Tow Question

[geojerry]

Heading to 2012 meet this July in South Bend from Ft. Lauderdale. Stayin at the Host INN hotel.

Its a long 22 hour drive. Would like to take the 78 Avanti II. My bro says lets rent a 18 Ft. Uhaul car hauler and use his 2008 Toyota Rav4 with the hitch he has installed. Not sure what his tounge wgt is on that hitch and whether his V6 will have issues towing the Avanti . Any incites/tips would be appreciated.

[Avanti83]

Heading to 2012 meet this July in South Bend from Ft. Lauderdale. Stayin at the Host INN hotel.

Its a long 22 hour drive. Would like to take the 78 Avanti II. My bro says lets rent a 18 Ft. Uhaul car hauler and use his 2008 Toyota Rav4 with the hitch he has installed. Not sure what his tounge wgt is on that hitch and whether his V6 will have issues towing the Avanti . Any incites/tips would be appreciated.

Jerry

The Uhaul trailers are great for towing. I've picked up two Avanti's with them and towed up to 800 miles but you are about to find two problems.

Uhaul will not rent you a trailer to tow behind a Rav4. I borrowed a Silverado 2500HD with the 502 gas engine from my son and Uhaul liked the truck. They would not let me use my Silverado 1500 4X4 to tow their trailer.

My dealer could not find Avanti on their automobile list so they would not rent me the trailer. They did let me rent the trailer to tow a 74 Monte Carlo though.

You can go to the Uhaul website and dial in all the data to see what they will let you do.

Good luck, Bob

Edited January 20, 2012 by Avanti83

[geojerry]

Thanks for the quick reply Bob. Your Right. The Rav 4 is not the correct tow vehichle. My buddy says to tell uhaul I will tow my Bro 2003 Mustang and that will pass their test. Will their 18 ft.drive-on flatbed be ok for an Avanti or do I need a 20 ft. trailer.

[okc63avanti]

A 2008 Toyota Rav4 with V6 is rated at a maximum towing capacity of 3500 lbs. The engine puts out 246 ft-lbs of torque. Do not tow an avanti with this small of a vehicle. The Uhaul trailer weighs about 1500 lbs and an avanti probably weighs 3500 lbs, that's a total of about 5000 lbs which exceeds the maximum rated towing capacity for the Rav4. Pulling that much weigh that far there and back will risk damage to the Rav4 drive train and possibly be unsafe from a handling standpoint. If an accident were to happen due to the towing of the trailer your insurance company may even deny a claim due to improper use of the vehicle above its design specifications.

I towed my 63 avanti with a Uhaul trailer from Tulsa to OKC when I moved here 6 5-1/2 years ago with my 1998 F-150 4.6L V8 pickup truck which puts out about 265 ft-lbs of torque. My F-150 is rated at a standard towing capacity of 6900 lbs. The F-150 did not like pulling the avanti. Our turnpike between Tulsa and OKC is 75 MPH speed limit but going up steep grades I had to turn off the OD on the automatic trans and slow to 50 MPH. I could only achieve about 65-70 MPH comfortably on a flat grade.

When I took my Avanti to Myer Studebaker in Ohio for a frame off restoration I rented a Chevy Silverado 2500 with the Duramax Diesel. The Duramax didn't even know there was a trailer behind it. I could set the cruise on 75 MPH and the transmission wouldn't even shift down out of OD on the steepest of grades.

IMHO due not tow your car with the Rav4.