Towing Tech Thread - Car Transportation

[oh5gt]

I tow my mustang on a 18' gator trailer. Got a good deal on a used 2011. I find the car has to sit toward the back of the trailer, bumper even with the back, to be properly balanced. Thats ok though because it gave me room on the front for a large box for straps and stuff. I use a weight distributing hitch and tow with a 2011 f150 5.0. Absolutely no problems towing with the truck. Plus i get better milage towing the car to the track than if i drove it.

Something I did on a whim that saved me once. Bought a spare bearing set and kept it in the trailer box. Had a bearing failure on the way to track once and had to replace it on the side of the road. I was later told by the long time track goers that they have all been through that and all carry spare bearings.

Tires, springs, axles and bearing condition is very important on these trailers. They work harder than you'd think.

 

[GallopingFord]

We purchased a 24ft Featherlite 4926 trailer for the company/personal use and it has been a great trailer. We found one that was pretty barebones and had a couple options but it gets the job done great. We've added ramp extensions for lowered vehicles and that has made getting the lowered cars easy.

We tow it using either my dad's F-150 or my Super Duty. We've also towed it with a Suburban, and a couple F-150 with 5.0's and Ecoboosts. All of these vehicles do just fine. Just make sure that you don't get a vehicle with a short wheel base for a longer trailer. My neighbor ignored my advice and towed a 24ft trailer with a Tahoe... which ended up being a near disaster.

We went with a enclosed trailer since we prefer that style for long distances and we use it to deliver customer's cars too. 24ft is very manageable even for me, since this is the trailer I've learned to tow on. It allows for a lot of cargo room. Eventually we will move to a larger trailer and we will order one next with a front cargo ramp door, electric winch, and storage.

 

[jayh007]

Trailer

Anyone every try rentals from uhaul or budget? I think they only rent for 35-40 day per day.
I previously towed a 18 ft enclosed loaded with a 5.7 l Jeep Laredo . No problems but I would suggest a good set of stabilizer bars.

 

[JesseW.]

the problem with rentals is they are all slightly different, even among the same brand. it sucks trying to figure out how to reload/unload the car everytime you have to go somewhere. it takes me about 10 min to load and 5 to unload because i have a routine down now

 

[007GTCS]

A lot of great information in this thread.
Just wondering though, I know my brothers f150 ecoboost fx4 can tow my mustang just fine. But what do you guys think about the new explorer sport for towing?

 

[AutoXRacer]

But what do you guys think about the new explorer sport for towing?

Seems like its limited to 5,000lb towing capacity...right at the minimum load for a Mustang and trailer. If I got all the above info correctly.

Hell, I was looking at H1 (Hummer) for a unique towing vehicle; 195HP and 560TQ. lol
But I hear they are on the rough side. Model to get would be a 2006; but those are $$$$.

Seems like the top choice will be a new F150 crew cab with eco-boost.
Thinking when the 2015 are out, the 2014 and older will go on sale!!

 

[GallopingFord]

A lot of great information in this thread.
Just wondering though, I know my brothers f150 ecoboost fx4 can tow my mustang just fine. But what do you guys think about the new explorer sport for towing?

How big of a trailer? Just a simple open car 18ft?

Hell, I was looking at H1 (Hummer) for a unique towing vehicle; 195HP and 560TQ. lol
But I hear they are on the rough side. Model to get would be a 2006; but those are $$$$.

I wouldn't give a fuuuuuk. H1's are badass. Lol

 

[kdanner]

You have mountains up there, that makes all the difference. You can never be light enough or have enough pulling power. I'd go as light as possible, something like this. http://jftrailers.com/onecar.php

Like Bud, I tow with a 5.4 3V, and I tow 13k lbs with it, but I couldn't tell you where the closest mountain is.


Oh, and try to get 16" wheels/tires. All trailer tires are junk, I don't care what brand. But if you get 16" it makes it easy to change to truck tires which I have had far better luck with.

 

[AutoXRacer]

Wow, thanks!! Those trailers look great!!! Not too expensive either...I think... lol
Nice to know about the tires!! Anyone run run-flats or is that not a thing?

 

[skwerl]

Gerald,
Yes, my trailer is an old rusty piece of junk but it works great. This is what I meant by the 'split tail'. Makers it super easy to hook up the back of the car. Also you don't need an 18'-20' trailer to tow a 14' car. My trailer bed is shorter but it has a 5' tongue giving me more access to hook the straps up front as well. Before you laugh at my setup keep in mind I only have less than $2K in it and it has new wheels, tires and bearings. I can safely haul a car across the country on this trailer tomorrow if need be. Once you get to the track and offload, nobody cares what your trailer looks like.

 

[Bud]

You have mountains up there, that makes all the difference. You can never be light enough or have enough pulling power. I'd go as light as possible, something like this. http://jftrailers.com/onecar.php

Like Bud, I tow with a 5.4 3V, and I tow 13k lbs with it, but I couldn't tell you where the closest mountain is.


Oh, and try to get 16" wheels/tires. All trailer tires are junk, I don't care what brand. But if you get 16" it makes it easy to change to truck tires which I have had far better luck with.

Damn, the bottom 2rail trailer on that page only cost 1k more than the steel one I bought, wish I had seen that page before. Lighter and less up keep would have been nice.

 

[07graygt]

I've been looking at kaufman trailers. It's a steel trailer but I can get a 21' with 4' dove tail for 3000. The have smaller sizes and price goes down. There web site says the will deliver anywhere. I have on about five hours away. I know a lot of people bag on the 6.0 powerstroke but I bought mine 3 years ago for 15,000 with 100000 miles. I've since put 35000 on it. They only thing I've had to do is replace the oil cooler. I love my powerstroke. One time I had to tow my focus up in the mountains I was able to do 70 up hills with no problem. The only down side to a diesel is the cost of oil changes and fuel filters. I'm getting around 20 mpg and when I pulled the trailer it only dropped to around 15.

 

[kdanner]

Damn, the bottom 2rail trailer on that page only cost 1k more than the steel one I bought, wish I had seen that page before. Lighter and less up keep would have been nice.

There are times I don't want to drag the 30' box to the track. It's great when you get there, but towing it around sucks. At only 1200lbs, I'd really like to have one of these too.

Anyone run run-flats or is that not a thing?

No run flats. No trailer tire is rated for more than 65mph. The hotter the weather, the harder it is on them too. They flat out explode, I've felt the concussion inside the truck. When this happens then it whips the tire carcass all around and destroys your fender too. You'll find examples of this all over yellowbullet, and on plenty of RV forums also. Now that I think about it some more, 15" is probably just fine on an open trailer, those are almost always 3500lb axles, and just looking quickly there's no problem getting truck tires in 235/75-15 load range XL that are rated for more than the axles are, so those should work out good.

 

[AutoXRacer]

So I was playing around and building F150s online.
I noticed that the stock configuration, no matter the engine selection, the towing capacity is 7,500LB or close to it with 3.55 gears. Changing the gears to 3.73 increases it to 9,600LB or so. And 4.10 gears to 11,300 or so.

Not familiar with trucks, but would 4.10s be too short of a gear for highway driving and fuel economy? Lets say you want this truck for double duty, daily driving and part time towing.

 

[69Mach1-409]

I believe you only get that kind of real capacity with the Max Tow / HD payload options. Biggest issue with 1/2 ton towing is that you run out of payload / tongue weight long before you run out of trailer weight.

On a side note: I have 4.10's with 35" tires and pull around 1,900 rpms @ 70 mph.

 

[AutoXRacer]

I believe you only get that kind of real capacity with the Max Tow / HD payload options. Biggest issue with 1/2 ton towing is that you run out of payload / tongue weight long before you run out of trailer weight.

On a side note: I have 4.10's with 35" tires and pull around 1,900 rpms @ 70 mph.

You tow with your Raptor? Thats my...well, one of my dream trucks and I was considering that truck until the general consensus is that its not a good towing vehicle.

Edit: Re-read your post. What is their tow rating?

 

[69Mach1-409]

You tow with your Raptor? Thats my...well, one of my dream trucks and I was considering that truck until the general consensus is that its not a good towing vehicle.

Edit: Re-read your post. What is their tow rating?

Yup, bought her as my DD and got a deal on a nice trailer, so she's a tow pig now too. Scab tow rating is 6,000lbs and Screw is 8,000lbs due to the soft rear suspension. I'm just under 6,000lbs between the car, trailer, and some gear. Tows better then any vehicle I've owned so far, and even tows better then my dad's F150 5.4 2wd w/ 3.55's tow package. Avg between 11.5 - 12.5 going to Mustang Week and we weren't driving slow.

 

[AutoXRacer]

So the crewcab (4 door) would have more towing capacity?

What is your MPG on a daily basis? I was reading that towing the truck would MPG in the single digits.

 

[69Mach1-409]

Yup, the SCrews have an 8k tow capacity.

I've towed for 2,500 - 3,000 miles so far (18k on the truck). I've seen in the 10 mpg range, but the norm seems to be in the 11 - 11.5mpg range.

I might not be the best for the Daily commute comparison.. My commute is less then 8 miles, so she barely gets warmed up.. but I avg around 13 mpg on the crap winter fuel and I'm some where in the 14.5 mpg range once they bring back the summer blends. Lifetime avg for the truck, including 2,500 - 3,000 miles of towing, is 13.4 mpg.

By comparison, everytime there's snow on the ground the 'other-half' steals the Raptor for her 80 mile commute.. even in shit weather / roads with the winter fuel she avg around 14.5 mpg..

I've read of guys with a lighter foot getting 16-17 avg, but I've also heard of guys getting 11.. I've only seen 17+ mpg tanks a few times, always in the summer, on longer trips.

 

[rcm90]

I wouldn't give a fuuuuuk. H1's are badass. Lol

They suck, especially an up armored hummer which weighs less than one with a trailer.. It would be horrible to tow with. Haha