Another towing question
I have a 23' Chapperalle. and double axle trailer (total weight est 5000
pounds.) I'd like to tow it up a ramp and into a storage yard then
launch once/year. Ramp is about 20% and maybe 20' long, the yard is
less than 100 yards away.My vehicle is a Chevy Malibu with a wheezy 4, and the trailer has an
electric winch. Think if I stayed in Low, and went slow I could do it? |
Jim
Oct 22
2006
|
| Cripes, man! The boat rig weighs about as much as the car! The frame of the boat trailer is stronger than the frame of the car.
Woah! Wait a second. The car HAS NO FRAME! well, maybe a "sub" frame,
but doing what you want to do is not a good idea. My 18 ft. ChrisCraft is on a single axle frame, and I pull it behind a
302 v-8 powered '89 Mercury Grand Marquis. At least it has some power, and a full frame, and some brakes. you should really reconsider what you're planning.
Jim, wrote: |
tschnautz
Oct 23
|
| Of the 4, Only the driver counts as a potential loss. |
JR
Oct 23
|
| Mine was a 383 for the street. Learned in my 55 chevy drag racing days that
it was much better to have a street car and a race car. Saved having to
wrench on the single car so you could drive to work on Monday. |
Calif
Oct 24
|
| I think the original poster is just trying to jerk someones chain.
Either that or they must sell cheap drugs in the area. |
Linkd
Oct 24
|
| On my 1968 Charger I had to build some plates to sandwich the "frame" to
attach a receiver hitch. |
Calif
Oct 22
|
| Your '68 Charger *had* a frame. Most new cars don't. I think the last
full-framed big car is (was) the Ford, Mercury and Lincoln towncars that are
being phased out. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| What the heck, I still think it's worth a try. Think of the fun involved...
and it might just work out OK. Where's your sense of adventure.... on the
other guy's money? |
Butch
Oct 22
|
| Notice the quotes? Unitbody frame and I build a sandwich of steel plates to
spread the load. |
Calif
Oct 22
|
| Hafta go check .... be right back. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| We could sell tickets to witness his first attempt. Ramp shows are always a
lot of fun. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| I see what you mean. It has a frame of sorts ... but not like a real, full
frame. Sorta ends before it gets to the back. Took some pictures but the
underside of the Lee is rough. No rot, but it has not been restored yet. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| While you can usually get away with substantially over the rated towing
capacity for something short like that, I suspect 5,000 lbs is WAY more
than that car should tow, you may well end up with the rear bumper
scraping on the ground or the hitch broken off just from the tongue
weight. If that doesn't happen the trailer and boat could easily pull
the car back into the water, there's no way that car weighs anywhere
near 5,000 lbs, probably more like half that. With a sufficiently large and sturdy vehicle, a little 4 cylinder could
do it, but power is only a small portion of the equation. Got any friends with a truck? |
James
Oct 23
|
| I don't know why anyone would use a bumper hitch on anything, I don't
even think they're legal in a lot of areas. |
James
Oct 23
|
| Actually built some narrow plates to go inside the folded sheetmetal frame.
Can not exactly remember how I did it. But towed a 2800# vette on a tandem
trailer with spare wheels. Worst part of the beautiful POS was the lack of
brakes 10" drums, and lack of radiator size. Could not use the AC on real
hot days. |
Calif
Oct 23
|
| Don't know about the '68 models but in '69 the R/T's that had either the 426
or the 440 HO had disks on the front and an oversized, 26" radiator. They
were part of what was called the "Hemi Package". The brakes were the most
difficult items to get when we were re-doing the front end. They are big,
four piston caliper types that are very hard to find and few shops can get
parts to rebuild them. I had called Smith Bros. Restorations who
recommended upgrading everything ... rotors, spindles and calipers to those
from the readily available 1970 and later models that were two piston types.
We lucked out though after six weeks of searching found a new set of
rotors, four piston calipers and pads of the original type. Got them from a
small, off the wall garage in Georgia. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 23
|
| What year is it? Does it have a frame and frame mounted receiver type
hitch? If not, you may find your rear bumper on the ground. I looked up the 2007 Malibu with the 4 banger. Tow capacity is 1000 lbs.
That's a small utility trailer full of leaves. I'd find a friend with a truck. Your car is designed to *be* towed, not
*to* tow 5000 lbs. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| I would look for a friend with a pick up truck or rent a pickup truck
twice a year. |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| GMTA |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| What the heck, give it try. Worst case is it won't work and you'll be out
the ccost of te hitch.... unless you can put it to use towing a small
utility trailer full of leaves. |
Butch
Oct 22
|
| I would be concerned about damage to the transmission, even if towing a
short distance. As Eisboch pointed out, if the tow bar is not attached
to the frame, you can end up ripping the tow bar off the car. A Malibu
4 banger is not built to tow 5000 lbs. |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| Pay someone to launch/pull it out. Lots cheaper than replacing
transmission. |
Don
Oct 22
|
| Rental pickups here only have the 'bumper hitch' rated for 2000 lbs. |
Don
Oct 22
|
| If the ramp is wet, or covered in green slime, you, the boat, the
trailer and your Chevy are likely to slide into the drink. |
Harry
Oct 22
|
| >Tow capacity is 1000 lbs. That's a small utility trailer full of leaves. I started here and spilled my Diet Pepsi. >Your car is designed to *be* towed, not *to* tow 5000 lbs. LOL!!! --
Disclaimer: This is a boating post and applies to boaters. It is not
intended to provoke, annoy, irritate, bother, aggravate, anger,incite,
inflame, infuriate or create controversy resulting in unacceptable
behavior on the part of other posters nor is it intended to generate
political commentary or off-topic debate. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| Yeah, but it will make for one hell of a story. :>) --
Disclaimer: This is a boating post and applies to boaters. It is not
intended to provoke, annoy, irritate, bother, aggravate, anger,incite,
inflame, infuriate or create controversy resulting in unacceptable
behavior on the part of other posters nor is it intended to generate
political commentary or off-topic debate. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| I can't add anything to what others have already said. This is not a good idea. --
Disclaimer: This is a boating post and applies to boaters. It is not
intended to provoke, annoy, irritate, bother, aggravate, anger,incite,
inflame, infuriate or create controversy resulting in unacceptable
behavior on the part of other posters nor is it intended to generate
political commentary or off-topic debate. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| The best stories are always expensive mistakes. |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| Really? No F-150s for rent? --
Disclaimer: This is a boating post and applies to boaters. It is not
intended to provoke, annoy, irritate, bother, aggravate, anger,incite,
inflame, infuriate or create controversy resulting in unacceptable
behavior on the part of other posters nor is it intended to generate
political commentary or off-topic debate. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| I have one explanation. He lives in Canada. ;) |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| Tell me about it... Did I ever tell you... :>) |
Short
Oct 22
|
| I like their National Anthem. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| Actually, I didn't mean to insult his car. It just happens to be one of the
models that are popular with the RV crowd and they use them as their towable
"toads". Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
| Ranger step bumper only rated for 2000 lbs and 200lb tongue weight...
I assumed F150/GMG/Chev/Dodge full size the same. |
Don
Oct 22
|
| ...and proud of it! |
Don
Oct 22
|
| English or French part? |
Don
Oct 22
|
| Don,
Why don't Canadians mount their tow bars onto the frame? ;) Why would anyone use a bumper hitch on a F150? |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| But you guys don't know how to mount a trailer hitch on a F150. You
should be ashamed of your countrymen. ;) |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| Curious that the original poster mentioned leaving it in low; does anyone
think it would actually get a chance to shift into any other gear, if it
could pull that load, in a distance of only 100 yards? |
Bill
Oct 22
|
| considered thoughts to the readers of rec.boats: |
Gene
Oct 22
|
| I thought we were talkin' about rental trucks. Y'all may be rich enough
to spend $200.00 to mount a hitch on a one time rental, but we're much
more frugal up here.
Having said that, I did spend the $200 to put a Class 2 frame mounted
hitch on my *3 year lease* Ranger pickup. |
Don
Oct 22
|
| We could show you a thing or two about mounting! |
Don
Oct 22
|
| And if you cause an accident it could be viewed as negligence on your
part. |
Wayne.B
Oct 22
|
| Funniest towing incident I ever saw, happened at least 40 years ago. I am
towing my race car back from Cotati Raceway, and next to US 101 in Marin
county is the CHP talking to some poor guy. He has one of those old clamp
to the bumper trailer hitches, and a U-haul trailer that is about 6x10 with
a pipe handrail. The trailer has to have several tons of big moss rocks in
it. It has torn the hitch loose from the bumber, leaving 4 nice slots, and
the hand rail on the trailer has hooked the end of the Armco barrier next to
the road and wrapped the trailer like an old sardine can opening strip.
Would not have been as funny with injuries. |
Calif
Oct 22
|
| But do not say anything that can be construed as homophobic. Jail time. |
Calif
Oct 22
|
| Maybe a Geo Metro would be better. |
Calif
Oct 22
|
| The English part. French is a dead language. :>) |
Short
Oct 22
|
| My suggestion is to rent a pickup truck with the hitch already mounted
to the frame. I guess if that is available in Halifax you are not aware
of it. It really isn't unusual in the US. |
Reginald
Oct 22
|
| 3000/300. |
Short
Oct 22
|
| Absolutely. If you stay very low, you will be dragged into the lake slowly
enough to be able to escape before the car sinks and sinks the boat and
trailer. |
Stanley
Oct 22
|
| The problem will be in finding a frame mount hitch that can handle something
close to enough weight. If you can find one then if the car will pull it up
the ramp you can do it. As long as you're just in the yard going a few
miles an hour. "Jim," <Jimdotedu@yahoo.com> wrote in message |
James
Oct 22
|
| What frame? Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 22
|
