SD33 Towing Capability

[duxup]

New to this site and the IH world. I'm looking at a '79 Scout II Traveler with a Nissan SD33 diesel, T19, Dana 20 trans case, Dana 44 diff, 3.54 gears. Engine has been freshened. I live in Milwaukee, WI and have a place in northern WI and thought this would be an ideal "up-north" truck. My concern is it's towing capability. I need to tow a 16ft fishing boat and 24ft pontoon. Nothing very far or very fast but I need to yank them out of less than ideal launches and travel 20 or so miles on some curvy roads....nothing too steep. Any thoughts or comments?

Thanks

[RD Durham]

You won't be able to tow that much. When I had my 1978 diesel Traveler light loads were about all it could handle, even with 4.10 axles. It could barely pull my small pop up trailer on flat ground and my Cobia 19 1/2 ft boat was beyond it's capability. With any load I really had to watch my exhaust gas temperatures.

[Drifter]

If you do some mods to the engine it should do fine.

[CareyWeber]

My Scout has the Tug SD33 (NA) rather than the Scout version of the SD33 (NA) and I've never driven a Scout SD33 that was not a turbo.

This like shows what I've towed with my Tug SD33.
http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=39880

[Bill Mahoney]

It will tow your boats, but it will be slooooooow. With the pontoon you may not get out of second gear.
You can't modify these engines a lot and expect them to live long.

[Drifter]

If modify the engine correctly you can get 50-80 hp more and still stay reliable.

[duxup]

Does opinion change if it is a turbo? Much better HP and torque output.

[Drifter]

If you change the turbo you will be surprised. One that will spool quicker and put out a little more boost.

[Sammy]

79 doesn't have a turbo and you can't add one on and expect it to live very long. The pistons on the N/A will not hold up to boost.

[jtscout80]

Originally Posted by Drifter

If modify the engine correctly you can get 50-80 hp more and still stay reliable.

No, you can't, not from a SD33 - 198 cubic inches and about 90 hp.

Unless by "modify it correctly" you mean remove and put in a larger, more modern engine.