Towing a single place glider trailer with a Ford Ranger or Chevy S-10

At 12:00 29 April 2009, Pete Smith wrote:
this is a joke right?

Probably not! The people on the West side of the Altlantic are reluctant
to tow with anything that doesn't weigh at least 3 tons with a huge V8
engine! No wonder we are suffering from global warming!

Makes you wonder how we cope with the small cars we have in the UK and
Europe! I tow with a 1.6 litre turbocharged diesel estate BTW, including
big heavy two seater K21 and DG1000 trailers.

Derek Copeland

Del C wrote:
At 12:00 29 April 2009, Pete Smith wrote:
this is a joke right?

Probably not! The people on the West side of the Altlantic are reluctant
to tow with anything that doesn't weigh at least 3 tons with a huge V8
engine!

Not all of us. I tow a LAK-12 with factory trailer behind my little PT
Cruiser (2.4L 4-cyl non-turbo). 2000 pound trailer + 800 pound glider +
200 pounds of stuff = about 3000 pounds total. Although I will admit to
not having tried serious mountain towing and I try to keep it under 70 mph.



No wonder we are suffering from global warming!

Right! During the last ice age we had to do a *lot* of towing with our
V8s to get those darn glaciers to melt some.

-Doug Hoffman West side Atlantic dweller


Makes you wonder how we cope with the small cars we have in the UK and
Europe! I tow with a 1.6 litre turbocharged diesel estate BTW, including
big heavy two seater K21 and DG1000 trailers.

Derek Copeland

Not all of us. *I tow a LAK-12 with factory trailer behind my little PT
Cruiser (2.4L 4-cyl non-turbo). *2000 pound trailer + 800 pound glider +
200 pounds of stuff = about 3000 pounds total. *Although I will admit to
not having tried serious mountain towing and I try to keep it under 70 mph.

OMG!!! You tow a LAK-12 trailer with a PT cruiser!! I briefly owned
a LAK-12 and I gotta say that trailer is an ornery beast due to single
piece wings on a 20 meter ship. The trailer is as big as a
racquetball court. And what a beautiful ship the LAK-12 is. The
trailer has a very high profile I think so it can navigate polish
muddy farm fields and is so long that it dwarfs other trailers at the
airfield. I'd be afraid it would get a mind of it's own on tow and
decide it was going to make the decisions about where it was going.
But with an attentive driver going slowly, aware of winds etc. you
could tow just about any ship I'd think...

It's worth noting that for a fully loaded semi, the tractor weighs
only ~ 18% of the total (15,000 lbs vs 80,000 lbs). Stability comes
from the fact that the weight of the trailer is carried just ahead of
center between the two drive axles insuring weight on the steering
axle for directional control and braking.

All things being equal, proper weight distribution and good vehicle
dynamics are more important than the overall heft of the tow vehicle.
All things are rarely equal though and a heavy tow vehicle will
compensate, to some extent, for lousy weight distribution and poor
vehicle design. This is why I choose to tow with a V8 pickup. I do
feel guilty about the fuel burn but, so far, the perceived advantages
of the heavy vehicle win out. Did I mention that the pickup is paid
for......

Ray Warshaw
1LK

I can hardly tell that my 1-35 on an enclosed trailer (1350 lbs) is
behind me with my Subaru Legacy. My wife's Toyota Corolla pulls it
just fine, but it's a bit slow on 3% hills.

A twin Grob in a Cobra trailer is noticable however, especially in
crosswinds, since the passenger car radial tires let it develop a
sway. I wouldn't think of trying it with the Toyota.

AGL