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Picked up this 66k mile, 2008 special edition F-150 last year for a tow and semi-daily driver. Sucks the gas but will pull uphill all day long. Would have preferred a diesel F-250 but never found one at price-point I was willing to throw at it.
Been using my Ecoboost F150 for over 5 years and its been great. Almost 100k miles nearly trouble free (8k of that towing Miata's). Was able to make it from Dawsonville, GA to the Gap and home in middle Tennessee on a single tank of fuel. Cooled seats kept me nice and comfortable the whole way.
'12 Tundra 4.6 v8 6-speed and a Master Tow dolly I bought for $400 in 1999. It got 15mpg on the 1300 mile round trip to MATG pulling at 80 mph on the interstate. Wheels, parts, tools and jack were in the back.
Last edited by sixshooter; Aug 8, 2019 at 12:20 PM.
'12 Tundra 4.6 v8 6-speed and a Master Tow dolly I bought for $400 in 1999. It got 15mpg on the 1300 mile round trip to MATG pulling at 80 mph on the interstate. Wheels, parts, tools and jack were in the back.
Of course. Always have on everything I've ever towed.
Great way to nuke the trans on anything which is oiled by a pump fed from the input shaft. Might not apply to the Miata, definitely applies to other vehicles. FYI
Dono. There are vehicles in the world that drive a transmission lubrication pump off the input shaft. If you tow those vehicles wheels-down, with the output shaft spinning away and the input shaft stationary, you will **** up the transmission. 14 seconds of Google indicates that some Jeep Wranglers with an NP231 transfer cases will suffer this fate if flat-towed in neutral, since you insist on a specific example.
The list of cars you've towed has no relation to the validity of my statement. Perhaps none of those cars have such a transmission. Perhaps one or some or all do, and you just got lucky. I can't be bothered to check.
Last edited by Savington; Aug 5, 2019 at 10:55 PM.
Dono. There are vehicles in the world that drive a transmission lubrication pump off the input shaft. If you tow those vehicles wheels-down, with the output shaft spinning away and the input shaft stationary, you will **** up the transmission. The list of cars you've towed has no relation to the validity of my statement, so kindly spare me your condescending attitude.
Inspired by sixshooter, I gave this a try last night on my way to AMP for TNIA.
That's my 2015 Sienna. They came standard with the "towing package" that year, with towing capacity up to 3500 lbs. In reality the towing package is just an oil/water oil cooler and a transmission cooler in the bottom of the radiator. I also added AirLift bags in the rear suspension and Hawk HPS brake pads, as the stock pads would sometimes overheat with just the weight of the van.
Verdict:
- The tow dolly is quick and easy to load. Minor inconvenience to put my street tires on/off the back, but it's a ten minute job when you can throw a jack and battery-powered impact wrench in the van.
- The setup was perfectly stable at highway speeds up to 70mph, it was a pretty relaxing tow. I kept it around 65, but I bet it would be fine at 75.
- The van is the perfect vehicle in the paddock. Tons of room for my ****, and I have reflective shades for all the windows, so it's a comfortable place to sit out of the heat without needing to pitch an EZ up.
- Plenty of power. I locked out the top gear, and it ran perfectly.
- I ordered a bluetooth OBD2 adapter so I can keep an eye on the transmission temperature. It would be easy enough to throw another trans cooler on it.
- I think this is going to be my go-to setup. It seems like the RV crowd is always selling these things off pretty cheap, and it would be easy to store one at my house. The van's brakes were adequate, but it would be nice to get a dolly with surge brakes just as a backup.
Fuel economy... legit.
Last edited by Schroedinger; Aug 8, 2019 at 11:23 AM.
Inspired by sixshooter, I gave this a try last night on my way to AMP for TNIA.
That's my 2015 Sienna. They came standard with the "towing package" that year, with capacity up to 3500 lbs. In reality the towing package is just an oil/water oil cooler and a transmission cooler in the bottom of the radiator. I also added AirLift bags in the rear suspension and Hawk HPS brake pads.
Verdict:
- The tow dolly is quick and easy to load. Minor inconvenience to put my street tires on/off the back, but it's a five minute job when you can throw a jack and battery-powered impact wrench in the van.
- The setup was perfectly stable at highway speeds up to 70mph, it was a pretty relaxing tow. I kept it around 65, but I bet it would be fine at 75.
- The van is the perfect vehicle in the paddock. Tons of room for my ****, and I have reflective shades for all the windows, so it's a comfortable place to sit out of the heat without needing to pitch an EZ up.
- Plenty of power. I locked out the top gear, and it ran perfectly.
- I ordered a bluetooth OBD2 adapter so I can keep an eye on the transmission temperature. It would be easy enough to throw another trans cooler on it.
- I think this is going to be my go-to setup. It seems like the RV crowd is always selling these things off pretty cheap, and it would be easy to store one at my house. The van's brakes were adequate, but it would be nice to get a dolly with surge brakes just as a backup.
Here is the best part:
I just saw a dolly locally on CL for $600. I was super tempted to go grab it.
Always re-tighten the straps on a tow dolly after a couple of stops from starting out and it's good after that. The biggest hangup with a tow dolly is the inability to reverse if you end up in a dead end parking lot. I scope out hotels from google maps satellite view before pulling in.
The no reverse thing is a real issue, but in reality not much different from a flat trailer. It would take a pretty big lot to be able to turn a trailer around in a dead end. In the worst case, it’s easier to unload and load the dolly if I get stuck.
I know a number of people who tow their miatas (and one exocet) this way - has anyone had one apart to see if the oil pump is on the input side? I've always been afraid to flat tow mine because of that unknown.
My 2.7 ecoboost F150 tows the Miata on a 18' steel trailer with power to spare. About 16mpg going up and down I85 from Greenville to AMP last week.
I know a number of people who tow their miatas (and one exocet) this way - has anyone had one apart to see if the oil pump is on the input side? I've always been afraid to flat tow mine because of that unknown.
My 2.7 ecoboost F150 tows the Miata on a 18' steel trailer with power to spare. About 16mpg going up and down I85 from Greenville to AMP last week.
I have a local friend who flat-tows his miata behind his 4 Runner without issues. Regularly goes from Charleston to Orlando towing like that without any issues.
The no reverse thing is a real issue, but in reality not much different from a flat trailer. It would take a pretty big lot to be able to turn a trailer around in a dead end. In the worst case, it’s easier to unload and load the dolly if I get stuck.
With a flat trailer you can back out assuming you've got the rudimentary towing skills to back a normal trailer in a straight line. A loaded tow dolley has two hinge points in it, it's essentially impossible to back up in a straight line -- no matter how good you are, it WILL jackknife.
In theory you can unload the car from the dolley (assuming it runs), move it separately, and reduce the tow rig to a single hinge point and back that up in a straight line. It takes a lot more skill to do that, though, because the wheelbase between the hitch and the trailer wheels is much shorter on a dolley than with a normal trailer, so it jackknifes much faster. It's also a giant PITA to deal with all the unloading & reloading.
Personally I would not tow a Miata on a dolley without disconnecting the driveshaft because of the transmission issue that Savington mentioned. AIUI, there's no "pump" in a Miata transmission, the gears are all splash-lubricated.
Flat tow with hyundai minivan. Consistent 18 mpg. Bad, can't reverse, ripped off suspension means borrowing friends truck/trailer. Good, mpg, under 5 minute hook up, 1yr with 5 speed, 6 years with 6 spd..
I know a number of people who tow their miatas (and one exocet) this way - has anyone had one apart to see if the oil pump is on the input side? I've always been afraid to flat tow mine because of that unknown.
My 2.7 ecoboost F150 tows the Miata on a 18' steel trailer with power to spare. About 16mpg going up and down I85 from Greenville to AMP last week.
If it's a manual, it's splash oiled and is fine. People tow them for 10's of thousands of miles behind RVs. The autos, you kill reverse if you flat tow one without pulling the driveshaft.
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