You forget though, the extra price spent on a diesel, holds its value in resale. Plus the Ex50s are going to be a 7.3 which is a great motor.

 

I don't have any ******* money.

 

Have you considered a Dodge Sprinter? I remember reading some Car and Driver article where they had a race car in the back of the van, no need for a trailer. I think the car was a Caterham 7, don't know if a Miata would fit or if the van would fit your budget but I thought I'd bring it up.

 

So long as you can find one that's not been beat up. The problem with work vans is, well, they've been used for work. That means they've been treated in ways people wouldn't treat their personal vehicles, have often or always been hauling heavy loads of cargo and trailers, have been left running in idle every day, etc. But if you can find one that's not ragged out, sure it's a fine hauler.

I have the feeling that big gas trucks are going to be really cheap this summer. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a expedition, excursion, or f250 with the gas v8 or v10 this summer. I've already seen decent ones in the $5-7k range. My hope is that I can find one that's been used exclusively as a kid hauler so the chassis and drive train aren't quite as hammered.
The previous target was a diesel excursion or f250, but those are $20k+ used for decent ones.

 

Sprinters are horribly unreliable according to a few friends w/ FedEx. They prefer the 5.4 and say the drivetrain requires zero maintenence aside from thermostats and belts. The tell me 400k miles and they still hold good compression numbers.
Crude dropped 10% this week, the time is now.

 

this is always an option:

 

I can't find it but I was emailed a pic of a 70's vette with a roof mount 5th wheel.

 

Lately I've been infatuated with the idea of a 5-series as a tow vehicle, namely a wagon with an S62 swap. Obviously I wouldn't want to haul anything heavier than a Miata, but I'd think with an aluminum trailer and decent trailer brakes it wouldn't be impossible.

Do you have any pictures/thoughts/more information on your setup?

 

Not a Miata, but I did get to tow something this morning. It was my first time with the new tow rig, and it did great. I'm pretty happy with the truck in general as well as the Prodigy P2 brake controller.




BTW,
http://www.break.com/index/car-loses...railer-2074155

 

Any of you guys use the rennenmetal towbar+HF tongue?

 

At first glance I thought the white roof in the background was a crazy ricer wing on the BMW!!

 

Haha, nah just the white lid on the dumpster in the parking lot. Not the best area to take a glamor shot, but hey it's a pic of a work truck doing work. I wish I got a shot where we loaded the car up on the trailer, but it was kind of a dangerous area and situation. I just wanted to get moving.

Looks like the load was just shy of 5000 lbs. Truck drove fine. Stoplight to stoplight acceleration was not affected, though the truck did hang in gear longer. I like the transmission controller in this thing; it does a much smarter job with gear selection while towing than the Explorer did. Look closely and you can see I put on a 2010 SuperDuty tailgate. Straight baller!

Braking distances were a lot longer. Not unexpected. But I don't think I had the trailer brakes aggressive enough.

 

The easiest way to setup the trailer brakes is to get the truck up to about 25mph, lift off the gas and try to lock up the brakes on the trailer with the controller. Then back it off a tad.

 

Should be the opposite - the only time I notice a trailer behind my truck is when I'm trying to beat someone off the line. If you have the controller set right, you shouldn't even notice the trailer on the brakes.

 

And this is why you don't want to tow with a sedan...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmtZVD-stWk

--Ian

 

This thing can spin 360 degrees on the fifth wheel.

 

I never tried to win, just drive with traffic. I know the controller wasn't set right.

 

Too poor to own a dedicated tow vehicle. This is how I roll.

 

I'm still obsessed with a van, but I could buy a Race Keeper and OSGiken for the same price as the van and a trailer, lol. Someone talk some sense into me, please.

Nice tie down job. That should walk off the trailer quickly.

 

It had 4 straps between the car and the trailer's e-track. Not going anywhere. I think I'll get some axle straps though, in case I ever need to tow any other goofy german cars with only 1 rear tie down point.

Don't hate the player.