Towing my 911 SC on vacations - am I crazy?

[guidob222]

I just purchased a 2010 Honda Pilot 4 wheel drive SUV with a 4,500 towing capacity and was wondering if I could tow my 1982 911 SC with me on vacations? (roughly 1,600 miles round trip).

I would really only need to tow maybe twice a year on vacations - I do not take my car to track events - just a cruiser.

I was looking for places to rent a trailer but some places have said the 2010 Honda Pilot could not pull it and others will charge roughly $400/week if they could even find something.

I can't really see buying a trailer to tow for only two times a year - but I may look into it if the price is right. It seems like most recommend the open air flatbed 2-axle trailers 18".

Anyone have any ideas? Just thought it would be awesome to take my 911 with me on vacations.

Thanks for your time!

[chris.817]

4500 lb towing capacity is a bit light. I use a 4runner with 5000 capacity and it's pushing things a bit. My key was a lightweight trailer. Unfortunately, the aluminum ones are expensive and would stress your "ROI". I kept an eye on craigslist and was able to find one.

The regular open trailers that most use are quality and cost effective, but at 1500 to 2000 lb will be beyond your capacity.

Uhaul has a cost effective solution but that would be over capacity too.

Find the smallest, used aluminum trailer you can find, verify it's weight, and go for it.

[vash]

put a thule, torpedo thingy on the roof of the SC...and take the car. to many passengers?

[rlw]

I don't tow a lot of cars (pulled mine a few times with a U-Haul trailer), but I tow a lot of boats of different sizes. Something to remember about towing, it's not how much you can tow, it's how much you can stop. I would be hesitant to tow that much with a Honda Pilot. Now, I have never driven one either. I tow with a Suburban. I am worried when you add car (P) wt and trailer wt, your vehicle is not going to tow it well, your Honda's transmission is going to be crying uncle, and your gas mileage will be terrible. I think it all is going to come down to how light a wt can you get. I tow my 25 ft boat without gas because the wt difference between full and empty is huge.
RW

[tom1394racing]

I just bought a Honda Ridgeline with the same towing capacity. If you have a lightweight trailer, the 911 and the trailer should not be a problem. I checked before buying mine and found several other guys in the club who tow their 911's to the track with the Ridgeline with no problems.

[tharbert]

Some states won't allow you to tow a vehicle on a single axle trailer - at least that's true for Illinois. When you get to the better tandem axle trailers, you start seeing surge brakes, a master cylinder connected to the trailer tongue that applies brakes on the trailer wheels.
So, if it were me, I would look for an aluminum trailer with a surge brake. As long as you don't get in a hurry or have to tow the pcar up a mountain, it should be fine.
There was a guy that was selling a tandem Al trailer last year for ~$4k. If I didn't already have a single axle in the yard, I would have pulled the trigger. That was a beautiful setup with tie downs and a wench. There are deals out there.

Good luck!

[Grady Clay]

guidob,

Good idea and worth doing.

I’m assuming you are normally heading to Texas or Florida and not across the High Rockies.

Your Pilot will be fine as an Interstate cruiser with a lightweight trailer and ONLY the 911 in/on it. Keep all the luggage in the Pilot.

There are nice aluminum trailers available used. In this economy, you will find a great trailer, in perfect condition at a bargain price. Start by posting a ‘WTB’ adv. on Craigslist.

Only consider 2-axle trailers built by reputable manufacturers and sized noticeably above the 911 weight. Make sure it has electric brakes on both axles.

You will need to decide between an open flat-bed trailer or an enclosed ‘car-hauler’. There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

A flat-bed is lighter weight and has less side-wind profile.

While heavier, an enclosed trailer protects the 911 from road debris and potential vandals in a motel parking lot. When at your vacation (and at home), you can use it as a portable secure garage. A very simple ‘Featherlite’ enclosed trailer is lighter than many flat-beds. Only consider a plain whight trailer - no 'expensive Porsche inside' logo.


Regardless of which type you choose, you will need to consider storage.

Tie-downs are critical. There are a number of good Pelican threads on this subject. The basic philosophy should be: if the trailer is bounding down the median, on its side, everything should remain in place. The same is true of the cargo in the Pilot.

Best,
Grady

[Jonesy78]

+1 on the stopping issue. There's also the "tail-wagging-the-dog" issue. The pilot has a relatively short wheelbase for towing. A 16' trailer behind you with a total weight approaching 5K is going to try to point the Pilot where it wants to go. Could make for a stressful rides to/from vacation.

Originally Posted by tharbert

a beautiful setup with tie downs and a wench

Now that sounds like fun!

[Grady Clay]

Originally Posted by Jonesy78

+1 on the stopping issue. There's also the "tail-wagging-the-dog" issue. The pilot has a relatively short wheelbase for towing. A 16' trailer behind you with a total weight approaching 5K is going to try to point the Pilot where it wants to go. Could make for a stressful rides to/from vacation.

I agree.
This is why almost any car trailer needs a real tow truck.
I tow with a LWB E350 weighing up to 9800# (14K# total).
My son tows with a 14K GVW F350 long-bed dually crew cab.

That said, many tow something light with Pilot-like cars.
The key is to have the trailer properly aligned, proper tires, the tongue weight correct, use ‘equalizer bars’ and ‘anti-sway’ shock absorber.

Common sense also needs to prevail. If there are cross-wind conditions that upset the towing, simply pull off and have a meal or overnight until it passes. Many accidents happen because of a “press-on regardless” attitude.

Best,
Grady

[jimbauman]

There's one guy in the bay area who tows his race car to the track on a dolly - front wheels are raised, rear wheels on the ground. Don't see why that wouldn't be an option.

JB

[guidob222]

Yeah - I've read a few guys do use the dolly set-up, however, I would think the rear wheels need to be off the ground due to rear wheel drive on 911, right? I think there is a lot of debate regarding locking the steering wheel/front wheels to limit play while driving as well.

Are there many disadvantages to this set-up?

I ran across this on e-bay - would this work?

2010 BRAND NEW STEHL TOW DOLLY CAR HAULER TRAILER : eBay Motors (item 260554111780 end time Feb-16-10 19:30:00 PST)

[guidob222]

Or here is one with Brakes - which I think you all recommended.

CAR TRUCK & SUV DOLLY - TOW DOLLY Hyd Disc Brakes : eBay Motors (item 350315358898 end time Feb-16-10 19:01:10 PST)

If the Tow Dolly is approved for my use - is $1,500 about what I need to spend?

Thanks guys!

[guidob222]

TOW DOLLY, STEHL TOW, UTILITY, DOLLY, RV, CAR TRAILER : eBay Motors (item 280463677785 end time Feb-17-10 10:15:20 PST)

This guy is in my back yard - I could pick up locally - would this work?

[911boost]

Grady makes some good points.

You should also look as some sway control as well, maybe an E-Qual-izer hitch (or whatever that brand name is, I can't remember it off the top of my head). I towed for years with a Tahoe that had a 7,500 pound capacity, and it did ok, not great.

Do some research on towing with the Pilot, it isn't really built for that purpose.

My current tow vehicle is a Ford Excursion with the 6.0 Diesel (basically an F250).

Bill

[WIL84911]

Leave the family members behind and enjoy your vacation with the 911! Just kidding. Good luck. I wish I could do the same.

[rusnak]

Just my own. $.02: I think you should listen to the tow guys who tell you the Pilot can't tow the 911.

I think the Honda Pilot is a terrible choice as a tow vehicle. According to the specs, the towing capacity is only 3,500 lbs. A 911 is maybe 2,800 lbs. And the Honda supposedly does not have the best brakes or acceleration according to Edmunds.com. Lack of either is a safety concern (some times you MUST accelerate your rig out of a dangerous merging situation), but both is awful.

I think you'll suffer the entire way over, and the entire way back. I'd buy a heavy tandem axle trailer that you can actually use to tow medium sized cars, use a heavy tow vehicle, make sure the tow brakes work on the trailer, and leave yourself extra margin on the tow capacity, brakes, and acceleration.

[ShakinJoe]

Has anyone on this thread been to Europe where they tow their caravans with VW Polo's?!!

The Pilot 2WD is rated at 3500 lbs and the 4WD is rated at 4500 lbs towing. Period. The Honda will not fall apart at 3501 lbs as they are factors of safety that apply. I tow my my 911 (2400 lbs) on a 800 lb trailer and then all the track stuff 200 lbs with a Mercedes R350 which is rated at 3500 lbs. It does just fine but I would not try it thru the mountains.

This statement is not a slam, but us Americans tend to overdue things from time to time and often with safety in mind.

The Pilot will tow just fine.

[naparsei]

I have a Pilot, and I can't say I would care to tow a 911 behind it. The wheelbase is short and the brakes are not that good. With the '05 Pilot we had, there's no chance I would tow. With our 2010, I would still prefer not to. Don't get my wrong - I love our Pilot.

I tow w/ a 3/4 ton Dodge diesel w/ a brake controller and stabilizer bars, so perhaps I am overly cautious. As Grady alluded to, if you tow in mountains (I tow through the Rockies and in high wind conditions) you need a lot of truck. Also, my trailer is enclosed, but it's still not super heavy. For the grief and the $, I'd just rent a sporty car at my couple of destinations. It wouldn't be my 911, but OTOH, my 911 would be at home, safe, and not in a ditch...

[rusnak]

Shakin Joe, you are right regarding the 4wd Honda Pilot vs the 2wd towing capacity. I stand corrected.

He did say that he's going 800 miles one-way, or 1,600 miles round trip. Even on a trip of half that length, I wouldn't want to use a Honda Pilot as a tow vehicle, but that's because around here, you'll eventually have to go over a mountain no matter which direction you head in. I've towed a lot of things on our vehicle trailer, and I always like an extra margin of safety. It's from having many close calls on the road. In the mountains you can't have enough brakes or horsepower when you're towing another car. I've towed heavy loads too that max out my brakes and HP, and I can tell you it sucks big time. Personally I don't think the Europeans have any special insight.

[Griffinroydonal]

I use a Tow Dolly pulled by a Chrysler Town and Country to move Porsches all the time. There have been no issues due to the tow vehicle or Dolly . The secret to using a Dolly is to always raise the front wheels and secure the vehicle being towed BOTH ways so there can be no movement when braking or pulling. Cars being pulled backwards on a dolly tend to try and "Crab" a little during turns and curves resulting in damage on the doors and sides from the dolly. I also stop several times to check that lead is secured while on the road.
I have pulled over 50 cars up and down the east coast with no problems and just take my time and keep plenty of stopping room in front of me. I balance the car to have a little tonge weight and never pull anything I can't balance on the Dolly. I have moved small aircraft with the Dolly but that is another story !