Towing

[ra7ar]

Sorry if i am doing this wrong, I recently purchased a 1980 Dodge Xplorer 228, and i haven't had any luck finding its towing capacity, Im wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible to tow my dodge stratus ona tow dolly. I'm moving from CA to GA and would like to take my car instead of selling it. Thank you and Take Care

[mkguitar]

Many class B's are titled and registered by the conversion company


for instance my Pleasure Way RV is built on a 2005 chev express 3500...and titled as a 2006 Pleasure Way


inside the cabin- on an inside cabinet door near the galley is a sticker with the VIN and GVWR info which includes towing capacity ( 5000/ 500)




is yours titled as an Xplorer ? and do you have a sticker or plate somewhere inside maybe


Mike

[Doneworking]

I bet there is a store near you that sells and installs hitches, accessories, pickup bed shells, etc. as a specialty. I have a goodun' about five miles from home. Those folks can tell you by experience and taking a quick look at your hitch just what you have and probable towing capacity. Since this is all they deal in, they know their stuff.

[booster]

First off, can a Stratus be towed with the drive wheels on the ground without burning up the transmission? If not, you can't flat tow it so would have to rent a front wheel trailer at a minimum and have to consider it's extra weight and tongue weight.


The Dodges also have a very long rear overhang that make any tongue weight lift the front and add more to the rear axle weight which may already be at near max.



Assuming the car can be towed somehow, you would need to get to the scales and see what your rear weight is and then anticipate what it will be when actually leaving. Since you are moving, you probably intend to load up the van with moving stuff also so it could be very heavy or even overweight at that point.


If the car is in very good shape compared to what you can get for it and replace it, you might consider having it hauled and save the risk to the van drivetrain, or car problems. You should also add in in the extra gas it will take to two the car which might be quite a bit.


How is all the household being moved? If it is hired, perhaps the moving company would be able to trailer the car or van and you could drive the other one.



Towing heavy for a long trip with any 40 year old vehicle for the first time will have a high likelihood of some kind of breakdown along the way, IMO.

[ra7ar]

Originally Posted by booster

First off, can a Stratus be towed with the drive wheels on the ground without burning up the transmission? If not, you can't flat tow it so would have to rent a front wheel trailer at a minimum and have to consider it's extra weight and tongue weight.


The Dodges also have a very long rear overhang that make any tongue weight lift the front and add more to the rear axle weight which may already be at near max.



Assuming the car can be towed somehow, you would need to get to the scales and see what your rear weight is and then anticipate what it will be when actually leaving. Since you are moving, you probably intend to load up the van with moving stuff also so it could be very heavy or even overweight at that point.


If the car is in very good shape compared to what you can get for it and replace it, you might consider having it hauled and save the risk to the van drivetrain, or car problems. You should also add in in the extra gas it will take to two the car which might be quite a bit.


How is all the household being moved? If it is hired, perhaps the moving company would be able to trailer the car or van and you could drive the other one.



Towing heavy for a long trip with any 40 year old vehicle for the first time will have a high likelihood of some kind of breakdown along the way, IMO.

Thanks everyone I found the owners manual, sadly it's only 3500lbs and my car would exceed that by 300lbs, I don't think I cna risk it, I am only moving myself won't get into the the gory details of why I'm moving across country, but I have to. I bought this 228 with my GF becuase it's cheaper than renting a uhaul or movers, all my things will fit inside it and i cna head out and only worry about gas. And we both are interested in fixing it up for the future, it runs great(gonna take getting used to since i'm used to power everything) but the inside does need tons of work. But it'll be nice to have an event for the future. I know basically nothing about vehicles(my father prolly rolls over in his grave over it) But the price of the vehicle plus gas will just be under a uhaul rental and we will able to keep it. Thanks again for all the responses everyone.

[fwdanielson]

For the record the number you want is the gross combined weight rating or GCWR. This is the maximum total weight of the vehicle and towed weight. The rated maximum towing capacity assumes the vehicle has no added weight.

For example the rated maximum towing capacity of my 1995 Chevrolet G30 based 190 Versatile is 8000 pounds but the GCWR is 13500 pounds. Our van, fully loaded for travel, weighed 7680 pounds at a CAT scale so the maximum towing capacity in our configuration is 5820 pounds.

If you are planing to tow then load the van up as you are going to travel and get it weighed. Then do the math by subtracting that value from the GCWR to find your actual maximum towing capacity.

[Peder_y2k]

FWIW, back in the old days, we used a 1980 Ford E150 van with 300 cu inch 6 cyl engine to tow a 31ft Aitstream trailer weighing 10,000 lbs cross country several times. Eventually after 200,000 miles, the manual transmission got tired so was replaced with a truck tranny.....and kept on towing. Also towed same trailer with a Dodge 318 v8 automatic with no issues. But then we knew how to deal with loads as braking can be an issue on long downhill mountain passes.