86 D150 Slant 6 Towing and WWGRMD?

First question is simple. The 86 D150, it's an 8 foot bed with a slant 6 on 31s and a hockey puck body lift. everything is in good mechanical condition. Good brakes, good motor, good tires etc; we've been using it for hours on end with moving stuff no problem. I have no doubt it will travel from Virginia beach area to sewell new Jersey and back without skipping a beat. Question is, how safe am I to tow a 78 firebird with it from NJ to just short of VA beach? WWGRMD? I also haven't towed before, so this would be a new experience. 

So, the wife and I have a car addiction, between the two of us we have a 92 940 Turbo, Turbo'd 00 focus, 78 Opel, 81 El Camino, 86 D150 slant 6 and potentially a 78 Firebird ex-drag car.  

The Focus, ElCo and Opel are "forever" cars, the firebird is likely to join that group as well.  

Does GRM support the firebird joining the fleet or is six cars too many for one person

TurboFocus said:

 Question is, how safe am I to tow a 78 firebird with it from NJ to just short of VA beach?

 

I also haven't towed before, so this would be a new experience. 

 

How short of Virginia Beach?  Any distance qualifies.

Flat tow?

As someone who regularly travels the mid-Atlantic I-95 corridor... please don't.

In reply to TurboFocus :

Does the truck have trailer wiring and a brake controller? That will add a whole lotta work if not.

If not, and you're not going to tow all the time, you might just want to rent a truck and trailer instead. Towing without really good brakes is terrifying.

If you do it with a tow dolly I see no issue whatsoever except that it's going to be slow. I don't think I would want to rent a U-Haul trailer and put it behind your truck with as heavy as they are.

In reply to bludroptop :

Newport News area, plan was either tow dolly or flatbed trailer.  

LOL one against the idea.

Dave M

It has a plug tucked up into the bumper, if its wired is another question. I'll have to look into that

One is a most likely not due to most likely not having proper equip on the truck.

Dusterbd

Slow is ok, assuming 55 the whole way back? Where else to rent a tow dolly? Haven't looked into purchasing one.

One is ok with the idea.

What if I just road killed the car back to VA beach? Better or worse idea?

TurboFocus said:

 

What if I just road killed the car back to VA beach? Better or worse idea?

Better idea.  When you break down, you will only have to have one vehicle towed off the interstate.

Seriously, not trying to be a jerk - the towing capacity of that rig is probably in the 3000-3500# range before it was jacked-up on pucks and towing a car will be a handful under the best of circumstances.  It will be unsafe at highway speeds and a menace to other motorists if slow down and lumber along at 45 mph.  Add your lack of experience to the mix.

We haven't asked what transmission you're towing with, but towing will expose every part of your truck to higher loads and stress.  

On the positive side, a significant failure could make the news - block a lane or two on the Capital Beltway and see if you get coverage!  Roadkill style...

P.S. Welcome to the neighborhood

Rent a truck and a trailer or go to shipping brokerage website and compare prices.

In reply to bludroptop :

I think you have the right idea. It's a 5+ hour drive NOT towing a car with a vehicle that may or may not be capable of towing. Plus, it may be fun, and will guaranteed be an adventure.

The other options would be to rent a U-Haul and trailer and just do it the right and safe way, or even hire a transport company to haul it for probably not much more.

Uhaul will likely not rent you a full trailer for the 6cyl truck due to its tow rating. Maybe a tow dolly. Check the Uhaul website

Please tell us more about the 78 Opel. Is that Isuzu version?

I have a '90 with a 318 and I wouldn't want to tow a car on a trailer through a high traffic area.  I can only imagine how much it'd suck with a slant 6 and 4wd (I assume because of the lift) I can only muster 60 unless it's a long flat stretch so I'm sure you'd be going 45 max.

TurboFocus said:

 a 78 Firebird ex-drag car.  

Is it street legal? If not do the states you will be flat or dollying through require it be?

L5wolvesf said:

TurboFocus said:

 a 78 Firebird ex-drag car.  

Is it street legal? If not do the states you will be flat or dollying through require it be?

big thing here, most states require the towed car to be registered and tagged. in flat tow and on a dolly

I've towed much more with less vehicle through rougher traversed areas.

In reply to MrChaos :

Since when? I've never had an issue without plates. But I also had paperwork stating I owned the vehicle in question on the dolly.

The firebird isn't orange, is it?

In reply to TurboFocus :

Don't listen to me, my advice might not suit your situation.  I towed a bigger heavier trailer all over the country with a little S10 SUV. Never had a problem. Never caused a problem. 
But, I'm a look ahead kind of person.  I don't go blindly driving up to slower traffic and magically expect them to get out of my way.   Nor do I go driving into congestion without planning what my options are in case things go wrong. 
I'm also capable of quickly reacting in case things go sideways. I don't need to think about it or have someone tell me what to do. 
 

If you are like me then  do it.  It will be an adventure you'll remember for a good long time. If on the other hand you tend towards the overly careful.  Want everything perfect and don't like to be put into situations where you are forced to think quickly and correctly then please don't attempt this. 

Ranger50 said:

In reply to MrChaos :

Since when? I've never had an issue without plates. But I also had paperwork stating I owned the vehicle in question on the dolly.

In NC if the vehicle being towed has tires on the road it needs to be registered, now they might not care but they can ticket you for it.

L5wolvesf said:

TurboFocus said:

 a 78 Firebird ex-drag car.  

Is it street legal? If not do the states you will be flat or dollying through require it be?

Plates? Paperwork?  Why?  Reciprocity is in your favor.  Here's a little inside information. Policemen, highway patrol are humans.  Not computers. They have to remember exactly what they were told in the class about reciprocity. The fact that some states do things differently. Some states only have one license plate. Some states have 10 day paper plates or 21 day. Or Minnesota had a period where due to computer glitches nothing was required.  
 

My point is if you are driving the speed limit, not causing trouble, with out of state plates. You likely won't be bothered. 
 

Oh there are jerks who are just looking for trouble but they also  tend to be the ones who remember the least about everything they need to know about reciprocity. 
Go boldly !  

Most of the places I have towed have been

4 wheels down- registered the same as if you were driving.

2 wheels down- dolly or vehicle needs to be registered.  (if they register tow dollies in that area)



I'm going to assume it is a 2wd since you said D150, as W150 would be 4wd.   Also because it is body lifted with hockey pucks.   


As far as being able to physically tow the car?  Sure, I can do it, but it will be over the factory tow rating by a factor of 3.    The suspension and brakes would likely be okay, but your transmission will hate you.    You didn't mention rear gearing or transmission, and both of these will make a huge difference in in how much you will hate life towing wth it.    Learn to tow with something muh smaller before you jump into this.   Learn safe trailer loading, and how to properly hook up the chains.  Practice backing up a trailer.    

Far too many people get in way over their heads towing.   Trailer towing should be a separate endorsement in every state with a proficiency test when you get your license.  

Personally, I would tow it, but I have been towing cars for 40 years.     I would also upgrade the truck before doing so.   I would swap a lower geared rear end in, add air bags to the rear, add a trans cooler if you are running an automatic, and up the line pressure if that automatic is a 904 based trans.   Lastly, you need a brake controller for the trailer, and while the wiring for that and the lights is dead simple, it just adds to the cost and complexity of all the other things that need to be done to get the truck ready.


Now with all of that said, you shouldn't tow this car.

Your first time with a trailer should not be towing 2 1/2 tons on the highway for an extended period of time in traffic.   

frenchyd said:

Plates? Paperwork?  Why?  Reciprocity is in your favor.  Here's a little inside information. Policemen, highway patrol are humans.  Not computers. They have to remember exactly what they were told in the class about reciprocity. The fact that some states do things differently. Some states only have one license plate. Some states have 10 day paper plates or 21 day. Or Minnesota had a period where due to computer glitches nothing was required.  
 

My point is if you are driving the speed limit with out of state plates. You likely won't be bothered. 
 

Oh there are jerks who are just looking for trouble but they also  tend to be the ones who remember the least about everything they need to know about reciprocity. 
Go boldly !  

Frenchy's got it. There's tons of little niggly laws that cops don't follow because as long as you're being safe and predictable they have far bigger fish to fry- case in point, a few weeks ago someone stole my plates and I still had to drive all over the city on my day-to-day before I could reaplace them at the DMV. Even driving across 3 counties and being seen by both local PD and state patrol I was never pulled over. So on the legal side- I wouldn't worry so much as long as you clearly bought it and it's a clearly safe and controlled load.

As for OP- it'll be hard for the little slant. They're tough as hell, but that thing's not putting much power down to the tires. Have you tried testing it, by attaching the dolly you plan to use, putting some kind of weight on it, and seeing how fast you can get it?

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

And if it has three on the tree ( manual with a clutch pedal) your clutch is gonna react in a very negative way. 

Do you know anybody with a better tow rig? I'd be contacting them if you did. I love square dodge trucks but this mission is a bit more than that truck wants. 

I say purchase AAA 100 miles towing... 

take a reliable car with a good tow point on the rear and all the fluids you might need and any parts you're worried about. 

put a paper tag on the car and roadkill it with a support vehicle if it can do it. 


if it's not up for that, rent a truck and trailer... 

 

I would have no problem towing with the slant 6.  Probably has a 727 Auto?  If so, it will be stellar if it's in good shape.

My problem is the engineering of the truck... specifically brakes and suspension/chassis.  It proabably has 10" discs up front and 8" drums out back.  Not enough.  You'll be fine if you have adequate trailer brakes, but you'll be relying heavily on them.  Trailer brakes are meant to supplement, but sometimes when you have to trim up the gain on the trail brakes, they become easily overwhelmed.

Next, even if you did all new bushings, ball joints, shocks, etc up front, they are still not the greatest engineering.  They were what you had back in the day, and it worked at 55 mph when everyone around you was equally engineered, but in today's 75 mph, 14" brakes, multi-link suspension world, you may find yourself going very slowly to prevent white knuckles.

Having said that, I would do it in a heartbeat.  Flush coolant, flush brake fluid, and give a good scrutiny to the chassis parts and hit the road.  Just don't expect to keep up with traffic.  I have memories of towing my 26' travel trailer a short distance with a 76 F250 and a 4 speed toploader.  The number of times I almost died in 5 miles was comical, but it was a particularly abused specimen of truck.