Towing vehicle questions

[Frank C]

In digging out the pictures of my old Van Diemen RF81 that now is for sale by Steve Taft, I found pictures of my minimalist approach to towing, mentioned in my earlier post on this thread. The trailer is a vintage British Don Parker trailer, updated from Mini wheels to Sprite wheels. I think it must have had higher load range 10" tires to start with - that is how I learned about blow-outs. All-up, the car and trailer weighed about 1500 pounds, as measured on a truck scale. Everything had to go in the pick up, though. It was possible to carry lots of spares and two extra sets of wheels & tires with a long bed S-10.
Trailer 1
Trailer 2

- Frank C

[bill ehrlinger]

Cooleyjb:

As you can see from this thread, many of us began on a
limitted budget. If it will help, I have a very light, single axel,
open trailer that I don't use any more.If you are only going to
Blackhawk or Road America, it will probably work.I live about
40 miles south of Madison & you are welcome to use it until,
you can get something better.I'm still in Ca, but should be in
Wis. by mid-week. Call me @ (608) 751-9793. Welcome to
Formula Ford.

Bill Ehrlinger

[cooleyjb]

Thanks again for the offers and info. Right now crunching numbers on getting a car is the first step.


Bill- I will defintely give you a call or maybe find a race at RA or Blackhawk that you'll be it so I can pick your brain for info.

joe

[bill ehrlinger]

Joe:

I have lots of info........... retrieving it is sometimes
a problem. I'll be running the EWC again this year & you
are welcome to tag along if you like. Get some first hand
knowledge and also you'll see why racing Ford's is so much
fun.
By the way------ As soon as this snow melts and the
temp. is above 50' we'll start running the karts @ Sugar
River Speedway near Broadhead WI. Usually on Wed.
nights, several of us get togeather just for fun. The track
fee is 12 dollars & you can use one of our HPV's and every-
thing else you need. Mostly just for hot lapping, pretty
low key.

Bill

[carnut169]

I've gone through 4 tow vehicles in the past two years (heck, I work at an auction, why not?). So I guess I should comment on this thread.

I've towed with a 98 F250 (gas), a 01 Yukon, a 01 F350 (diesel) a 99 E350 (diesel) and currently have a 01 GMC 2500 HD.

From best to worst:
01 F350- Dual rear wheel, chip, all the goodies. Pulled my 26' enclosed trailer at 80+ mph like there was nothing there.

01 GMC 2500HD- This truck has the 8.1 liter gas motor... plenty of power but she gets thirsty. Otherwise, fantastic truck.

99 E350- Vans are great... but man... the sway was a huge problem. Equal-i-zer brand hitch is simply awesome. Took care of 98% of the sway.

98 F250- Base model truck, did ok, but I did not have a golf cart at that point. Little low on power.

01 Yukon. Power-wise ok, but it did not have the suspension to handle a loaded 26' trailer & all the goodies. Towed w/ it once.


Best $$ spent was on the Equal-i-zer.
Prodigy brake controller is also excellent.

IMHO- Get a truck (or van) to tow. Go bigger rather then smaller. Car... well, not me.

BTW having a hitch on a unibody is only considered frame damage if it compromises the structural integrity of the vehicle. Same for aftermarket bumpers. During my 18 month stint as the auction's Arbitration Manager we never turned down one unibody car for having a hitch.

[cooleyjb]

[size=2]The big thing with tow vehicles is that it adds 3000-50000 to the initial cost. I have towed many a things with a variety of vehicles. Anywhere from 7 tons of dinosaur bones with a F-350 to a Toyota Corolla auto-x car with a little Toyota truck. My big thing is what determines the towing capacity of a vehicle. Engine and breaks are one. The other of which I know little about is the physics of the tow vehicle. The obvious is always a small tow vehicle can be man-handled by a big trailer. however Having driven 15000 pounds on a trailer with a 7500 pound truck how much does the structure of a vehicle have to do with towing. Sorry about the rambling post. It's tournament time and I am too focused on the TV.[/size]

[ISRengine]

Hi

I was just reading this topic and i just want to, talk you about some things that i saw over the year, i am in rallye racing since 5 years and in the last two year i see Randy Zimmer at Baie des Chaleurs Qc Canada or Maniwaki Canada or Mont tremblant and he come from NY state with his Subaru SW WRX in the front a single axle trailer and his 2.5RS subaru rallye car on! I ask him if he get trouble with his package and he aswer me no he just have to take care and run it to 60mph

But if it was me, for the cost of renting a car at Budget or Tilden, it's better this way, you will rent it may be 6 times in a year, it will not cost a lot and you can also have a sponsor like this 2 compagnie who will rent you the truck for the half of the price.

[Mike Ahrens]

I have found it interesting to read the progressions that so many of us have gone through with tow vehicle combinations. Maybe more advancement in tow vehicles than in race cars? Mine went from Jeep Grand Cherokee pulling open two axle with IT car (OK) to same Jeep pulling 16' half height enclosed with FC (OK under 65) to old motor home pulling same half height 16' with same FC (pulled great but old motor home fell apart) to current school bus conversion with FC tucked in the back on hydraulic lift gate (Really cool conversation starter at the track, pictures attached)

[carnut169]

That is very cool.

[Darryl Horrocks]

Hi all. I'm a formula fan and have been thinking of getting into the sport, formula 1200 to formula 2000. Tow vehical seems to be very important as the previous threads mentioned. That's alot of dollars behind you to risk so a reliable and appropriate tow vehical seems only logical. Here's an idea and I'd like some feedback to let me know if it's a good idea or I'm living on another planet. I figured buying a school bus they seem to range in price from 1500 to 3000 dollars with average miles and a deisel motor. Convert it into a vehical to load your car in the back, and maybe have a modest portion for sleeping etc. Just an idea. I'd love to hear your comments.
Darryl

[Mike Ahrens]

Darryl,

That's a great idea. Go up about two posts and look at the pictures.

Mike

[Darryl Horrocks]

Hey Mike. Thanks for the redirect. Actually I saw the pics but missed the part where you mentioned it was a bus. Wow, I can barely tell. Looks like alot of work, but the result is amazing. I have a feeling if I undertake a job like that it will it will have to be graduall and I'm not sure I will remove the bus body. I'm sure mine will look like a hacked up bus but will do the trick. I like the storage for the car, very nice. Just curious how is it on fuel (gas or deisel) When looking for a bus is there anything I should look for.
Thanks Darryl

[Mike Ahrens]

Darryl,

I don't want to hijack this thread. E-mail me at mikea@boldtmachinery.com and I'll go through the story on how the bus ended up the way it is. Our original intent did not involve removing the whole body either.