Hi All. I was a member here MANY years ago and it's good to get back into Third Gens again. I sold my last Z28 - an '83 with CFI - over 20 years ago. Got bitten by the bug again recently and had to have another 3G.

I recently won an Ebay auction for a nice '89 Iroc. I'm planning to drive from NE Ohio to New Jersey this weekend to check out the car and pick it up. My plan is to rent a double axle U-haul trailer to bring the car home. I searched and found some old threads on this topic, but I wanted to get some opinions on U-Haul's newer trailers with the collapsible fender. From the promo video, they look very nice.

Am I going to have trouble getting the car onto the trailer? I plan to bring some 2x10 or 2x12 boards to help make the angle a little less severe, but I'm concerned that won't be enough. The last thing I want to do is damage the air dam or ground effects.

Any other tips? I just got my F-150 serviced (oil change and transmission), so it should be ready for the trip.

Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

 

Yes. I entered all the information for both vehicles and U-Haul said it would work.

 

When my buddy brought his car from NC e was able to get it on the trailer with no problem. He did not need boards but probably would be a good idea to bring them anyway. He Did however have to crawl in and out of the hatch because of that fender so the whole collapse thing sounds sweet!

 

Depends on which one U-haul rents out to you. Some are pretty nice, others are old used up garbage. One of the three I used hung up on the stock exhaust, the other two were decent. Even with the fold down fender, don't count on opening the doors.

 

I tried loading my 89 IROC on a uhaul car hauler a couple of years back and found I could not get the stock catalytic converter to clear the lip on the right side deck. You can try and lift the tongue end of the trailer to decrease the angle and maybe add some boards in front of the ramps but I had no luck and honestly didn't want to risk damaging the car.

 

That's what I was hoping not to hear... ugh.

 

Yep, that's one of the old shitty ones. The newer ones don't have those rails, and the are silver not orange.

 

Didn't have a problem getting an 85 iroc stock height up onto one of their newer ones. The leading edge of the chin spoiler was very close though. 2 2x4s should give more than enough room for the spoiler if its needed.

 

 

Ok. Hope is restored. It sounds like the newer, silver trailers will work.

Any other thoughts on whether the driver's door will open with the fender down?

 

I rented one this year (silver trailer) and I was able to open the driver's side door of my 82 Trans Am with the trailer fender down. There was about 2 inches of clearance. Car is stock height. What was shocking to me is not needing the boards. On 18' dove tail car haulers, I need two 2x12s to get the car on those without hanging the exhaust and the body pinchwelds. On this U-haul trailer, I pulled it right up on there and nothing touched. Car is stock height. The new U-haul trailers pull better as well IF you have a 3/4 ton truck. I can cruise 65 straight as an arrow and even broke 70 a few times and that trailer never whipped once. Those of you trying to pull cars with 1/2 tons, your results might vary!

 

 

Fantastic. Sounds like I just need to make sure U-haul gives me a newer silver trailer and this should work.

My biggest concern now is towing this behind my F-150 through the Pennsylvania mountains. From what I can tell, I SHOULD be ok. Someone please check my logic:

2010 F-150 5.4L Supercrew with 157" wheelbase and 3.55 rear axle has a GCWR of 15,500 lbs.
The truck weighs a little under 6,000 lbs.
To be safe, let's just assume 1,000 lbs worth of passengers and "stuff". I am bringing my wife and two teenagers with me for the overnight trip.
According to U-haul, the trailers weigh 2210 lbs.
The Iroc weighs 3350 lbs.

So... 15,500 lbs - 6,000 lbs gives me a max towing capacity of 9,500 lbs. This is confirmed by Ford's literature and my owner's manual.
9,500 lbs - 1,000 lbs - 2210 lbs - 3350 lbs = 2940 lbs capacity left.

Does this make sense or am I missing something? I know it's hard to predict how the truck will handle pulling that much weight even though the numbers may look ok...

 

Go on the Uhaul website, when you fill out the forms it'll ask what you intend to use for a tow vehicle. If your answer isn't good enough, they won't rent it to you. Easy solution is to just rent a Uhaul truck to pull it. Crazy eh?

 

I entered all the info into the website and they said the arrangement would work. I'm just very paranoid and I don't like surprises, especially when I'm far from home.

 

Your biggest concern when towing should always be stopping the load, not necessarily moving it down the road. You should be fine just go easy, use the tow haul feature and don't overwork the truck brakes. Make sure you balance your load on the trailer allowing enough weight on the tongue but not so much that it squats the rear end of the truck. Ask the uhaul center to help you with loading the car properly. Sway shouldn't be a concern as it is an open trailer and isn't as susceptible to side forces created by larger vehicles passing you.

 

Going down steep grades on I-80 through the PA mountains is going to be the biggest issue, I think.

 

Good Luck, and I see no reference to a trans cooler. Hope you have a good one.

Louis

 

The truck is equipped with the factory trans cooler that's part of the towing package.

 

Well, I made it with no problems. The new U-haul trailers are very nice.

I'll have a more detailed thread coming soon, but here's a picture of her safe in my garage.