 of the owner's manual

 

^^^ this. And the only thing I can add is see how fast your insurance company denies coverage if you have an accident while towing out of spec. It's within their rights and they go off the VIN...

 

Also, be prepared to take a hit on resale value. If I'm a buyer in the market for a used Durango and I see that it has a tow hitch installed, but I run the VIN and see that it does not have the factory tow package, I'm probably going to pass on that particular vehicle because it tells me 2 things: #1: The vehicle was used to tow, and #2: It may not have been properly equipped to do that towing and/or the limit was exceeded at some point because many people don't know the above things I posted and just go off the manufacturer's advertising of "towing capacity" and think it applies to them when it may not.