Atilla the Fun

While I've been inactive, I've fabricated a pair of hitches for my '84 Trans Am.
The highest GM ever rated these cars was 2,000 pounds, but the only available hitch is rated to half that.
From searching past threads on this, most of those seem mostly strongly opposed to doing any towing with any third gen.
When I had my '91 RS, I towed more than 4,000 pounds with it, without ANY problem.
Only now I went several steps farther.
I've over-built a through-the-bumper rear hitch that will easily take more than 6,000 pounds, and will not use any weight-distributing devices. It has now been final-welded and is being painted.
Next is a gooseneck hitch, tested in my pickup, and requiring hatch removal until I find a notchback like the '88 GTA option, which would still need a hole cut in it.
Third is a full-floating, 6,500 pound rated 8-lug Dana 60 axle that's 65" between wheels. This will let me run singles, probably with Moon discs, or duals when hitched to a gooseneck trailer.
I'll post pics if there's more interest than bashing.

wretched737

Interested.... dont know why but im intrigued

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

I'm not usually one of these guys, but...

ANOTHER guy who cut the rear bumper for a trailer hitch (PO of my car did the same and half-baked a wiring harness into the tail light harness to boot!)? Are you kidding me? It's an F-body! It's supposed to be ON the trailer, NOT TOWING IT! I can see a Cavalier (my neighbor has one with a hitch), but a sports coupe? And a dually axle?

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

LMAO the gooseneck is well..... nvm

Not going to lie, that is a stupid idea with the gooseneck. I know its your car but you might as well give it to a dirt track guy and let him F-it up.

But hell yea I want to see pics, i really want to see some of your hitch that didnt cut up the rear bumper.

petrolhead

I plan to tow a boat with mine in the future, I figure it has basically a truck motor and trans, and the gas milage will be way better, so why not?

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

I've seen a through-the-bumper version on a 4th gen:

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

now that one works

dont see why that would be hard to do on a 3rd gen either.

lonsal

iTrader: (2)

Did you forget that a truck has a frame? Your car doesn't have a frame. I have a hitch on my Camaro convertible and used to pull my HiLo trailer and a 2-up PWC trailer when I was without a proper tow vehicle. Towing is a lot of stress for a unibody car, even with SFC's installed. I haven't used my F-body to tow anything since '94 when I bought my first Dodge Ram.

Lon

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

This ^^^

There are also tow vehicle weight issues that will come into play in certain areas. I know around here, no matter how well you installed a hitch, or how "over built" it is, the MTO would fine you and tell you not to tow the trailer that is too heavy for the vehicle.

Just because it may share an engine and a trans with a truck, does not make it a truck.

petrolhead

I'm talking about a little 16' boat that barely weighs 1000lbs. I'm not towing an ocean liner with it, I don't think my boat will hurt anything.

RMK

Do you have a picture of the gooseneck trailer you are going to be pulling with this car?

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

Is this for hauling a hay wagon on the farm, or for actual on public road use?

If you are hauling more than the vehicle is rated, you are illegal regardless of how well built the configuration is. DOT doesn't find overweight violations very funny, and getting caught will result in very large fines as it should.

-- Joe

WickedCrazy

Then why are you building it to accept a goose neck? Anything that is going to require a goose neck is going to be WAY over you're cars weight limit.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

He's not, Atilla is.

-- Joe

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

I would like to see how the hitches were done and how you dealt with the torque arm on the dana 60. I may not plan on towing but I would like to see what you did. Your old posts have always shown thought.

By the way welcome back.

Atilla the Fun

This has been re-hashed at least 500 times on RV.net, and finally there's a sticky there with the indisputable facts. I for one expect a moderator to research rather than post his own thinking without adding "IMHO".
Moving on,
Early next month I'll have pics, showing both hitches, and both installed, and the installed under-bracing of both, and both being tested. Neither of the trailers are mine, I wanted to do my testing with trailers far heavier than I'll ever use.
It's my car, none of you made any serious offer to buy it when I offered it at a better-than-fair price. I'm not doing anything dangerous, illegal or irreversible, so you can't nay-say me choosing to enjoy my car in a far-different manner than you might. Not every mind that wanders is lost.
And to my thinking, most of you are being ingrates for not appreciating that I'm freely offering a design you can copy. Inspiration at least.
So, what do I expect to tow? a pop-up camping trailer around 1500 pounds, 500 beyond the rating of Curt's hitch. Maybe occasionally deliver a non-loaded gooseneck. Whatever, nobody's business but mine.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I'm a certified Police Officer.. If the combined weight exceeds the GCWR I cite and impound. Regardless of any website topic of forum, or what some guys says is OK on the forum. DOT have even less of a sense of humor than I do.



Sounds like you'll be reasonably within the scope of the law. I'm just curious why the gooseneck ?

-- Joe

Six_Shooter

iTrader: (2)

It's the business of anybody you're on the road with.

If there is a time when you can stop, or maneuver safely, and end up hitting someone, you will be at fault, regardless of how well thought out you think your hitches are. I for one would not want to be around a vehicle that is towing more than it's deemed capable of doing.

91phoenix

iTrader: (5)

I assume you phrased this wrong. If the GVWR of the towing vehicle is exceeded then it is illegal. Not the combined weight. I have towing capacity of 7000 lbs but only a GVWR of 8600 lbs. This is entirely legal as long as the front and rear wheel loading is within factory spec. If the front or rear or both is exceeded then I am illegal or if I am over the 7000 lbs tow weight.

I understand what you are trying to say.
I do not expect to tow but would be interested in how the bracing was done. It could be useful for any number of other ideas I have.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

I meant GCWR. I'll fix the post.

-- Joe

Atilla the Fun

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...882/page/1.cfm

Atilla the Fun

short-cut to latest progress http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...82/page/11.cfm

zenish

my drawtite direct fit hitch is marked 2500 gross trailer weight/250 tounge weight.i used to tow a 19 foot inboard outboard boat with this hitch on a 1984 hardtop camaro.

Atilla the Fun

Willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, I tried again to look it up. I did this months ago, and thus already knew full well that Draw-tite is part of Reese. Still, I tried Googling: Draw-Tite instead of Reese, and yet the home page you get is Reese's. Pulling up the fit guide, there's nothing there for any third-gen. What you have has long ago been discontinued. Dunno where you ordered yours from, or when, but if it had a production date on it, it wasn't 2012 or 2011. Congrats on having a hitch rated higher than the car's rating, but it's no longer an option for anyone else, without fabrication. My rear hitch is completed, finalized, painted, bolted in, done. Pics are in the thread I've linked to, on RV.net http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...82/page/12.cfm

zenish

i love the way you hid the hitch but why didn't you hide the wiring connector too.i'll take some pics of my hitch.

Atilla the Fun

That is a good question, for which I have no adequate answer. I'd like to figure a way to hide the wiring plug behind the license plate, but inspiration hasn't struck. If anyone has any ideas, please share.

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

You sure? Look again. I ask because mine is stamped by Draw Tite 2000 gross/200 tongue & is made for this Class I drawbar.


I'm considering cutting it open & rebuilding it to receive a 2" drawbar.

Atilla the Fun

Maybe I've gone off the deep end, but I'm adding an older-style fifth-wheel hitch, removable, to use directly above the GN ball.

Atilla the Fun

A local guy has asked me to build him a copy of my rear hitch. Anyone else interested?

ericjon262

wow? really? I'm so dumbfounded I don't know quite what to say...

Atilla the Fun

What, you'd seriously prefer Curt's dangerously under-built hitch rather than my massive-overkill hitch?

ericjon262

there's these things they make now, they're called trucks, and they come factory with tow packages because they are built to pull things. I know the concept is a little tough for some people, but they do exist and work very well.

Atilla the Fun

How can you not understand this? I realized this 17 years ago, which is why this is happening. Back in '95, I had this epiphany, and it has since been refined. Why use a truck and get 10 MPG towing, and maybe 20 MPG empty, when you can have 20 MPG towing and 40 MPG empty? 17 years ago, the numbers were 10 / 20 vs 15 / 30, but back then I was thinking LT1 with T56 rather than turbodiesel. Now I've outgrown my immature need for speed, which I think you have to turn 50 to do. Still, why buy in to the big 3 trying to brainwash you into falsely believing you need a new dually to tow anything? Europe has long success disproving that folly. Why use a big, heavy, unstable, clumsy pickup with poor maneuverability, huge drag, and no handling? Why not use something you already enjoy? You want to waste $70,000 on a truck, fine. More money than brains is a very American thing. Meanwhile, I'll spend my next $70k far more wisely. You put yours in a liability, I'll put mine into something that qualifies as an asset.

ericjon262

you don't have to spend 70k to get a truck, in fact, barely 7% of that figure for a decent truck. a thirdgen is not a truck, nor was it built to do the things a truck does. I bought my 87 dually for $2200, and drive it when I need it. I don't worry about it not getting 30 mpg, or doing 175 mph, I worry about it handling a load predictably.

chris.niemann84

just curious, what happened to the thread on RV.net? it stopped back on 2011 if i remember right and nothing since then...

I think this is total insanity and ridiculous and pray to god me nor non of my family is around this suicidal machine on the road. none the less, like every american male, I WANT TO SEE THIS!

also, i bought my 1995 F150 4x4 ext cab with the 5.8L 351 with the E4OD transmission for $600 and its in great shape minus the typical rust from road salt. it needed a transmission so i put that in myself for $500 so i'm up to $1,100 for a truck that will easily out tow what you have going there, so where you get $70,000 is crazy but whatever... when's the hookup date?

wolverine350r

iTrader: (1)

Last post on rv.net was yesterday:

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu.../1/page/18.cfm

he just got some airbags for the rear. Not towing yet, but it looks close.

SR-71

I'm interested. I'd like to see it.

I'm presently rebuilding my Champion bass boat. All its wood stringers and ribs and transom were rotted out with water and age. When I'm done building it with new technology foam cores, it will weigh less than 1000 pounds. The motor adds 350 pounds. With the trailer, well under 2000 total.

I tow it now with my '03 Tahoe, which does the job without breathing hard. 300 horse 5.3-litre. But towing the boat, it gets 13 mpg. That hurts when I want to go to a lake more than 100 miles away.

I've built my 'Bird for low-end street torque, and it makes over 450 ft-lbs. Over 500 on E85. I predict that one day, I'll be swapping a broken T5 for a built 700R4. (I can build an auto to take the power for about 1/5 the cost of building up a T5 or T56.) Add to that the upgrades to the brakes, suspension, and all other running gear, my only worry would be the rear section of the body.

I get over 30 mpg on the highway. I figure pulling my boat, the 'Bird would get about double the fuel economy of the Tahoe. So I've been thinking on this for a long time.

I really like the through-the-bumper mount with the receiver behind the license plate. Functional AND hidden.

So YES. Continue on. If I could strengthen my 'Bird to drag my boat, I'd do it sometime after I have to change the transmission. (Not before. A manual with my gearing would not be happy on a ramp. )

Atilla the Fun

Pleased to make a new friend, thanks! When I had my '91 RS, I towed over 4000 pounds with it, using a hitch I'd fabricated for an S-10. But It was an automatic, and there were no boat ramps or any other grades, only level roads and one train-tracks crossing.

SR-71

Believe it or not, one of the things I appreciate about ThirdGen.org is that by and large, we're not nasty to each other. Sure, they may tell you you're nuts for what you want to do. (They've told me for years that my build is all wrong, because i went for torque instead of dragstrip horsepower like most of them.) Overall, though, this is one of the most civil groups around.

I got into a pi**ing match with a guy on an Impala forum, 'cuz the guy took big exception to how I set up my headlights. (100 watt high beams, all four lamps on when on high beam.) According to him, my car was basically going to go up in flames, my computer would burn, my automatic night sensor would fail, etc., etc. No matter that I've been running it that way for years, with no issues. When he couldn't convince me how wrong I was, he started a "mine is bigger than yours" contest by bragging about how many years he had been a mechanic. (Really ticked him off when I told him I was working for Chevy while he was still in diapers.) He got so hot on it that he deleted the whole thread. (He was also a moderator.)

I've never seen that kind of crap here. So let them tell you you're crazy. I am, too.

Atilla the Fun

Atilla the Fun

I've hit troubles, looks like I may have to sell the rear hitch and the airbags. I may have to split the pair and sell them as drag bags.

zenish

i might want the bags if the price is right.

Atilla the Fun

I posted an ad in Parts for Sale: https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/engi...side-rear.html

ThirdGenDemon

I may put one in my Camaro. It will have a full cage and underside bracing. It will have a turbo 5.3/t56 combo with a built moser 12 bolt and upgraded brakes. I'm building it for road racing so I'll tow a small trailer with tools, wheels, and fuel. I'm sure I would have no problems towing that. Do you see anything wrong with this build anesthes?

Atilla the Fun

OE ratings are based on original parts and design. No laws against up-fitting and uprating. Structure? check. Brakes? check. Axle? check. Tires? check. Wheels? check. In short, nothing lacking. Just like re-body-ing a C2500HD, but easier and less cost, plus no stupid leaf springs, which aren't needed anyway.

zenish

my hitch

KITT1983

iTrader: (3)

How much for the hitch?

Johnny Blaze

iTrader: (15)

Pulling a big heavy trailer is easy.


Stopping a big heavy trailer is a lot harder.

Johnny Blaze

iTrader: (15)

I'm not sure if I want to see pics of the f body with the 8 lug dana 60 and desiel.

Johnny Blaze

iTrader: (15)

Whats the point?


If you have a Truck why are you trying to turn an f body into a tow vehicle?