Towing my stuff across country?

[mayflyaway]

Hi there,
I'm considering moving across the country from Portland, OR to Georgia in my '06 Pontiac Vibe.

It is in great condition and has never broken down on me. I keep it maintained regularly. It has about 130,000 miles on it, most of which I put on there. Manual transmission.

It has a towing capacity of 1500 lbs. I'm considering getting a tow hitch installed and towing the Uhaul 4x8 trailer with my mattress, musical instruments and some boxes. Nothing heavy. In the car will be me and my cat, clothes and whatever boxes I can fit. Maybe a second driver if I can round someone up who will buy their own ticket home.

When I look into towing on the Uhaul site it says i should be concerned about the condition of my car before towing a trailer.

What do I need to know about my car and towing to assess whether or not my car will make it and still be reliable? I'd rather not destroy it in the process.

I love my Vibe. I call it "The Ponticorn" because finding a manual transmission was a little like hunting for a unicorn.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

[vibrologist]

5 or 6 speed transmission?

[mayflyaway]

5 speed transmission

[BenWA]

A tip that night be helpful should you decide not to tow:

You can ship stuff to yourself by way of FedEx and do HOLD FOR PICKUP at a FedEx office store where you are moving to. So you ship it to yourself but it stays there until you pick it up.

I did that with a few boxes I shipped from Arkansas to here last year, in addition to cramming a bunch of junk in the Geo Metro I had at that time.

[trb]

Welcome over here! I didn't see on City-data that you had a manual, so sorry about the automatic trans info. Your 06 has the improved manual transmission so it should not have the bearing failure issue the 03-04 had. But again, if you have never changed the manual transmission fluid, I would. The owner's manual recommends changing it every 30K miles if you tow. I would change it before I tow something and then change it again within the 30K miles. It is cheap insurance. You should use a GL4 type fluid, like Pennzoil Syncromesh which is probably the best one for a stock manual Vibe.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pennzoil-Synchr ... 3641.l6368

More info:

http://www.monkeywrenchracing.com/produ ... c41rgppl16

[vibrologist]

I agree with trb. Trailering is very common in Europe. There you are speed limited to 80 km/h (about 50 mph). You should have no trouble if you take your time. Make sure to put the heaviest stuff at the bottom and make sure the tongue weight is correct. I am sure the rental company explains that.

Make sure the trailer they want to give you is in tip top condition. This may not be always the case.

[ImUrOBGYN]

Good advice about the tranny oil. Let me also add that your cooling system needs to be operating optimally. As was mentioned above about the tranny, if your coolant system has never been serviced, it could be an issue. At a minimum, since funds are always tight during a move, test the coolant to be sure it's still viable. Of course, be sure your brakes and pads are in good condition, tires are inflated properly (important!), and the trailer is loaded correctly. Remember you'll need to accelerate slower, shift later and brake sooner.

Heat is the killer of most thing while towing. Whether it's brakes, your tranny or your motor. Keep those things in mind, have fun, and good luck with your move! It's always exciting to me. We just drove a couple weeks ago from Ohio to Texas in two cars. I had the dogs, snake and various other critters. She got the the crap the moving company wouldn't take and the luggage. lol

[dmottv]

I towed a 5'x10' loadrite trailer with 3' tall stakebody sides several times with my '05 awd at with a u-haul hitch. I usually haul a 550 lb atv or two dirt bikes at about 250 lbs each for 120-150 miles at a time. As far as wind resistance, the dirt bikes are taller, the atv wider. I mostly take it out of overdrive, go easy in the hills, and get around 20-22 mpg. The Vibe seems to handle it fine. The weight you have listed sounds similar. I think I would get the right trailer size to fit the same shape as the car to cut wind resistance as much as possible. Have a good trip!

[runningslow]

I towed a UHaul 5x8 trailer 1000 miles from Florida to Texas with my automatic Vibe. Slow and steady. No problems, aside from terrible gas mileage.

[BenWA]

I'm shocked they let you rent that weight wise...

[runningslow]

I was surprised they let me make the reservation with the Vibe as the tow car, because they make you specify. They officially had to downgrade the load rating, but no one batted at eye at what I was doing. I checked to make sure before I even bought the receiver.

[BenWA]

5' x 8' Cargo Trailer

Inside dimensions: 8' x 4'8" x 5'4" (LxWxH)
Door opening: 4'0" x 4'10" (WxH)

The allowed cargo weight (the amount of weight you can put in a trailer) is based on your vehicle's curb weight (2,800 lbs.), the trailer's capacity and your hitch system rating.
If your hitch rating is: ...... Allowed cargo weight is:
1,000 lbs ............................... 0 lbs
2,000 lbs ............................... 1,100 lbs

Hm, according to that, it's permitted if you have a 2000lb rated hitch, BUT I think that's assuming you could tow 2000lbs. Since it's more like 1500, you'd have to drop the allowed cargo down to 600lbs. Not even factoring in cargo weight in the car itself probably. I put a hitch on a 91 corolla sedan (1.6L EFI + 4 speed A/T) and had an open 4x8 trailer (like for a lawn mower or small ATV) loaded down with stuff including a riding mower when I was moving and I could tell it was struggling a little up the steep hills. But then again, a v6 Taurus station wagon wasn't much better with the same trailer and less weight.

[trb]

When I was towing with my 2010 GT, they would have let me rent the dual axle 5x10 trailer if I needed something that big, since my hitch was rated at 2,500 lbs. At least that size has the surge brakes on it to help slow it down. Luckily I got by with the 5x8.

[BenWA]

I want to get a hitch for mine, which is hitch max of 2000lbs.

I was thinking I might be moving to a place I couldn't have the car (due to no parking) but now I'm reconsidering it for many reasons, including not having a car.

So yeah, I am back to wanting a hitch for it, mainly for bike hauling since I kept the hitch mount bike carrier I had on my camper van. Being able to tow a uhaul trailer would also be handy, should the need ever arise. I have too much else I'm having to pay on (0% interest through Sept or so) so the hitch will have to wait another month or two, at least.