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What do you use to tow your race car/weekend warrior?

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blackhawkgsx

10+ Year Contributor
250
1
Mar 6, 2010
Miami, Florida
Hey guys what are you using to tow your race car/weekend warrior ? I'm in the market for either a truck or suv and have been looking at the pros and cons of the truck vs suv. So maybe you guys showing me what you use will make my decision easier .
 
I haul everything with a 97 f150 with the 4.6. All around I love the truck but it could use some more power. My dad has used it to haul his boats more than one time which are 26 and 27ft Sea rays... Weigh arounf 7500lbs with out the trailer. If it is in your budget to buy and maintain a diesel I would definantly look in that direction if you plan to haul more than not.
 
Well i was initially interested in a tahoe but now i'm looking more toward a 2000-03 silverado crew cab, I am trying to stick with what i know as chevy was always the brand of choice in my family but at this point im still open to new ideas.
 
Short trips 150 mi or less i drive it otherwise like to the shootout witch is 700 plus mi my friend pulls me with with his 06 duramax. Can barley tell there is anything behind it.
 
I have a 96 Chevy Tahoe 2 wheel drive 5.7L and it tows just about everything I have needed it to. So far the only NEEDED upgrade was to the brakes when I bought my 25 ft RV (7500LBS) it would heat up the front rotors really bad so I upgraded to drilled and slotted, problem solved. But I have 20 ft dovetail car trailer it tows with trucks on it all the time. But I do not know how heavy that set-up is, hope this information helps.
 
I borrow my buddy's trucks, because I can't afford my own. :cry:

But at least they have nice stuff. We've used my buddy Dan's '05 Hemi-powered Ram. And also my buddy Adam's '09 F450. We used the F450 to pull my car to the Shootout last summer. You couldn't even feel the car or trailer behind it. I don't even think it affected fuel economy. LOL

A compound turbocharged truck pulling a compound turbocharged Dizzum. :D

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Honestly, even most newer 6-cylinder SUV's are pretty capable for towing. I was amazed when I read up on the towing capacity of my buddy's new 4.2L I6 Trailblazer. It's more than capable of towing a full weight DSM and trailer.
 
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I have pulled my 2700 pound laser on my buddies (home made) dual axle dove tail trailer a handful of times. His trailer in the pictures below has a LARGE tool box at the tongue full of ramps, straps, jack and oh yeah, a decent winch. I've been told the trailer is pretty heavy considering, but no idea on it's weight. I pull it with my 2005 Toyota Tundra 4door 4.7L V8. My truck is rated for 7,500 pounds, so i know I'm under that weight. The trailer does not have brakes hooked up to it though, which makes things totally different. My truck does well pulling this trailer. Braking w/o the trailer brakes, I just try to keep some extra distance and brake earlier than later.

Since i love just about everything about my truck and it's getting close to being paid off, I think instead of buying a diesel tow rig, i should just look in to a light weight trailer instead. I have tons of faith in my truck, but having a lighter trailer and one with brakes will prob make trips from Maryland to Ohio's shootout a little less intimidating. Oh and a trailer that wasn't painted by Papa Smurf. I get a little squat in the rear suspension with the trailer hooked up, but it looks worse since i have a 2" leveling kit up front. The last pic of my truck was before the leveling kit and before i pulled off the running boards.

If your car is FWD, you could consider a wheel dolly if you don't already have a trailer. I see lots of FWD import guys at the local track with wheel dollies. Since most of the cars weight is on the ground rolling, I'm sure you could pull with just about anything that has the right size hitch on the back of it .
 

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Thats a nice truck ! I like how the back window rolls down thats awesome! Im just a little scared to buy a truck from a private seller not that it makes much difference but in my area people seem to run stuff into the ground :( so i dont want to pick up some ones pos.... then pull up to jersey and the tranny explode LOL
 
Well i was initially interested in a tahoe but now i'm looking more toward a 2000-03 silverado crew cab, I am trying to stick with what i know as chevy was always the brand of choice in my family but at this point im still open to new ideas.

I would go with a Diesel tow bi***. If your gonna be daily driving the truck as well, maybe a gasoline engine. Definitely would not go with a Chevy/gmc that new. I used to be a Chevy man myself. But the quality isn't there anymore.

If you can find a little bit older GMC or Chevy. :thumb: GMC are usually a little bit lower on resale for the same thing essentially. :D

I really would like to get a Nissan Titan. Those trucks are pretty bad. They handle well, low amount of body roll for a truck. They haul ass. Get decent gas mileage. (I was averaging 25 highway with my roomate's). And it will pull a DSM on a trailer like it aint shit.

Edit:

Hell my Buddy Bradly pulled one of the DSM purchases up a pretty steep grade with just a Little ole S-10 with the 4.3L v-6 and it didn't complain at all.

Edit 2:

Tacoma's (Hilux to the rest of the world) are badass little trucks. Depending on what year you have they did come with a high volume 4 cylinder. Just check your trucks towing capacity. Bradly's s-10 was rated for 3500. It pulled a full weight 1g like it was any other day at work.
 
Thats a nice truck ! I like how the back window rolls down thats awesome! Im just a little scared to buy a truck from a private seller not that it makes much difference but in my area people seem to run stuff into the ground :( so i dont want to pick up some ones pos.... then pull up to jersey and the tranny explode LOL

Thanks man, i appreciate that. I bought the truck while I had no DSM to suck my money away, and i've been paying extra every month to get it paid off early. I love my truck to death and me included, everyone loves the rear power window and the large sunroof. With all those + the four window rolled down it feels totally open in the summer.

I bought mine used 2 years old with about 30,000 miles on it. It was owned by a Indian guy that worked at a bank and lived in the suburbs. So i know that truck hadn't even been broken in yet. People in my area beat up on there cars a lot too, but i think the big thing is how well they maintain them. If they have some records that look decent and the truck doesn't have an overall feel like a 12 year old Ford Taurus, I think you'll be ok.

One of the best things about my truck, assuming the long wheelbase helps a lot, is just like the Nissan Titan mentioned above, it handles well and has little body roll. I'll be honest though, I would only get a V8, or diesel, and a full size truck if you plan to do a lot of trailer your car a lot on a flat trailer. My truck you can feel that weight back there, but it tows it well. I don't know if the guy above is gung-ho Nissan, but it sounds like it since even the S-10 "didn't complain at all." If the truck is complaining, it may be too late. I'm sorry if you're pulling a car with an S-10, you'll know it.
 
this will be a newbie question but..... y tow your car to the runs instead of drive it?
Anything can happen when racing. It's good to have a tow rig to get the car back home if something breaks while racing. And it's a PITA to run a car on race gas for long drives. Better to save the expensive fuel and use the cheap fuel to tow the car instead.

Of course, many of use tow them non-running as well. That's when a truck and trailer come in handy the most.


PS - Please read up on our grammar rules here.
 
Cant find any pics of towing my dsms or mustangs but heres a pic of hauling some of my toys - Ive had several gas trucks over the years - after going diesel Ill NEVER go back to gas - theres no comparison , I dont drive it all the time though , because i have an older lifted ext-cab toyota its mostly in primer now - i think i have a pic with my smaller tires on it
 

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I think I'm going to go diesel maybe turbo but I'm having a difficult finding something I'm my area under 8k and that's stretching my budget unfortunately LOL..... Yea I'm BROKE :rolleyes:
 
Short trips my '72 GMC 1/2 ton. Long trips my buddies 12 valve cummins(1200 ft/lbs).
 
we haven't towed either of our current cars (haven't had the need... yet :p) but we've pulled a handful of cars with my 2000 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9l 360 4WD. this truck is a beast. bought it used about 2 years ago (yay tax returns) and i currently use it as my daily drive/mommy mobile. i <3 my truck :D

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I had an awesome truck but got rid of it like an ass bag. 04 Toyota Tundra Limted with every option possible.
I also had an Evo and got rid of that too. Ugh. Thus the reason I hate this picture.

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