OT: any way to tow an autotrans car a long distance by overfilling...

[ryan roopnarine]

the transmission? by that I mean with all 4 wheels on the ground. I can't procure a vehicle with a receiver hitch, which would be necessary for a car dolly. plenty of full size car trailers that i could borrow, but i can't find anyone with a truck that i could. the car is 100 miles away, and nobody will tow it all of the way. the tow would be 100 miles. i'm going to go to enterprise commercial truck rental and see what their rates and availability are. the car in question is a 1999 ford taurus, weight about 3400lbs. the transmission is not known for durability. thanks.

[winfred]

it's been said 2-3 quarts over will help keep one alive, ymmv

[attack eagle]

just don't, rent a pickup or something to use a tow dolly.

[whiskychaser]

Be surprised if truck rental companies have what you need. They will have rigid flatbeds you might drive on a car licence. But your problem is clearly getting the car on and off it. Securing it in transit is another issue but lets ignore that for now. The Taurus is a non-runner so assume you will need a winch. How about asking a local garage or breakers yard for a price? They will have the kit and insurance for this. Could be reasonable and may save you a white knuckle ride

[ryan roopnarine]

i didn't end up doing this. i towed the car about 9/10 of a mile with a rope to a safe parking lot. with someone who never towed anything before. that was 3 minutes of absolute, horrible hell. 90 degree sharp turns everywhere despite me instructing them to do otherwise. the brakes on the disabled car were smelling after parking it, because i was standing on them so much. I was honking and honking for them to slow down, which they interpreted as honking from others to speed up, ergo, the pickup truck accelerating while i was standing on the brakes to avoid a collision with the lead vehicle. holey crap, i'm not even going to think of doing that again unless the lead driver is a heterosexual male that has towed before. (guess the sex of the lead vehicle pilot). my gay ex-roommate, who had a tacoma with no hitch ball, with no towing experience, figured it out perfectly, and we did the exact same route , with a shorter rope, in heavier daytime traffic, nicely and easily. i'm going to rent the biggest mof'ing american POS that blows diesel out of the exhaust and use the easiest car hauling trailer i can find. some things you just can't put a price on.

the car dolly requires the use of a truck with a class 3 hitch. no bumper hitch will do 5k lbs, which is what the class 3 specifies. i don't know anyone with a truck with a receiver hitch that would make it all the way there and back in one piece. a local ford truck place will rent me either a f150 or f350 dually with the receiver, but their rental guy is gone for the long weekend. uhaul doesn't put hitches on their pickup trucks, or people would use them for towing. enterprise, until wednesday, only rents towing pickups to businesses. I'm trying to figure out which i should get. i don't know if the 350 is diesel or not. if it isn't, ill get the 150, as i can't imagine what the mpg on that would be. a friend of a guy that is willing to lend me a trailer quoted the weight as 850lbs, which has to be bs, as the u-haul 2 wheel car dolly weighs 645 by itself.

[Tiger]

Either trucks will do... it doesn't matter. Dolly is much easier to use... drive car up the dolly and strap and ratchet it down. Unless your friend's trailer got a pulley to pull the car onto the trailer.

2" square reciever is defintely a class 3 and sometime class 4. Usually up to 6000 lbs and that is within safety margin.

The F350 will have much bigger brake system for more safety reason... but you know... Ford F150 is capable of 10,000 lbs of payload.

[attack eagle]

I've towed Ford 9N tractors with water filled tires + bush-hog on 20 foot car trailers with a bumper hitch on a 5.2L 1/2 ton dodge... LOTS of Times. That is probably about 8,000 lbs+. You just have to not be an idiot and slam on the brakes. If that means driving in the evening or mid afternoon or mid morning when traffic is less, then you do it.

Just about any pickup with a v8 and a bumper ball can pull a midsize car on a Dolly.
I pulled my MGB + all my worldly belongings in it (3000 or so) with a 5.0 91 caprice and a tow dolly 1/2 across the country.

Rent any full size truck, or SUV, put a ball on it, use it, take the ball off.
OR rent the smallest moving truck they have and a dolly. Most of the moving trucks have bumper hitches, even if they don;t have balls in them already.

I wouldn;t suggest it if I didn't think you'd be 100% safe doing so.

[Dave M]

I've towed Ford 9N tractors with water filled tires + bush-hog on 20 foot car trailers with a bumper hitch on a 5.2L 1/2 ton dodge... LOTS of Times. That is probably about 8,000 lbs+. You just have to not be an idiot and slam on the brakes. If that means driving in the evening or mid afternoon or mid morning when traffic is less, then you do it.

Just about any pickup with a v8 and a bumper ball can pull a midsize car on a Dolly.
I pulled my MGB + all my worldly belongings in it (3000 or so) with a 5.0 91 caprice and a tow dolly 1/2 across the country.

Rent any full size truck, or SUV, put a ball on it, use it, take the ball off.
OR rent the smallest moving truck they have and a dolly. Most of the moving trucks have bumper hitches, even if they don;t have balls in them already.

I wouldn;t suggest it if I didn't think you'd be 100% safe doing so.

Agree. I pulled my e34 on a uhaul trailer behind a small moving van with a bumper hitch. This was a 4000+km trip.

Dave

[MBXB]

You can rent both pickup truck and trailer from UHaul. They'll set it up for you.

[ryan roopnarine]

1. i'd just go ahead and use the u-haul van if it weren't so expensive and such an incredible gas hog when towing. (34$ plus .99 a mile for 200 miles plus gasoline for the likely poorly maintained gas hog.) pickup truck will likely run me 50$-$70 plus .39 a mile, plus the opportunity to bag 20+ mpg on at least one leg of the trip.

2. i've thought about being a scam artist and putting a ball onto a rental pickup truck. as i've told my buddy that suggested the same to me:

a) if i have to do any kind of emergency stopping with that kind of setup, i don't want to have to even entertain the idea of buying a new pick up truck without a bumper.


and
b) if i am forced to buy a new pick up truck without a bumper, he/they will not be allowed to drive my new pick up truck, borrow my new pick up truck, and they will be forced to stand by and get sensitive when i gets lots of wimmins with mah new pick-em-up truck with no bumper.

[ryan roopnarine]

You can rent both pickup truck and trailer from UHaul. They'll set it up for you.


oh wow. my understanding was that they only did "in town only" with pickups, and that they certainly didn't have hitches on them. i think they specify 4800 lbs as the P/U weight, and had a max combined weight of 7000. the car weighs 3400 and their dolly weighs 650, so that would put it way over for them to deliberately rent out. i'll call a different dealer tomorrow.

[MBXB]

I rented locally in Tampa, picked up the vehicle in Orlando, returned both truck and trailer to the same place. Same day.

[ryan roopnarine]

we ended up paying $150 to the auto club towing contractor and they did it. you can't really beat that price for the frustration. thanks everyone.

[whiskychaser]

we ended up paying $150 to the auto club towing contractor and they did it. you can't really beat that price for the frustration. thanks everyone.

No hassle and a great price. I'd said you got a fantastic deal there! Nice one:)