Towing Advice

[asianflava]

I have to take this car down to my parent's house about 550 miles away. It won't run so I had to get a come-a-long to pull it on. Once I got it on and strapped down, I noticed that most of the load is on the front trailer tires and that the truck squatted quite a bit. The trailer weighs 1750lbs and the car is 4000lbs.

Should I move the car back? or Is it OK the way it is? I was just thinking about moving it back on the deck, not onto the dovetail. About where the rear tire on the car is behind the rear tire on the trailer. I figure that the front of the trailer and the engine will give it the proper loading on the tongue. The only other times I've towed a car was using a U-haul trailer, the tire straps tighten down to the front of the trailer so you don't have a choice as to the position of the vehicle. I'm not leaving for a couple days, I figure that it's easy enough to adjust now instead of when I'm on the road.

[Only Toyota for me]

The setup don't look too bad. The trucks a little squatted, but not too bad. You have to be careful with tongue weight because you must have enough so the trailer don't whip on you. Unless you plan on doing 55 all the way.
I'd say you're pretty close to where you should be just by looking. If you were to move it back at all, i'd say maybe 6" or so would be it.

Back when my camshaft went on my tundra, we towed it to my dealer on a trailer similiar to yours with my bro's tundra. What we did is only pulled the truck far enough on the trailer that the truck sagged about 2"-3" or so and then we called it good.

Towed great at 70 no problem.

Tomhole could put in his two cents as well. He has a lot of knowledge on percentages of tongue load you should have. I think he recomends 10-15% on the tongue. So that puts you at 600-680 or so.

[tomhole]

You should be able to get by with 10% on that setup. The aerodynamics of the car will aid in sway control. You are in control, so move it back 6" and see how it tows. If it feels squirelly, move it forward a little. The biggest issue with too much hitch weight is unloading the front end (reduces steering authority), pointing your headlights at the sky and cornfusing the brake distribution valve. Does the trailer have brakes? If not, it should. Any time the total weight of the truck and trailer exceeds the GVWR of the truck by more than 1,000 lbs or so, you should have trailer brakes.

Other than that, enjoy the tow. Nice car, BTW.

Tom

[asianflava]

Thanks for the advice, it was what I was looking for. I posted this question on another forum also, it's pretty unanimous, move the car back about 6-12in. A couple people suggested the same method as OTFM, put the car on and roll it forward till the tongue pushes down the tow vehicle.

Originally Posted by tomhole

Does the trailer have brakes? If not, it should.

Yeah it's got brakes on both axles. In my search for car trailers, I found that some people sell trailers with brakes on one axle. Some states, GA included, require it on both. It also has a breakaway box.

[Marazzito]

That really doesn't look to bad... maybe move it back 6" like Tom said, but I wouldn't move it back anymore that that. Truck seems to be sitting pretty level.