towing well beyond capacity for short distances

Can a 4 cylinder car tow a mini-van perhaps an 1/8th of a mile, partly w/a small incline? W/o detrimental effects to the tranny and/or engine? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but inquiring minds would like to know! TIA

Can you know somehow in real time that what you're doing is BAD? A tranny can cause an engine to overheat, I've seen it happen years ago when attempting to tow a small trailer with dad's '84 Grand Prix (Granted that transmission may have had something wrong with it, but not so that it didn't take me back from Daytona Beach to Long Island, w/o the trailer). I can't remember the exact distances, but it was fairly short, maybe a mile or 2, maybe less. And what I'm contemplating doing involves a sturdy rope! And in actuality beyond maybe 4-500 feet it's a negative incline.

On 12/10/2015 9:54 PM, wrote:
> Can a 4 cylinder car tow a mini-van perhaps an 1/8th of a mile, partly w/a small incline? W/o detrimental effects to the tranny and/or engine? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but inquiring minds would like to know! TIA
>
> Can you know somehow in real time that what you're doing is BAD? A tranny can cause an engine to overheat, I've seen it happen years ago when attempting to tow a small trailer with dad's '84 Grand Prix (Granted that transmission may have had something wrong with it, but not so that it didn't take me back from Daytona Beach to Long Island, w/o the trailer). I can't remember the exact distances, but it was fairly short, maybe a mile or 2, maybe less. And what I'm contemplating doing involves a sturdy rope! And in actuality beyond maybe 4-500 feet it's a negative incline.
>

I don't know but for 220 meters I'd think about pushing it
with a couple of guys and someone inside to steer/brake.

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Thu, 10 Dec 2015 19:54:53 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

>Can a 4 cylinder car tow a mini-van perhaps an 1/8th of a mile, partly w/a small incline? W/o detrimental effects to the tranny and/or engine? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but inquiring minds would like to know! TIA
>
>Can you know somehow in real time that what you're doing is BAD? A tranny can cause an engine to overheat, I've seen it happen years ago when attempting to tow a small trailer with dad's '84 Grand Prix (Granted that transmission may have had something wrong with it, but not so that it didn't take me back from Daytona Beach to Long Island, w/o the trailer). I can't remember the exact distances, but it was fairly short, maybe a mile or 2, maybe less. And what I'm contemplating doing involves a sturdy rope! And in actuality beyond maybe 4-500 feet it's a negative incline.


Should be no problem unless you plan to do a space launch along the
way. Don't use overdrive and take it easy on the gas. I knew a guy
who used to tow a 17' ski boat 70 miles each way in 105 degree AZ
summers with his 4 cyl Chevy Celebrity with the old 3 speed automatic.
A quarter mile tow of a minivan won't even get the car warmed up.

On Thursday, December 10, 2015 at 5:54:55 PM UTC-10, wrote:
> Can a 4 cylinder car tow a mini-van perhaps an 1/8th of a mile, partly w/a small incline? W/o detrimental effects to the tranny and/or engine? I know it sounds like a stupid question, but inquiring minds would like to know! TIA
>
> Can you know somehow in real time that what you're doing is BAD? A tranny can cause an engine to overheat, I've seen it happen years ago when attempting to tow a small trailer with dad's '84 Grand Prix (Granted that transmission may have had something wrong with it, but not so that it didn't take me back from Daytona Beach to Long Island, w/o the trailer). I can't remember the exact distances, but it was fairly short, maybe a mile or 2, maybe less. And what I'm contemplating doing involves a sturdy rope! And in actuality beyond maybe 4-500 feet it's a negative incline.

No guts, no glory! Just take it nice and easy and you'll be fine.

You said "with a rope" back in the old days when my dad did that, he would also tie an old used tire to the bumper to act as a cushion for the inevitable bumper bonking when you stop. That is, tire only, no steel wheel.

Nils K. Hammer

On Tue, 15 Dec 2015 15:48:21 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

>You said "with a rope" back in the old days when my dad did that, he would also tie an old used tire to the bumper to act as a cushion for the inevitable bumper bonking when you stop. That is, tire only, no steel wheel.
>
>Nils K. Hammer

In the old days that tire would not mess up the hard shiny chrome
bumpers. I'd hate to sandwich a tire between two modern cars plastic
bumpers or the paper thin metal bumpers on the front of trucks.

On 12/15/2015 10:15 PM, >>>Ashton Crusher wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Dec 2015 15:48:21 -0800 (PST),
> wrote:
>
>>You said "with a rope" back in the old days when my dad did that, he would also tie an old used tire to the bumper to act as a cushion for the inevitable bumper bonking when you stop. That is, tire only, no steel wheel.
>>
>>Nils K. Hammer
>
> In the old days that tire would not mess up the hard shiny chrome
> bumpers. I'd hate to sandwich a tire between two modern cars plastic
> bumpers or the paper thin metal bumpers on the front of trucks.

We pushed my dead 1978 Caddy from Victorville to Pasadena on I-15/210and
then out to the wrecker in El Monte with a tire tied to the front of our
1968 Dodge van. Push it up to 75 or so and release, move up at around
35 and give it another push up to 75... It was fun screaming down Cajon
Pass at 2:00 am with no lights and brakes only as strong as I could push
the pedal. Honest.

Metal was metal in those days!


--
Cheers, Bev
================================================== ==================
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