towing???

[Juggy]

well ive been pondering the idea of using my future DD lancer ES as a tow vehicle for my dolly and 87 SC


im really planning on going with a 5 spd. the car is going to be a 2.5L

so im looking for a nice gear ratio that would work nice with the 2.5 around 65-70 mph.

I have a 523 with a 3.50 here. as well as a 568 3.85. I was planning on making a hybrid trans but it doesnt really matter to me. the hybrid would be overkill for towing in 5th.


so either I just slap in the 3.50 523 turbo trans, or do the fd swap to get myself an "n/a" style 523 3.85 and still end up with the hybrid...



I would also assume the mitsu would be the better turbo for this type of application???

[BadAssPerformance]

The 3.85 gear might help it tow?

I would think towing might melt a Mitsu?

[dwh4784]

Towing with a mitsu doesn't seem like a great idea to me. Under even the slightest load a mitsu turbo car is almost always in boost.

[Vigo]

I agree, with a 2.5/5spd my aries spools a garrett almost instantly in 5th gear. To the point where i want to retard the cam JUST so it doesnt go into boost so dang much on the highway.

So skip on the mitsu, its a pointless restriction in this case.

Also, for towing with a 5spd, dont get a ceramic clutch. Getting rolling with a heavy load, you might slip it enough to do bad things to it. In fact, i think i might have messed up the ceramic clutch in my aries pulling a car around my yard with flat tires. Dunno for sure yet but it made a nasty noise... Anyway, id err towards a forgiving clutch disc, full face organic or maybe kevlar.

I dont have much of an opinion on the ratios. Personally, i think the tall ratio is fine even for towing. Plus, the taller the FD the more comfortable 4th is on the highway when you DO need it.

Ive towed k-cars, even full weight LWB van on dolley NUMEROUS times behind my dynasty. I even took my Aries from TX to FL and back with it. The one thing i will say is make sure you upgrade the brakes. I have the 11" all around on my Dynasty and that feels like 'just enough' in a panic stop. I dont think i would be comfortable doing it with stock brakes.

Also, make sure your track bar isnt bent and floppy because that lateral slop in the rear suspension can make trailer sway much worse, if you do run into it. I usually dont get any sway at all with the dolley unless one of the straps comes loose.

[Juggy]

ok so scratch the mitsu. i thought it might help get the car moving. ive never driven or owned a mitsu car personally lol

yes I was planning on going with 11" brakes all around.

id just like to find that happy medium between the RPM/speed and pedal effort, to allow me the best mileage.

the 3.85fd on a 523 gearset should place me around 3K rpm doing 70 which should be a nice spot in the powerband for a modest 2.5L

hopefully everything looks good in these trans' because I do not have the money to be buying stuff for them lol. I can tear them apart myself and have my friend press the gears for me....

both spin nice and engine/disengage fine. was told the 568 was rebuilt and now that I think of it the previous, previous owner did replace some things.

what scares me is the auto trans fluid that came out of the 523 I picked up.....was told it was good. came from a 90 spirit but trans was marked 90 shadow so previous trans was replaced at some point....hopefully not long enuff for the auto trans fluid to destroy my 523 gears was told the car was scrapped because it was rusty. hopefully its not because of a bum 5 spd trans

[bfarroo]

I towed my Shadow behind my spirit for 2 years without any issues. 2.5 TI auto. The biggest issue is the car on the dolly tends to push and pull a lot and you definitely need to have trailer brakes on the dolly. Never had any turbo issues, just set the boost low. I was running about 8-10lbs. I now have a 2.5 turbo in my dakota and have towed with that for 3 years no problems. I had the 1.06 transfer gears in the auto in the spirit when I was towing with it. Never tried with the .91's. 4th is perfect for towing in the dakota but that's still around 3000 at 70 in 4th.

[MiniMopar]

When I was a kid, we towed our trailer down to AK and back every year with out '86 GTS T1 (A525). Some years we had it loaded down pretty good. We went about 70-75 mph the whole way and the cruise had the pedal nearly to the floor much of the time. That car had well over 200k on it by the time it rusted to bits...original turbo and motor (3rd trans though, LOL). I wouldn't worry about towing with a turbo, though the Mitsu may hurt your mileage as some have suggested.

[contraption22]

Does the tow dolly have brakes? Otherwise, I wouldn't try this. I can see a charger on a tow-dolly pushing that Lancer around fairly easily.

[BadAssPerformance]

I dont think I have ever seen a dolly with brakes?

[MiniMopar]

Oh yeah...our trailer did have brakes.

[Vigo]

my dolley doesnt have brakes. Some do, but i think its not that common.

[Juggy]

mine does not have brakes....only the HI END dollys do lol....

and the cold weather is coming fast, i dont have all the pieces i need to do a 5 spd swap, so instead going with a mild built auto....i am unsure of the gear ratio or even what year it is for that matter, shall find out real soon tho.

[Vigo]

Well if its based on a turbo core 100% chance its a 3.02FD trans.

[Ondonti]

I just finished my 2nd 900 mile tow using my AA body. I only made 750 miles of the last trip because I had an intake manifold gasket leak that was draining a gallon every 15 miles and I gave up, then killed the starter (snapped something inside) when I tried to go again, probably water in the cylinders. I would say Adam's one long tow trip was quite easy compared to what I did. 5-6 huge mountain passes vs americans flatland :P

The 3.50 trans I am using is not a great idea, I have a 3.0 but its about 2050 rpms (very tall tires) at 60mph and only 2400 at 75+
Shifting into 4th is a must on the west coast mountain passes but maybe not on the east coast, just for the random big hill.
The 3.77 trans will really be just a tiny difference but even 1 mph less at the same RPM can help.

If you run a 205/50r15 tire or 225/505 then you should be good on your rpm range. 225/60r15 = not so good.

Just give a large following distance and watch out for idiots cutting you off. I did want dolly brakes but the finances just didn't add up for me. People told me I just needed the right following distance but I think I wouldn't mind some electric brakes and a brake controller. I don't know if Adam ever tried to actually lock up the brakes. I had 2 instances where following distance is all that mattered. I locked up all 225's once in a 30mph idiot in front of me brake check, came just a few feet from him. Then in the rain even with quite a large distance I stopped with about 15 feet after using about 100 feet to threshold brake. Tires locked up once near the end. 15 feet is not enough room when completing an emergency stop in the rain. That's one car length. That was also towing my new 1650 pound KP61 Starlet. I would have had to change lanes if I was towing a 2500 pound car.

Whatever hp an n/a 3.0 makes at around 2000 rpms at 1/4-1/3 throttle is really all you need to cruise on the freeway.
Maybe the best turbo setup would just be one where you don't allow it to make more then 7 pounds of boost or even less? That way if you do get a boost spike you are not beating on anything, and if you ever need to accelerate, just downshift! I want to get the he341 holset on my Spirit for towing but the reality is that when your limitation is slowing down, more power is slightly crazy.

[RoadWarrior222]

Someone I know just got screwed over being cut off, accident ahead of him, gets on the brakes, but another car swerved into his lane ahead of him, giving him no room, doesn't quite get to a stop and punts that car into the car he was following... Cop wrote him up as at fault for following too close

The way people cut in front of you here, you'd have a hard time keeping a "legal" stopping distance ahead of you if you were at WOT in reverse.

[Juggy]

Someone I know just got screwed over being cut off, accident ahead of him, gets on the brakes, but another car swerved into his lane ahead of him, giving him no room, doesn't quite get to a stop and punts that car into the car he was following... Cop wrote him up as at fault for following too close

The way people cut in front of you here, you'd have a hard time keeping a "legal" stopping distance ahead of you if you were at WOT in reverse.

ya that sucks. and with no one around to see its always the guy in the backs fault.

makes ya wonder about some of these laws here...gotta change the guidelines for sure. its just like a union really. they only help out the idiots from getting in trouble....

[Vigo]

I would say Adam's one long tow trip was quite easy compared to what I did.

8000lb GCVW on a 604? How many times did you lock up a tire panic-stopping in Houston traffic? Well Houston is only the 3rd largest city in US so i guess traffic coulda been worse. Woulda been nice if the lanes in construction zones had been at least 6 inches wider than my dolley, though.

[Ondonti]

nice to hear some reality from rosie posie.

Tell me about one of those 3000 foot elevation gains in 2-3 miles now
auto ftw yes yes yes

The getting cut off thing is just scary. Makes me think about having a camera in the car to show I keep proper distance. I have been cut off a few times and it always scares me. Thats one of the problems about FOLLOWING the law and keeping a proper following distance.

[Vigo]

Yeh, you can either keep a legal following distance that begs someone to get in front of you and cut it in half or worse... or you can keep just enough following distance so that you own the space, and just take your chances. When you've got 2+ times the original weight spread out over 8 springs and 10 tires and 35 feet, your ability to react is pretty crappy.

1000+ miles is my longest one-way tow with the dynasty but ive done numerous local (60 miles or under) tows with a variety of different cars on the dolley, and one time i even put a full weight LWB grand caravan on it. Obviously some things are more prudent than others but i think ive got a larger sample of towing with k-cars than pretty much anyone. I can definitely tell you what NOT to do..

[Ondonti]

The distance maintenance still gets freakin stressful. Thats why I am glad when I hit the open road.