Was wondering if anyone had a trailer hitch on their 3rdgen. mostly want to know if these trannys can handle pulling about an 800lb trailer. that will be the trailer and quad combined. i know the v8 trannys are a little more heavy duty, but mines a v6 700R4 so i'm not too certain.

 

thirdgens are unibodies and are not rated from the factory to tow much at all. I wouldn't think the v6 f-body would be able to tow it too well. Not to mention the stresses that would be placed on the vehicle. 800 pounds isn't exactly light, so use it as you may, although i believe that still falls under class I trailer hitches, which have a tongue load rating of 200 pounds. I wouldn't personally do it but i'm sure it's been done before.

on our one truck we have a class 4 hitch which goes to 7,500 pounds to tow some of our race boats in the family. I asked my uncle about your question and he told me that he wouldn't do it either. He owns a farm and has equipment that he tows all around, used to own an RV shop too, so he knows about hooking up hitches and towing.

 

Not a problem, if you have or had a reciever installed on your F-Body that is rated for the load of your trailer, which isn't much if its only 800lbs, then the only thing I would do if I were you was install a tranny cooler and not worry about it. Think about it, 700R4's were installed in millions of S-10 pickups with V-6's that moved way more weight than your 800 pound trailer and light car.
Also, the reciever you have or are going to get, is rated for a certain weight, it got that rating through testing etc. The company that makes it (to prevent lawsuits) has to know that it is going to work at the rating they gave it.

A truck would get you to more places off road with the trailer and would be a better choice, but, if you are not going to have to go off road with the car and trailer to get the quad where it has to go then throw on a tranny cooler and run it.

I had an Olds Cutlass Cruiser with a 3.0 L V-6 and the front drive 4 speed auto with a home made tranny cooler (stole the condencer out of an old water fountain) and I pulled an 87 inch wide by 8 foot trailer with a 750 pound motorcycle on it using a home made hitch that bolted to the aluminum bumper on the car. Crazy? YES! Would I recomend doing it this way? NO. But it did work and the tranny didn't overheat or burn up. I sold that car and the guy who bought it still uses my home made bumper hitch.

 

hmmm, well i'll wait a little and see what kind of job i can get. if I make enough money I'll just buy a truck. The trailer was my cheaper backup plan since I have a more or less complete one already (needs a little refurbishing) and just need a hitch installed (planned on having done at a trailer dealership)

i remember seeing a thirdgen fbird with a u-haul trailer once on the freeway, so yeah it's been done before.

 

Its not a problem. 4 cyl chevette's came with trailer hitches. Just don't over load the sucker or try to pull to much weight.

 

Just buy a reciever and tranny cooler while you save for a truck.

Then, after you get the truck, park that bird in the garage and only bring it out on nice days.

 

I remember seeing this a while back and was rather speechless..

Firebird towing a boat

 

Not to mention every V-8 fullsized pick up in the early to mid '80's that was used for towing REAL loads.

Towing w/and F-bod is not a problem. The engine can handle it, the trans can handle it, and the rear can handle it. We're basically taling about all the same components as you will find in a 1500 class truck, but with better brakes! The unit body and rear springs are going to be the limiting factor, and 800 lbs is no where NEAR that limit. you'll be fine.

I used to tow and 18 foot Hydrostream with a 200 Merc with my first '83 Trans Am. I pulled that thing from Mass to Maine and back for years. Sold the car with 200,000 miles with the original engine, trans, and rear. Again, you'll be fine.

 

well i looked at a few tranny coolers the other day, just need to figure out how to mount it.