Towing car with no engine using a tow dolly

[roger1]

Good possibility I will need to drive and drop another vehicle off in Tucson around that time. Then all I have to do is rent a cheap car in Tucson. I'm going to take a helper on the trip so I could return the car to Tucson on the way back. So I think that will be my plan for now and see what happens come October.

 

[ck80]

Check penske truck rental as well. Periodically they run specials to relocate equipment between regions.

Right now going new England to Georgia is over 3,400 with the insurances added. But, same trip, other direction, is 800.

Worth checking out

 

[Michael Watts]

Those dollies are only made for short trips .The U haul truck and trailer .And or have a friend with a car trailer are better and safer ideas.

 

[UNGN]

Never tow an old car backwards with a tow dolly. An engineless car towed backwards would be even worse, because Toe won't be right. Cars are designed to go high speed in the fwd direction only and front end alignments are with the engine in, Caster and Toe make towing cars backwards scary.

 

[lilbowtie]

I pulled my Regal from Seattle to Detroit with a U haul tow dolly w/o any problems BUT the mountains were killer not only going up but braking coming down. When I bought a Firebird in California I was going to fly out and drive it back but after putting pen to paper it was cheaper for me to have it shipped and not taking the time and effort. Since it's not derivable there might be an extra charge for loading but worth looking into.

 

[Red78Calais4speed]

The 1996 Buick Roadmaster Limited sedan I used to have as a daily driver had the towing package and was rated to tow 5000 lbs. I drove down to the Allentown, PA area to pick up a parts car Cutlass. I rented the dolly there, loaded the car (which was running), and towed it home. With 750 lbs for the dolly plus 3500 lbs for the car, I was well within the capacity of my Roadmaster. The car pulled it without any effort. I had to keep looking in the rearview mirror to see if it was still there. I was still able to average about 15 mpg even with all the extra weight. That car was my workhorse. I brought home more stuff in the trunk and by towing... Probably the best car I've ever owned. It still ran great when I decided to get rid of it with just under 300K miles. I probably should have pulled the LT1 350 and 4L60E trans before I let it go.

 

[Texas82GP]

I had my 96 Roadmaster shipped from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Houston for less than $1k. The Roadmaster was a running car when I shipped it. That was on an open trailer towed by a Heavy Dodge pickup.

I had my 82 Grand Prix shipped from Iowa here to Houston in an enclosed trailer for around $1200 back in late 2014. Both were good experiences. You might look into shipping the car and parts.

 

[pizza442]

Back in the late 80s I dragged an empty tow dolly from So Cal all the way up to Oak Harbor Washington to get a 70 W30. Towed it back (rears on the ground) behind my buddies 71 Impala 402 with no problems, and the engine was in the trunk of the Olds! 1100 miles one way if I recall correctly

 

[Michael Watts]

I have lived in both areas ,In fact I went to junior high and high school (Class of 1975 ),And was stationed at Camp Pendleton from 1975-79 with a year overseas .And again in 1982-4

 

[81cutlass]

I have towed my 2+2 behind my rainier on a 200 mile trip and a 400 mile trip. I've also pulled my wifes fusion 300 miles when i bought it and my buddy borrowed it a few times to buy parts cars.

I just pull the yoke to the rear end and ratchet strap the driveshaft up and forward so the trans doesn't leak.

My rainier handles it fine, but it is a 5.3 version so it has the big disks up front and the same driveline as a 1500 GM pickup of the same era. It's a good setup and doesn't sway and fits in my relatively small driveway fine so it's superior to having a trailer block a garage spot or having to rent one every time I need to haul something.

My only concern with towing an engineless car is the 'arrow' effect. If you throw an arrow sideways or backwards it will want to flip direction and go with the head leading. If you could throw some bricks or something in the engine bay roughly equal to what an engine weighs I would feel a lot better.

And as far as towing with the acadia, the brakes are fine, I just don't know about the trans cooler. You don't need that much power to pull stuff, you are just going to go slow up hills or rev the crap out of the engine. A lot of people tow RV's with FWD based CUV's all the time and seem to be OK, but they have more tounge weight and that helps keep sway down.