Will it tow?

My thoughts are basically the same. I did manage to reinforce the hitch to support whatever crazy car i thought about towing.


Not pretty i know. I figure the cars weighs a good 2500lb and the dolly 700-1000lbs. Now my 4ws car weighs 2990 on a good day...can i really tow more then the weight of the car...trucks that can are built to do it but this car is certainly not.

defiler said:

I guess my question is why tow the dolly all the way out to NJ empty and then bring it back, when you could just go drive to NJ and get a 1-way dolly rental back to MI>

Click to expand...

The first time I picked up a car using a U-haul dolly I drug it from here to Toronto with nothing on it, got a lot of funny looks on the way, (my friend had rented it for three days to tow his dirt oval race car to and from the track, he rented one every week end and paid 30$ a day.

The second time I rented one close to the pick up point (1hour out of the way was the closest available dolly) the rental people where not there, it cost close to 200$ due to the distance being covered.
While filling out the forms she told me the tow vehicle is to small for the vehicle I wanted to tow, I look out the window at the 3/4 ton pick up I borrowed.
She said I will try putting in Cavalier instead of MX6???
Again she said the tow vehicle was to small???
The lady was on glue and thought I was towing a 3/4 ton pick up using an mx6 (meanwhile her husbands outside inspecting the trailer lights on the truck).


All this to say that U-haul has vehicle tow weight criterias and chances are that US and Canada U-haul's follow the same guidelines and towing a car with a car won't be accepted.

Jphillip you might need to rent the dolly locally and pick it up using a larger vehicle then your planing on towing with....


From U-haul:

Capacity

* Max Load: 3,450 lbs. when towing a front-wheel drive vehicle, 3,900 lbs. when towing a rear-wheel drive vehicle.
* Empty weight: 650 lbs.

Features

* Ratchet-operated tire straps
* Vehicle security chains

Advisements
Your towing vehicle:

* Must be equipped with a full hard top if it is a sport utility type vehicle. If the top or any portion of the top is removed, or is not a hard top, your sport utility type vehicle cannot be used for towing U-Haul equipment. A full hard top must be in place.
* Must weigh at least 750 lbs. more than the vehicle being towed
* Must have Class 2 tow hitch (3,500 lbs. minimum weight-carrying rating)
* Must have 1-7/8", 2" or 2-1/8" hitch ball (3,500 lbs. minimum)
* Must not exceed maximum allowable hitch ball height 25"
* Must have external mirrors on both sides
* Must have fully operational lighting
* Tow dolly lighting must be operational at all times, day and night, loaded or unloaded
* Maximum recommended speed is 45 MPH

The vehicle being towed:

* Must not weigh in excess of 3,450 lbs. if it is front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and 3,900 lbs. if it is rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
* Must have a maximum outside-to-outside tire width of 72"
* Must not exceed a body width (at the doors) of 75"
Note: body widths over 72" must use late-model U-Haul Tow Dolly (identifiable by silver galvanized color)
* Low-hanging equipment on the vehicle being towed such as spoilers, air dams, ground effects, etc., may be damaged by contact with the tow dolly during loading and unloading. Make sure there is enough clearance for these items.
* Tow lights (tail/stop/turn) required at rear of vehicle being towed

Already did it, no one got hurt.

I already completed this trip safely. I really wanted to see what other members thought about my crazy idea, but didn't have a chance to post until after i got back.

7:00pm on friday
I called u-haul to see if they had a tow dolly to rent. Guy on the phone was really nice, i simply lied and told him i would be using the dolly in town towing it with my dad's truck (he's never owned a truck).

7:35
A few minutes before close i come in (driving my 626)to pick it up, sign, and get the low-down on how it works. The guy was really cool and said..."hey you're not gonna tow with that are you?" I just told him i needed to pick it up on my way home from work because i live on the other side of the tracks. "just as long as you think it will tow the dolly home..." I guess it comes down to the fact that he didn't really care and they were about to close. I rented the dolly for all of saturday. I just had to have the dolly back by 7am on sunday.

Plenty of time.

9:30pm Friday
Everything is hooked up and ready to go. Had to troubleshoot the trailer lights wiring. If anyone ever has a problem getting everything to work on their trailer lights...you simply need to purchase a converter. 5 wires in, 4 wires out. Inspect oil, brakes (new set of pads installed a day earlier), coolant, grab a few sandwiches one beer (the big can) and a pizza and take off for NJ.

2:45am Saturday morning
Awake in a crzy state to my friend david pulling off in Ohio for gas only to hear a sound like the front end was coming apart on the passenger's side. As he came down the exit ramp something came loose maybe a wheel bearing or something but it was not right. At the time we were both pretty worked over, we slammed the beer and crashed out. We didn't even crawl under to take a look...we just leaned back and were out...until....

4:27 in the am
Freezing my azzz off. Dave starts the car and it seriously feels like there will be frost in the car.

10:15 am
damn we better get going, we should have been in jersey by now. How is it that a few hours ago we could see our breath but right now i am sweating in this car!!! What could be going on with this car.....of snap./../. I forgot to tighten the top caliper bolt on the pass side. Quick fix: steal bolt from subframe and put in bottom since torque when stopping is on the top bolt. Gas up and hit the road.

BTW at this point i figured i would put duct tape on the spot on the trailer that says limit 45 mph cuz it had no problem going 90.

5:36pm Saturday
Arrive in Old Bridge NJ, meet seller anthony and quickly load car and move everything from the trunk of my 626 to the mx6 (jack stands, jack, spare clutch, tools, empty beer and monster cans) BTW it has a mazda factory 6 disc changer in the back of the mx6 that just needs the canister that hold the discs. Check out anthony's other rides and wash up.

6:06pm
Roll out of NJ, not as bad as i thought it would be. Biggest fear at this point is getting up the mountains and out of the city without incident. Haha look at that! the guy in front of us is towing a civic with his truck and we are passing him with funny looks. We take and alternate route out of NJ (west 78 to 33N to head back up to 80W to avoid the start stop of the city).

9:20pm
Filling up we realize we didn't eat all day. time to take a break and hit up bennigans for a burger and brew. Nice people at the benny in Bloomsburg, PA. Dave had two harp's and i had two black and blu (cuz of another thread on this site:tup with a shot of Jamison. Load up and head out, dave's driving with the car on the back for the first time.

9:23pm
Drive past a lebaron with TWO cop cars pulling it over. Glad we are not THAT guy!

9:24
Oh shit those cops are pulling us over now. What did we do?

Cop: well for starters the car you are towing doesn't have plates....

Dave: yeah well we just bought it in NJ it is his car (points to me)

Me: do you want to see the title? or the bill of sale?

Cop: That's really not the issue here i am not questioning the ownership of the vehicle. Problem is in PA you need to have visible trailer lights and there is no plate on the trailer. That's the issue here.

Dave: It is a uhaul trailer. we're not responsible for any of that. It is a rental, do you want to see the contract?

Cop: that's not really necessary. they didn't give you any magnetic lights to mount on the back side of the car did they?

Dave: Nope. Nothing like that. We....

Cop: just sit right tight.

At this point another officer comes up to my window and asks for my license, I oblige since i'm a christian. they ask dave to get out of the car as they do they say no i know you guys have been drinking i can smell it on you.

Dave: Well we did just pull out of bennies and got pulled over. We had a brew with dinner. Just one.

They make dave blow while i sit in the car. Later he tells me they asked him how old his passenger was (me) same age he replied, " his b-day is -----" yup that's right the other officer says. Dave blows .03 legal limit is .08 but cop still asks us to pull over for a while. Nice...at least they were cool about everything.

back on the road
on the way out i managed to get between 20 and 23 mpg but that was hauling azzz. on the way back i got 18.6mpg the first leg (before bennigans) but then 16.5mpg after that.

8:44am safely arrive in kzoo. Unload car and drop tired dave off at home. I take off to drop the dolly at uhaul. Same guy is there when i go back to return dolly. I tell him i forgot to wake up early and return it...."am i going to get charged," no way man he says. you're all set. Thanks again.

haha! foiled uhaul's stringent policies once again.

thanks for reading....karma to you if you finished!

I would do it again too, but not without knowing my car like i do. I have rebuilt just about everything on this car.