hey everyone.... ok its time to get some stuff done on the car (i have been extreemly lazy since summer) so i need to move it around. to give you an idea of what im trying to do... i am doing a 20b conversion to my project FD (which currently is sitting at my parents house ~100mi away). the car is COMPLETELY stripped, and is basically just a rolling chassis w/suspension, diff, & gastank... no interior whatsoever, and no motor/trans in the car. the car previously had an engine fire so i need to get the engine compartment painted. OK, here is what i need to do. 3/4 of the way from where the car currently is (parents house) is a body shop that knows FD's well. i have decided to use them to paint the engine bay (which is stripped to metal as well). anyway, i need to get the chassis 75mi. to the paint shop, get it painted, then tow it the rest of the way to my house. after that i plan on towing the motor/trans/various other things i can fit the folowing week... and then the week after that bringing all of my interior to the new house as well.

soooo, i need help figuring out how to do this (in the most cost effective manner). the only options i can think of at this point are either:
A) renting a UHAUL each time i need to move parts ($$$$)
B) possibly tricking/paying someone off @ AAA to move the car (with the motor in it, and maybe interior) to the body shop, and then to my home (under my 100mi. breakdown towing coverage) although i dont know if they would be willing to do this (but it would be free minus whatever i need to "tip" the tow guy)
C) attempting to tow things individually with a 2.3L? 97 subaru outback station wagon w/ trailer hitch. (could work, could break the subaru... depending on what this chassis weighs).... and then the next week renting a uhaul trailer box to move the motor /trans... then making a few trips w/ the suba. to move the interior. (unfortunatly a 97 subaru is the closest thing to a truck that i have access to... i possibly also have access to my friends 85 4cyl. toyota 4-runner, but again i dont want to break my friends car).

so i want your thoughts on my options.... and also i was wondering what a FD chassis (no interior, no motor/trans) weighs, so i can do a little research on the towing capacities of the old subaru. thanks guys . -heath

 

careful with Triple A, once waited 2 hours for them and when they finally showed up they would not tow my car because it was too low and their truck was not equipt for FD's. if you want my opinion..uhaul pick up truck with a tow behind trailer would be the way to go.

 

don't forget the weight of the trailer you are towing it on. best to be safe and go uhaul. its expensive, but its more expensive to fix your car or your friend's car after it breaks.

 

A) Look at the owners manual. It shows the car needs to be towed from the rear in not using a flat bed.
B) Request a flatbed, but would they honor the free tow if there is no engine. If you have the hood on and closed, you could just say it won't start (assuming he won't try to start it).
C) can she tow at least 2100lbs?

 

as to C) you are estimating 2100lbs with no interior/dash/etc and no engine/trans? if that is correct it gives me a starting point to figure out what to do.

 

I use a dolly to tow FDs and have done so with over 10 of them. The farthest I've dollied a car was 950 miles ONE WAY, it was a rolling chassis with suspension and diff, nothing else.

I dolly them with the rear wheels on the ground and the key in the ignition to allow the steering wheel to turn as is required when you dolly a car.

I've had NO PROBLEMs with trannies or diffs, all of the cars were 5spds.

I'd think a gutted FD would weigh under 2000lbs (500lbs for engine and trans, 80lbs for the seats). I've towed a few of the FDs over the Siskyou pass on I-5 (~3500ft) with a 89 Toyota truck, 2WD.

The Suby should be able to tow the stripped FD on a dolly w/o problems. Remember the braking distance will be greatly increased. Be careful, don't go fast and you'll get there safely.

 

I've towed with no engine. I called in and said the car wouldn't start, they sent a flatbed over, and he wanted to diagnose it, so I told him there wasn't an engine. He didn't care, and towed it where it needed to go. Its not like he's not gonna get paid.

 

I personally say you can tow it with your subie, check your cars owners manual for its
tow capacity. You also can go to homedepot and rig up your own trailer (they have a
kit you can but(comes with a frame wood extra)). That may be even cheapier than
renting, and it also can come in handy at later dates! Just my 2cents though!

JP

 

so jeff what were you using for all of the tows? the toyota truck? i looked up the towing capacity for the subie, and as far as i can tell its 2000lbs. now i have to add in whatever im using to tow it (dollie, or car trailer). i know you have moved a good number of FD's... would you see any advantage to using a car trailer (all 4 wheels off the ground) as opposed to a dollie setup? i know that uhaul rents the car trailers... dont know about the 2 wheel dollies though (i assume they do). i just hope the subie can take the load. the subaru is my dads car, and if i blow his motor or break the tranny, ill have to give him the other FD untill i rebuild his beloved subie. id just hate to have a problem with it, as he is on his second motor already in the subaru, and worrys about it . on the plus side he hasnt been driving the other FD much, so that would give him an excuse to. oops i got off topic as usual... -heath

 

I think you can tow your FD with your subaru, using dolly only.

Me and my friend used to tow my FC( with flat bed trailer) around using Mitsubishi Motero(V6) that car got no TQ no brake it is a SUV body car with family car engine . Trust me if we can tow that you can use your subaru to tow a dolly with your FD.


I had seen people use FX35 to tow a inclose trailer with open wheel race car.
and seen a Toyota Mini van tow a BMW 318

 

well if im towing with the subie, ill most likely just rent a dollie or car trailer (on 2 separate occasions) to move the car to the body shop, and then home. after that, id rent a "towing crate" or whatever they are called from uhaul to bring the engine/trans. the interior will fit inside the subaru if i make 2 trips (which will allow me to install the parts i have before cluttering up my house with another car load of parts).

the only part about this that im worried about is towing the car FROM the body shop to my house. my house is in Santa Cruz, and to get there you need to take a windy (and relativly steep grade road) highway 17. it usually takes me at least 40 minutes from the top to the bottom, but id be driving much much more slowly towing a car.... im just worried about driving down a steep incline for 40+ minutes with the max (or near the max) capacity rolling behind me! and if i had a brake problem i would most definatly be SCREWED big time.

 

im sure it probably CAN be done.... im just wondering if it SHOULD be done considering the 40 minute decline down 17... its twisty, somewhat narrow, and a bit on the steeper side. the other option would be backtracking with the car, and taking a bridge over to highway 1 (which is a flat highway that runs along the coast). this may be my best bet, cause im pretty worried about taking 2 cars down this big hill. the motor/trans shouldnt be a problem on 17 however.

 

Highway 17 would be too much fun with a car trailer. I personally would tow it only when there is not much traffic. Like late at night. I think the bay area side of highway 17 is steeper than the Santa Cruz side. Going up the steeper grade would be safer?

 

oh I did not you have to drive soo many moutain road. MM.... ya dont take a 40 min decline . I dont think it is a good idea with your stock brake....

 

If you do a flat bed trailer from a UHAUL or Budget, The trailer alone will weigh between 1700-2000lbs. I just bought a blown engine FD and towed it back with one. Also, supposedly the DOT will not allow UHAUL and all the other truck/trailer rental places rent trailers to you if you are using certain vehicles. Such as the Ford Explorer, no matter what year, they will not give you the trailer. They say that he frame is too weak. I also saw a thread on this a few weeks ago, don't know if it was old or fresh. Chances are that you will have to rent one of their moving trucks unless you can get a truck that they will allow rental with (they will inspect it).

Also, like everyone is sayin.. Go slow and take your time. You could also screw up the transmission on some trucks if you don't have a heavy duty trans.

 

Rotormotor, I recently got my FD back in April of this year, '04. The FD was located in Des Moines, Iowa and I'm was coming from Los Angeles, CA. The whole trip (going there and back) was about 3,300 miles.

I was in the same situation as you. I didn't want to spend too much money and I only have a '98 V-6 Ford Windstar (minivan) that made a bit less than 200 hp (I think). Surprisingly, I found out that this small v-6 was able to tow a half dolly (800 lbs+) and an FD from Iowa to Los Angeles. I made this trip without any problems and the van had more than 186,000 miles before the trip.

I'm sure a Subura Outback station wagon has pretty decent tow capacity.. Plus, just go at a slow pace and you'll be fine. I went the whole way back (towing the FD) averaging about 60 to 70 mph.

 

No other 7 owner is around that has a truck??? If you lived near me, I'd tow it for you with my truck.

 

oh and if u want to know how much everything cost from UHaul, here is the breakdown

$50 = buying a hitch and having it installed
$250 = for renting the half-dolly (the trip took my about 6 days)
$300 = gas (mpg will prolly be similar to your Suburu.. just a guess)

 

or a SUV, or minivan, or even a sedan. I've seen v6 honda accords pulling around a trailer.

 

there are new rotors and hawk HP's on the subie (and i would do a fluid change with some good brake fluid) but im still a bit weary

 

??? i dont understand what you mean. anyway i have to go DOWN 17 TO Santa Cruz. what do you think about taking the dumbarton (i think thats the right bridge) and catching up with highway 1? better route (from san jose?).

the other thing that i just thought about was once in santa cruz, getting it to my house. i live at the top of a VERY VERY steep hill... there is another route i can take thats less steep, but its still up hill (i dont know how many people are familiar with the santa cruz area but im talking about Bay St. that heads up toward the University)

 

i just wanted to say thanks to everyone giving input.... i hate posting seemingly nonsense threads like this, but thought that others may have some advice. anyway, thanks again for bearing with me. your help and input is much appriciated. -heath

 

I tow with a F-150 now which is much better suited to towing than the Toyota was.

I use a dolly for several reasons. It is cheap, local rental place charges me $35/day, UHaul will rape you and won't rent one to you in a Subie. The dolly is easily manuverable in tight spaces when unloaded. The low height of the dolly really makes loading the car easy. With a trailer you really have to use a winch or come-a-long to get the car up on it. I've loaded FDs and FCs on a dolly myself by just pushing them. The dolly weighs 300-400lbs vs. the 1500-2000lb trailer so when towing with the Toyota it really made a huge difference in weight.

Going down a long steep, winding grade with the Subie and the FD on a dolly might not be a good idea. You would have to use 2nd gear to keep the brakes from overheating but it on a steep grade there probably isn't enough brake capacity to take the repeated slowing you'll need to do.

 

Use AAA, I have the same 100 mi coverage.

They will do it, just tell them you need a flat bed and for them to bring a 2X4. Or you go get a 2X4, you'll need it.


Just give the guy 30 bucks and he'll do whatever within a reasonable range.

G'luck

 

I used to live off of Bay St. when I went to UCSC.


Honestly, I would use the AAA service. I have done it before and had no problems with the driver caring. He is getting paid anyways and does not work for AAA. I even used AAA one time when I was drunk at a bar and didn't want to leave my car at the bar all night when I lived in SC. You know that one bar that has $3 pitchers?


So I say go for the AAA to move your car, and then rent one of those small enclosed car trailers U-Haul has to move the rest of the crap. A suby will have no problem with one. Your total cost for the trips will be low and the FD will arrive safely.

Like this one..



**edit** Since you car is gutted entirely, I would not worry about it getting on a flat-bed tow truck. I bet it looks like a 4x4 right now. By stock suspension'd FD went on a flatbed with no problems with a motor and all its interior