Wow, you guys have nice tow rigs. I'm rocking an old Toyota T100 sr5, I'm just glad its got the 3.4 and 4wd.

 

The only time I have not like the 6 speed manual in my F350 was sitting in Orlando traffic. I would have disliked any manual in that traffic, nothing specific about the truck.

 

All these badass tow rings and I tow miatas with my Honda odyssey miniavn just fine...

 

...in a state where the highest point above sea level is 345 feet.

--Ian

 

Good point. I'm sure it does it but I don't know how well or for how long. I would definitely add a transmission cooler if forced to tow with one.

I borrowed my father's Honda Ridgeline "pickup" to tow a 16ft aluminum boat much lighter than a Miata and can say the powerband of the 3.5 v6 was terrible for it. The power and torque was way up in the rpms so it was constantly downshifting on level interstates. It would be worse with a Miata, I'm sure. But I guess it would get me there if I had to use it.

 

Finally got to use my tow rig over the weekend. 2012 BMW X5 35i. Towed great, plenty of power and brakes. The 8 speed didn't hunt gears much, only grabbed lower gears for big hills. Got 15mpg loaded at 80mph too. So much nicer driving to the track with AC, would have been a miserable weekend to drive that far in the race car.

 

New rig..

 

Well. Agreed to buy this old thing today. Wasn't planning on buying a truck, but my coworker is getting rid of it and its a deal I can't pass up.

1993 F350, 4x4, 5spd, CCLB, 7.3 IDI, Banks Sidewinder Turbo, 116k on the clock.

Has rear cab controlled airbags, and a whole bunch of other goodies thrown in. Hopefully taking delivery in January, let the trailer shopping begin.

 

Wow, what a cherry.

 

Paint has seen better days, but he bought the truck new in 1993, and it's been maintained by Ford since new.

So my main question for these thread is, what's the minimum trailer length you would use for 2 Miatas. This would be open trailer HPDE things, so not much gear, I just want to be able to toss my car and a friend's on a trailer and head to the track.

Could a 24ft 10k trailer do it? Seems tight.

 

that is also true, my post was more about my jealousy of all these bad *** trucks that you guys have....

I had the Honda tow package added by a dealer, so it does have a trans cooler now.

but the odyssey is a terrible tow rig, the engine has power, but it's all in the upper rpm range, so at every overpass I have to shut off cruise control and baby the throttle, otherwise it will drop not one but TWO gears and scream at 5k rpm until over the Crest. Which I'm sure is not healthy for these glass transmissions.

I mean it does get me and a miata on a uhaul dolly from point a to point b, but I have to baby the throttle and prevent hard downshifts the whole way.

fiy I drive my miata to track and autox events, I only tow when the occasional good deal craigslist miata comes up that i feel like fixing up.

 

Those Fords are great trucks. Parts are cheap, and everywhere 'cause they're the same over F150, 250, 350 and Bronco over ~1988-1997. The old IDI diesel isn't a huge powerhouse, but is nice and simple. And mostly mechanical, so it can double as a great zombie apocalypse ride.

Stock NA and NB both spec at 13ft overall length, so I think you're right about a 24 being tight. I saw a guy a couple of years ago who managed to get two NBs in a 28' enclosed. It was very tight, and he didn't have a lot of room for anything else. Don't forget about weight distribution. At least Miatas are pretty even front to rear so direction doesn't matter too much, but you'll have to load one way forward so watch the tongue weight. The back car should balance it, but I'd want to get actual numbers on a scale rather than just napkin math.

 

Mostly worried about tie downs, seems like wheel to wheel it would be under 24 ft, but weird tie down points.

Ive seen a picture somewhere of 2 Miatas each overhanging the front and rear, but can't find it again.

 

Found this thread on Spec forum: Spec Miata two car trailer

Not a lot of info, but you might find more there... I'm running out the door, so don't have time to dig.

Here's a pic, you can probably figure scale from the cars, the guy didn't ever post specs:



This is relative to my interests, as my wife really wants her own track car now... I'm trying to figure it out myself...

 

He posted specs before the picture. Says its a 25 foot deck. He built it with a trailer kit.

His numbers are weird tho. Says 25 foot deck, but 40ft total?

25 ft deck sounds right though. About a foot of overhang total, seems like decent room to tie down. 24ft still might be close.

I know andrew had a triple axle 2 car at one point, but i think that was much longer.

 

40 ft Total Truck and Trailer

 

25 foot deck + 4 foot tongue leaves 11 feet. He's towing it with a mini?

--Ian

 

Finally had time to go back and read the thread. I think he meant 40ft total for the trailer, but that doesn't add up, either...

Found this with some googling for two miata trailers...



Here's a thread on the incident: Double trailer crash

I was at FMSC in 2015, and don't remember hearing about this. It would be interesting to know the cause.

 

My old triple-axle was 32ft on the deck. Miatas are 13ft long, so you could squeeze two of them onto a 24ft with the cars hanging over on both ends. I got a 32ft because I wanted a triple-axle setup and didn't want to be squeezing cars on with awkward strap points. Two Miatas with 2ft of buffer front, back, and between = 32ft.



I wouldn't do anything shorter than a 28. A 28ft tandem-axle bumper pull is also not a lot of fun to tow in the mountains or in any sort of crosswind, whereas a triple is far more stable.

 

Haven't seen any triple axles 32 footers anywhere near my ballpark price range (or for what you sold yours for). 24s are more readily available too. And easier to store. Wonder if I could find someone who could do a shorter triple axle trailer.

Any chance the guy who bought your trailer is looking to get out of it?