Smallest Towing car

[Lance M]

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

Post 164

Do you know how much weight those wheels and tires are carrying on a 26' single axle Overlander?

I bet it is a whole lot less than you think.

[Twinke58]

Right now she is empty. I'm redoing her and when I looked at 58 brochure it said it weighs 3200. She weighs 1800 to 2000lbs now.

[J. Morgan]

Originally Posted by Top

Do you know how much weight those wheels and tires are carrying on a 26' single axle Overlander?



I bet it is a whole lot less than you think.

Well still, two axles would be safer.....

[Nuvite-F]

To get back to the original subject of this thread, here are some Airstream ads from the time the Bambi came out (circa 1961). I am pretty sure the first picture shows a Mercedes 190SL tow car. The second is the Volkswagen "Beetle".

If I remember correctly in 1961 or 1962 the Beetle was up sized from 36 HP to 40 HP.

I wonder what the effect of a couple hundred pounds of tongue weight was on the rear swing axle of the Volkswagen. Or, if they used weight distribution, I can't imagine how they rigged it around the engine.

[Twinke58]

That's cool but I had a 40hp bug and it weighted 1800lbs. My bug I had that pulled anything was a 1600 and the max was 500lbs tow on it.
Getting back to the single axle, I wanted a dual axle but this one was what I wanted so I bought it.


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[BoldAdventure]

Tow your Airstream with the Ford Airstream

[wkerfoot]

Back from the Balloon Fiesta and here are the results: Average MPG 15.08, highest 16.72 from Williams, AZ to Albuquerque, NM, lowest 12.81 from Orange, CA to Barstow, CA.

I tow at 58 MPH, on cruise control, most grades were taken in 4th with cruise control on, some grades downshifted to 3rd and I manually upshifted to 4th, still able to maintain 58 MPH.

On downgrades the transmission shifted as low as 4th while on cruise control

The Liner weighs about 5700 lbs and the tow rating of the Durango is 7200 lbs.

I am very satisfied with the results and the towing capabilities. No issue stopping, but then I have 12" disc brakes on the Liner.

Bill

[DC Bruce]

I haven't seen much discussion about tires on the TV. Tires have a specified load rating, so one thing you definitely want to check is whether the tires on your rear axle are rated to carry the load you're putting on them: vehicle, cargo, tongue weight. Overloaded tires get hot and they fail, with potentially catastrophic results. Ask Ford and Firestone. The old Explorer had a very low GVWR, much lower than the truck could pull or the brakes could stop. However Ford wanted a soft ride, which required them to use soft tires with low weight rating and low inflation pressures. Unfortunately many owners overload the vehicle (four good sized passengers and a fair amount of stuff in the back would do it) and also weren't righteous about tire pressures. So, sometimes, the tires failed at speed and the driver lost control. I have no doubt that a Chrysler 300 with the V6 can pull the weight and stop it. What I'd be concerned about is whether the rear tires have the additional capacity to carry 800 lbs of tongue weight plus the weight of stuff in the trunk and stuff/people in the back seat. One of the unfortunate things about the smaller Airstreams is that they have higher tongue weights than the big ones.

[Andrew T]

The rear tires of a 300 have 230-310 pounds of remaining capacity when towing. Andrew T


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[samyjam14]