Towing with a cutlass

[FreakingGomer]

I hhave my '93 cutty coupe, and I also have a baja bug, I am curious if anyone has ever towed with their w-body, I am planning on relocating from Portland, OR to Las Vegas, and I will have to tow the bug and was curious if these cars can tow anything, It would be with a tow bar so i would have to put on a receiver hitch, and the bug would not be on a trailor or anything all four wheels rollin along behind it, so I was thinking mostly of brakes and tranny being the issue

 

just looking to see if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing

 

edit: if this is in the wrong section please move it to the apropreate one, I was unsure where it would fit in.

[jeremy]

I wouldn't tow anything bigger then a jetskit with a w-body.

[Psych0matt]

mine has a hitch reciever on it. I towed a tiny trailer with my bum tranny back to the junkyard with it, thats all.

 

(jetski is what was towed with it before I bought it i believe, which is maybe why the tranny died )

 

But, if you want my reciever, I could take it off and sell it to you cheap, I dont use/want it anyways.

[JoroCorona]

Put in a tranny cooler, new filter, and a fresh change of fluid and your tranny should survive.

[GnatGoSplat]

How much does a Baja Bug weigh?

Max limit is 1000 lbs if I remember correctly.

 

I personally would not risk towing with a W-body. The transaxle isn't very beefy. It's not unusual for a W-body to have tranny problems just hauling its own weight around, much less adding more weight to it.

[FreakingGomer]

bugs weigh about 2k lbs,

 

I was worried about the trany mostly, i guess i'll just hve to make two trips with the blazer

[1990lumina]

Onlt thing my Lumina has towed is my dad's Suburban up to the end of the street so the flat bed could tow it away lol...That was at maybe 5-6mph and I had it locked in first so it wouldn't shift...

and the end of the street is only an 1/8 of a mile so it didn't hurt anything

 

However, I wouldn't use my Lumina or any w-body to pull very much across country...but then again my family has a dedicated tow vehicle so I've never been faced with that decision.

 

As for towing the bug, I'd make sure everything on the driveline that could cause friction is lubed, or disconnected....make sure the bug has good tire pressure to reduce friction there, hmm, once you get up to speed there really shouldn't be much of a problem...as long as you take her easy gettin up to speed and don't cruise to fast o fthe highway you should be fine....also, I don't know if I would tow in overdrive....might want to keep her in drive only...I know people will say well that will work everything harder and create more heat, but you also don't want to be lugging the engine and causing the tranny to continually shift up and down or "hunting" for gears either.

 

my 2 cents

 

- Jeff L.

[joey b]

I actually think the tow limit is 1500. But if you have a blazer, just don't risk it. It will cost a little more short term but will probably cost a lot more long term. You'll probably be going through mountains, won't you? And imagine those W-body brakes stopping another 2000 of weight. :devil:

[FreakingGomer]

I was just wanting to make one trip, but I figure its not worth the risk to my car in order to save ad extra trip back and forth. The blazer will be pulling a trailor on the way down and its now my sisters since she graduated from college (I think she got a great graduation gift from me) so she'll be driving it with the trailor,

 

If I were truly hardcore I would drive my vw, but that whole no heat/manual steering, manual brakes is just a little too much excitement

[manitcor]

I actually think the tow limit is 1500. But if you have a blazer, just don't risk it. It will cost a little more short term but will probably cost a lot more long term. You'll probably be going through mountains, won't you? And imagine those W-body brakes stopping another 2000 of weight. :devil:

 

Yeah, Ive towed 1500 lbs +or -200 before from Florida to Michigan, I added a tranny cooler ment for an RV and did a full tune up (tranny had just been replaced too). Car handled it like a champ except by the time I got there I needed new rotors and pads :?

[89GPSE]

I towed my Camaro about a mile with the GP and a tow rope. Could not even tell I was towing something. Torque handled it well. But i did have someone in the other car brakeing. I would not trust my car to stop any more than itself. I have X-drilled/Slotted rotors and Bendix pads, and it still stopps like a School Bus. But i don'r know if I would try a long hual. Engine would handle it, but the tranny??

 

Good luck with the move anyway.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

If it was a short trip maybe... but I wouldn't risk it even with a tranny cooler.

[Brian P]

I used my sister's old '93 Cutlass to tow my old '89 Cutlass about 30 miles It was a little slow to start off but once moving....easy

[19Cutlass94]

I wouldnt risk it, especially if you have the 4T60-E, but thats just me.