Advice: Towing Car 200 miles
 

There's a car I want in San Diego, but the problem is getting the undrivable car from there to here (220miles). I have a truck (93 T100), but it's too light to tow it.

Budget rental wants ~$300 for a rental + dolly 1 way.

Uhaul wants even more.

No one I know has a truck.

Any other options I'm overlooking?

Pull it with T100. /thread.

I pulled a 5x8 Uhaul from AZ to GA behind my Neon, and got towed by an Astro many times (4.3l V6). Why do you think the T100 is too light?

Come to think of it, my wife tried to tow a similar Uhaul from Tampa to Tucson behind my Miata (!) and made it to Jacksonville before the clutch had had enough. Nice purple spots on the flywheel.

Uhaul won't rent the dolly unless it meets the requirements. The car I'm towing weighs more than the T100.

Is a ball hitch that goes on the bumper enough?

or

Do I need one of those square hitches that attach to the underside of the truck? Those are $$$.

http://www.carjunky.com/images/cj_pe...iece_hitch.jpg

Unless you will be driving through a lot of hills or mountains, you should not have any problems towing a miata with your truck.

Tony

I'll be going through the Grapevine, which is steeper than heck. They have run-away truck ramps there.

The car being towed weighs 3600 lbs. The T100 (1/2 Ton):

weight - 3500
HP/TQ - 150/180

oh.

This being a Miata forum and nothing in the first post to the contrary, we thought you were towing a Miata. Silly us. ;)

I would use the second ($$$) option if I were you.

dont use Uhaul. they screw up everything. go for the budget truck. the last thing you want is failing brakes on the downhill side of the grapevine. or bite the bullet and call a flatbed truck service. it may be big dollars, but it's safest.

Youll need the hitch that attaches to the frame, the hitch on the bumper won't be strong though to pull that kind of weight.

LOok on your local craigslist for car dollys, ive seen some 2 wheel trailers around here go for as cheap as $2-300.

My '96 T100 has a 5200lbs rated towing capacity at the bumper. It is stamped in the bumper. It's in the manual.

What's the problem? I own a tow dolly and have pulled my 3750lbs '68 GTO with the T100.

If it's an automatic, just keep it out of overdrive. That can burn up the tranny.

My 2wd T100 weighed 3825lbs on a scale.

If you have a problem with the tow dolly goons just lie to them about what you are towing. Do you think you'd be the first?

Just take it nice and slow and don't get in a hurry and you'll be fine. Remember that if you double your speed your inertia in lbs of force is SQUARED. So don't rush. Nobody ever skidded off a mountain road or jackknifed a trailer because they took the corner too slow.

I thought this was a miata forum. lol.

Guess I could be wrong then, I know my 4runner isn't near 5200 at the bumper.

Don't want to sound like a dick (but I'm going to). If you don't know the towing weight of your vehicle, it's probably not the best idea for you to do this yourself...you may want to take y8s advice and find someone to ship for you, FWIW.

Either way, good luck on your pickup.

abba dabba rentals here in sacramento (dont know if they're in bakersfield as well) will rent you a big ass towing thing for like 50 bux a day. My dad has rented from them 100's of times and they are the best deal.

Didn't realize OD shouldn't be used. Good tip.

Can autos tow more than manual trannys?

Automatics are rated to tow more than manuals in most cases. More clutch packs and better cooling of the fluid.

I had towed a probe gt, chevelle, and a newer cougar with a 00' frontier 4x4 automatic. The truck had enough power to get moving and I never once let it get into overdrive. Stay at or below the speed limit, 55mph is where I felt comfortable. The main thing is leaving lots of room for braking. And if your doing some major hills you are going to over heat the brakes in the truck even with engine braking b/c I over cooked the brakes on that frontier towing the probe. If it was all flat land I'd say no problem. Over hills I'd want trailer brakes or a 3/4 ton truck.

It depends on the vehicle. Some yes, some no. Most big trucks run manual transmissions (think tractor-trailers). But you have to have an adequate clutch for whatever your load is.
Find it in your owner's manual. Don't guess.