Towing a 65 Cadillac

[Matt B #26021]

As many of you know this is a 4800 pound beast. I am towing with an auto carrier so the entire car will be off of the ground. I have a 99 Yukon with a 5.7. It has the guts to pull it im sure.

My question is what do you guys pull your cadillacs with? Have you had any problems? Anything that I should look out for?

[Carfreak]

I have a 99 Yukon with a 5.7. It has the guts to pull it im sure

1/2 or 3/4 ton? 

Flat land shouldn't be a problem.     Mountains?   

[Dan LeBlanc]

Definitely do not use a U-Haul for this one.  In October 2008, I towed my 61 Sixty Special from Connecticut to New Brunswick, Canada.  Within 5 minutes on the I-95 as soon as I hit 55mph the trailer started whipping badly and we nearly ended rubber side up.  The trailer was only rated for 3000lbs.  Overloading was a BAD idea.  The 14 hour drive home ended up taking 26 hours (not much else I could do but keep it under 45mph and keep going). 

No doubts about your truck being able to pull it, just make sure the trailer can handle it.  Use a trailer that can handle the weight and stabilizer bars help greatly.  I used my 2004 FX-4 Supercrew rated to tow 8900lbs and the truck had loads of power to haul it.  The trailer was the problem.

PS:  If you are using a U-Haul trailer and you're not towing the vehicle stated in the rental agreement, the insurance does not cover you, either.  Read the fine print.

[TJ Hopland]

You want a trailer brakes, also they are required in most states for that weight.  You want a trailer with a little headroom in its load capacity.  Remember the GVW is not the load capacity.  A 5000 GVW trailer could weigh 2000 lbs empty, that leaves you only 3000 pounds for the load.

The side to side shaking is usually a balance (tongue weight) issue.  The basic starting point for this sort of rig is around 10%.  That means if you have a 2000 pound trailer and a 5000 pound car on it and you put a scale under the hitch it should weigh around 700 pounds.  Thats usually a starting point but usually is in the ballpark.  You can now see how you can get in trouble if your tow rig only has say a 1500 pound load capacity.  You take that 700 pounds on the bumper, throw in a couple of adults, some kids and everything else you can jam in you are overloaded in a hurry. I have basically found that you cant tow a heavy car any distance with a 1/2 ton truck no matter what the book says, things are just cut too close with no headroom.   Having a long car on a typical trailer is a problem because you dont have much room to roll the car back and fourth to get the proper balance.   If you dont have enough weight on the hitch the trailer will tend to try and drive the truck.  If you have too much weight on the hitch and just too much load in the truck so its not sitting level you mess up all your steering geometry which tends to make things squirrely and hard to handle not to mention just about lift the front wheels of the ground.   Try to get an extra long trailer so you have a chance to move the car around to get it right.   As little as 6" can make a difference especially if you have a 1/2 ton.  A 3/4 gives you some wiggle room.   When I had my heavy 1 ton dually with the 11' dump box I could load the trailer just about any way I wanted.  You never want to have a car (with and engine) on a trailer backwards (unless its a multi car rig).  Even if your tow rig could handle the weight and be stable that way most trailers do not have any extra bracing behind the axles.  In the front they often have the hitch frame to give some extra support.  I found that out the hard way.  Picked up a dead car and decided to be lazy and just winch it on backwards because it was easier than trying to turn it around.  Had the dually so was not worried about the weight.  Turns out the back of the trailer flexed enough to bow in the inner fenders so they rubbed on the tires.  Saw the smoke in the mirror.  One caught fire.  One exploded.  The other two just went flat.   Trailer and tires were well within their load limits but not the way I loaded it.   

Get everything as oversized as possible.   Take some test runs in a safe place.  Try some quick stops to see how it responds and some moderate swerves at a moderate speed (again in a safe place where there is no traffic or things to hit).  If its not stable try shifting the car forward or back slightly.  You may also need to lessen the load in your truck.  Then just take it slow and easy.   

[Matt B #26021]

You guys are great! Thanks for the excellent info.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I have towed many and varied vehicles all over the place, and with all sorts of vehicles, and when using a Tandem Trailer, never have more than about 100 LBS weight on the Draw Bar.

The '66 I towed with a Ford F100, 2WD, and no troubles at all.

Bruce.

[Matt B #26021]

Thanks for the picture Bruce. If your F100 can tow it I should have no problems. A picture truly is worth 1000 words. Man, that caddy is SNUG on that trailer! I am happy to hear that there were no issues with the tow.

-Matt

[Jim Stamper]

      But if it isn't too far, get someone with a rollback truck to haul  it for you. 100 miles should only be $200 or so. No fuss or worries. I don't know how far you have to go though.

[Matt B #26021]

It is just over 300 miles. Id GLADLY have someone do it but I think it would cost a lot. If I am wrong please let me know!

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

One thing about towing anything is to never try and keep up with the traffic.

Drive at a speed that YOU are comfortable with.

Bruce.

[Brett Cottel]

I used a dual axle trailer with my 03 GMC sierra 1500HD 6.0 motor and trailer brakes for my 8000lb 55 Meteor with no problems at all. Went over the 80 pass between Reno and California with not a hitch doing 65-70 the whole way. HTH
Brett

[Jim Stamper]

     In 1969 I went over that same pass in California towing a 41 Buick Roadmaster convertible sedan on a trailer with a 57 Ford station wagon as the tow vehicle on the way to Harrah's swap meet, and back to the Bay Area again.  35-45 MPH all the way , no problems, a bit faster on the flats.

[Otto Skorzeny]

That's the Donner Pass. Good thing you didn't have to eat anybody.

[Brett Cottel]

with 8000lbs behind me....lucky me & the truck didn't eat someone on the way down either!

[Matt B #26021]

Well I made it home. I am the proud owner of a 1965 Cadillac DeVille. Now, where do I start!

[Brett Cottel]

I'd start with a fine hand made whiskey or 100% agave tequila myself.

[35-709]

Make it a double.
Geoff N.

[Otto Skorzeny]

I fell out of a moving taxi cab in Mexico wasted on Tequila. If I just smell the cap I'd probably puke. My "friends" have pictures of me being dragged through the hotel lobby by the Federales.

[Steve Passmore]

Thanks for sharing that with us Forrest

[Otto Skorzeny]

Good times!