How do people tow with cars?

Specifically, how do people tow with cars for which there is no Class III hitch available?

The only people I know personally that have done this just connect the Class I up to the towbar or tow dolly and have at it. I guess it works, but it seems like it's opening oneself up for liability. And there's always the nagging worry that I'll get pulled over somewhere by a bored and righteous highway patrol officer.

Does everyone just use the Class I, or do people have custom hitches made?

Short version: I want to flat-tow a 2300lb car with a 3200lb car instead of a 3200lb truck, but only Class I hitches are available.

Oh noes a towing thread. If your car is rated for a gcwr that is sufficient to pull a load in excess of class 1 hitches you will have to find a class 3. My guess is if you can only find class 1 that your car can't legally tow much.

since all I ever tow is a tire trailer ... what's the difference ?

Class I are only rated for 150lb tongue weight/1500lb trailer weight.

Technically, a Class I isn't rated strong enough for a Bumper Dumper unless you're rather petite.

Vehicles I've seen towing cars: Audi 5000/200, Subaru Impreza, Legacy, and Forester (Impreza-towing-Impreza action!), Ford Taurus, Miata (you knew that was coming) and - my personal favorite - C5 Corvette. Twice. One towed an FD on a trailer and the other towed a big-block engined speedboat.

One of my friends has the same car I do and he's used it to dolly-tow various VWAG products, as well as an XR4Ti from South Carolina to Ohio. That's a bit more masochistic than I'd plan on doing. I know he had a Class I because I'd inquired about it.

If anything, I suppose it's incentive to put the towed car on an extensive Colin Chapman diet plan...

I didn't realize this was a major point of contention... if the answer is "they cross their fingers and make do" then that's the answer, and I'll just borrow a truck if I ever need to tow.

post edit: You can get Class II hitches for a Taurus?? 0-o Maybe it's time to look for a Duratec engined wagon. (shudder)

i had a class I on my caprice and when i wanted to go bigger i just bought a step bumper bolt on receiver for a truck and bolted it to the class 1 structure instead of the little tongue.

i needed a receiver to get the ball up higher to pull an empty car trailer. it fooled the guy at the trailer rental place enough to hook the trailer up for me. they required class III or better to rent a trailer.

since i was 18 and not very smart, i used it to pull an el camino home on the same rental flatbed trailer, partially on the highway, and i survived.

Custom welded hitch is a good option. This gives you the option of making a hidden style hitch.

I towed my VW Golf racer on a regular 18 foot trailer with my wife's Taurus wagon. It wasn't much fun.

Drove this rig for about ~500mi. It was pretty easy, but I wished the Volvo didn't need to shift as much. Factory Class III hitch we grabbed from the junkyard worked wonders.

My smart azz answer Very Slowly. My realistic answer we tried to tow a Diesel Rabbit with a Turbo Diesel Rabbit from Nebraska to North Carolina using a tow bar. I know, I know. We made it 15 miles. The tow bar was to short and the whole thing kept trying to swap ends. I think the hitch was a class 2 could have been a class 1. It was beyond the GVWR by a long shot. Then again the actual tongue wieght was probably not that high. I would go with a custom hitch is the answer.

Used to tow a G-Prod Spitfire on a trailer with a Vega Kammback wagon (!!!). Also a Pinto SW. Upgraded later to a Ford Falcon wagon. Eventually to a Caprice wagon.

On all of them, 75-80 MPH on Turnpike, no sweat.

LopRacer wrote: My smart azz answer Very Slowly. My realistic answer we tried to tow a Diesel Rabbit with a Turbo Diesel Rabbit from Nebraska to North Carolina using a tow bar. I know, I know. We made it 15 miles. The tow bar was to short and the whole thing kept trying to swap ends. I think the hitch was a class 2 could have been a class 1. It was beyond the GVWR by a long shot. Then again the actual tongue wieght was probably not that high. I would go with a custom hitch is the answer.

Hmmm...I've towed lots of rabbits with rabbits.

There are plenty of companies that make custom hitches for whatever you want. I had a class III hitch made for my old D50, which is really hilarious if you think about it.

I'm sure some engineers on here can come up with math to tell you what hitch to use. But IMO, since you are flat towing the hitch won't see that much down weight and will mainly see draw weight of the rolling resistance of the vehicle being towed. The only time it will see more is braking, at that time is when the draw weight should equal the car being towed weight. If you don't do many panic stops it shouldn't be an issue. I've never flat towed with a class I hitch, only class II and class III. But know people that have done it with no problems. If you plan on doing it on a regular basis then it would be worth it to get a better tow system (read: vehicle) but for a one time thing, shouldn't be a big deal.

Knurled wrote: Short version: I want to flat-tow a 2300lb car with a 3200lb car instead of a 3200lb truck, but only Class I hitches are available.

Check your local listings, flat towing is OK in NY if the towed vehicle has plates. No plates = ticket.

I have an adjustable one-size-fits-all tow bar that I use for short hops but I don't trust it. When I was ice racing, I had a bar made up to the frame of the car and a Class 1 on the truck, worked fine. I guess a good Class 1 is better than a rusty, about to fall off Class III.

Dan

In reply to 914Driver:

IIRC, that's basically the law everywhere: if its tires are touching the ground, it must be registered. This isn't a problem in my case. (That'd be a great way to avoid trailer registration fees, just tow a hulled-out econobox)

I know someone who would flat-tow an RX-7 with one of those $60 Harbor Freight towbars. The catch is, he completely re-engineered how it attached to the car, tying in to the bumper supports as well as the front crossbeam. The part that got me was that he'd tow with the driveshaft in! The owner's manual apparently says it's okay to do that for up to 100 miles.

Saw this on another forum this morning:

I would guess that most people do it like octogenarian's berkeley: slowly, and badly.

Do me a favor and post the route any of you yahoo's are taking the next time you tow, with dates and times so I know to stay the berkeley clear.

I towed my Rx3 on a full size trailer behind my 1979 Falcon wagon downunder and even behind my Commodore sedan, both are unibody cars and worked well. The Falcon was great, longer wheelbase and 351 FTW.

Like this

aussiesmg wrote: I towed my Rx3 on a full size trailer behind my 1979 Falcon wagon downunder and even behind my Commodore sedan, both are unibody cars and worked well. The Falcon was great, longer wheelbase and 351 FTW. Like this

You know, you missed both driveways.

we towed a 20' sailboat cross-country with a mid-70s Audi (a smallish one), and then back the other way with a volvo 240 wagon (4-cyl).

perhaps, though, you should let us all know precisely what car you plan to be towing with. Because this is GRM.....you could be talking about a Geo Metro with 1000lb of ballast inside for all we know, lol....

The last vehicle that I sold was a 86 Chevy full size long-bed truck, that the guy towed home with a 91ish Buick Regal and some primitive dolly. I was impressed/shocked/worried all in one.

I've never towed with a truck. I've done all my towing with Volvos. The 240 and 740 are rated to 1500kg, or 3300 lbs. When I used to part Volvos, I'd tow a Volvo on a dolly, using a Volvo. Never had an issue.

It's an American liability issue. Subaru of America says Subarus are not suitable for towing. Subaru of Australia says most Subaru models can tow 3-4000 lbs. Except it's essentially the same car!

EvanR wrote: It's an American liability issue. Subaru of America says Subarus are not suitable for towing. Subaru of Australia says most Subaru models can tow 3-4000 lbs. Except it's essentially the same car!

Probably. I noticed that things like VW Golfs are rated to tow 4000+lb in Europe, and maybe 1000lb in the US.

Well, you know, those European roads are all flat, wide, straight, and have tons of runoff room, not like these American roads

I've flat towed an FB with a miata before. The FB blew its carb apart and for whatever reason, the Miata made the most sense to tow it with as it was RWD.