Buy a trailer (instead of a pickup truck)

[freebeard]

8 or 10" wheels?

Hopefully you have taken the advice to repack the wheel bearings with better grease. And if you have an handheld infrared thermometer, take it along to monitor the tires and bearings enroute.

As for the mpg, I'd guess just taking the side racks off and stowing them would help the empty mileage.

/Dang, I like that PT Cruiser/camino.

[AlexanderB]

Originally Posted by cosmick

Front wheel drive vehicles should never tow anything

I guess most of Europe gets it wrong then. Then again, maybe you mean towing farm implements on a fifth wheel trailer, not moving your flat pack furniture, bringing a motorcycle or a (small) camping trailer.

Probably 90% of the vehicles here are FWD, and most have a tow rating between 1.5k and 4k lbs, which is enough for most people. If you actually have a commercial reason to move more, you get a nice ladder chassis vehicle, which often also means rwd or awd, but the tax here is quite excessive, so you don't throw away thousands of bucks a year in weight-tax and extra fuel expenses just to drive a heavier car for no reason.

[oil pan 4]

If VW put it on a new engine line then it's probably a bad idea.
Think WWVWD (what would VW do?) and don't do that.

[freebeard]

You mean like in the other thread?

[Miller88]

Originally Posted by freebeard

8 or 10" wheels?

Hopefully you have taken the advice to repack the wheel bearings with better grease. And if you have an handheld infrared thermometer, take it along to monitor the tires and bearings enroute.

This one has 12'' wheels, 4 lug. I took the hubs apart and cleaned the bearings with brake cleaner and repacked (actual repack, not using the zerk) the bearings using marine grade wheel bearing grease. The stuff for boat trailers. It went down the highway at 65 and the bearings were nice and cool the whole way!

Whatever was on there certainly wasn't grease! I believe it's some sort of anti corrosion stuff. The instructions weren't that great, and some of the bolt holes won't line up when the trailer is square. If I kink the halves of the trailer, the bolt holes line up. Go figure.

But for the price, it's not a bad trailer.

Originally Posted by AlexanderB

I guess most of Europe gets it wrong then. Then again, maybe you mean towing farm implements on a fifth wheel trailer, not moving your flat pack furniture, bringing a motorcycle or a (small) camping trailer.

Probably 90% of the vehicles here are FWD, and most have a tow rating between 1.5k and 4k lbs, which is enough for most people. If you actually have a commercial reason to move more, you get a nice ladder chassis vehicle, which often also means rwd or awd, but the tax here is quite excessive, so you don't throw away thousands of bucks a year in weight-tax and extra fuel expenses just to drive a heavier car for no reason.

Here in the US everyone drives a full frame pickup with 10K towing capacity. If they need to tow or haul something, they will rent a truck so they don't scratch theirs!

[skyking]

12" wheels are nice. I personally think of them as a minimum tire for the road. I've towed the fat 10"s, but prefer the 12x4s any day.
That stuff was more like wax? I've seen cheap grease do that over time.

[Stubby79]

IDK what ya'll talking about at the moment, but I bought a trailer (in a box!) a year or more back after selling my pickup. I finally got around to building a deck for it. She's small enough for even a metro to pull around!



Made a lot more sense to pay for a year's insurance on a trailer rather than the same amount per month to insure an extra vehicle. Now I really should get around to putting a tow hitch on my firefly...the tiny trailer looks slily behind our SUV.

While we're on the subject, I also recently picked up a tow bar nice and cheap, in case it's the firefly that needs towing instead!

[skyking]

Nice
In the US, we don't insure trailers, they are covered by the tow vehicle's insurance, so there is really no excuse. My neighbors and I share a few trailers. A trailer co-op would be the bomb.

[AlexanderB]

Originally Posted by Miller88

Here in the US everyone drives a full frame pickup with 10K towing capacity. If they need to tow or haul something, they will rent a truck so they don't scratch theirs!

Thats how we Europeans see America, yes. Its also why we're angry about paying $8+ a gallon while the Americans cry about $3 being "sooo much". Also why we're angry about America burning through 30% of the worlds' gasoline with 3% of the world population. Learn to drive normal cars and leave some for us! /sarcasm, but really, why?

10k towing capacity, only if you have a fifth wheel and 3k of it leans on the truck, (non big-rig) trailers here have a 7k lbs total weight limit.
As do cars, so if you buy a big ladder chassis vehicle, you might be stuck with almost zero loading capacity, legally, because its unladen weight is already say 5-6k lbs.)

Or you'd have to get your 'light truck' license, which comes with a lot of safety certification if you want to use it commercially. (Instead of say, for a big RV.)

Originally Posted by skyking

Nice
In the US, we don't insure trailers, they are covered by the tow vehicle's insurance

Same in Europe too. Only when they're hooked up though, so often people add them to their home insurance in case it gets stolen or otherwise damaged while parked.

Originally Posted by skyking

My neighbors and I share a few trailers. A trailer co-op would be the bomb.

Thats how a lot of smaller trailer rental companies here got started I think.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by AlexanderB

Thats how we Europeans see America, yes. Its also why we're angry about paying $8+ a gallon while the Americans cry about $3 being "sooo much". Also why we're angry about America burning through 30% of the worlds' gasoline with 3% of the world population. Learn to drive normal cars and leave some for us! /sarcasm, but really, why?

Ya don't have to go all the way to Europe to wonder the same thing.