who is using a vintage pickup to tow a trailer?

how does your vintage pickup tow a car trailer? how much weight can you pull? and lets see some pics. thinking of buying a 50s early 60s gm truck for a daily driver. but sometimes i need to tow with it how does yours do?

 

Pickup? You don't need no steenking pickup, you need a convertible! It tows car trailers, big travel trailers, and brings home other projects.

I'm building a '47 Diamond T Model 201 pickup, a one ton, to give us a more heavy duty option to our '48 convert and our '51 wagon. C20 van front suspension with one ton spindles and brakes, Dana 70 rear, and the dreaded small block for power. It ought to be able to handle any towing chores we have.

 

yeah id like to have a convertible but i need a pickup. i have a 61 c-60 viking flatbed that i was thinking about making into a car hauler but dont want to take on a huge undertaking to make it into one. i am trying to kill two birds with one stone having a tow rig and a daily driver. trying to upgrade and downsize.

 

If you tow with an old pickup, you need to be careful. Get a light trailer with brakes on both axles, don't tow too much weight with it (trailer and load under 4000 would be reasonable), and drive defensively. Maintain the truck well. I used to use my 50s-60s pickups for hauling stuff home on the trailer...until wife bought a new truck 10 yrs ago....

 

From experience with my own truck towing trailers, a trailer that is on the heavy side will end up telling the truck what to do rather then the truck telling the trailer what it is going to do.
I towed a 16 ft Uhaul with everything I owned in it from Texas to Washington in the mid 70's with my 48 with a 283 and Muncie four speed in it and even though it had the stock 48 suspension in good shape under it that was a trip I wouldn't want to have to redo with a similar truck. Just flat too much weight for the truck to control going down the road.
A well balanced car trailer with the car loaded so that it was pretty well balanced might handle pretty well but I don't think I'd want to do it.
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I had a '70 Chev custom camper C20. This truck was awesome for towing. It had leaf springs out back instead of the usual coils. It worked quite well for towing, and had hauled some heavy loads in it's day. I would have liked to have had disc brakes up front though. I had that truck for 15 years, until I bought a crewcab 4x4.

 

I use a 89 chevy 3/4 ton to tow with now but id really like to have an old truck. everytime i get in the thing something breaks. i am always trying to figure out if i am going to invest more money than its worth. with a classic truck i can at least know i am not going to lose any money on it.

 

ha! he used the word "invest" in a post about vehicles

 

Get yourself an old 1 ton, 50's-70's. The gearing will be appropriate for towing, although braking might be a bit weak compared to modern vehicles. Drive it slow, give yourself plenty of room to stop and it'll go fine.

Don't try to tow with a hot rod. Light weight, lots of high end power aren't going to work. Long wheelbase, lots of torque will do the job.

Devin

 

Didn't know you could use both of those words in the same post.

 

Trailers of all shapes and sizes and loads were towed in the 50s-60s all across the country behind 50s-60s pickups... and most were half tons too!
Just a matter of having brakes on the trailer, load properly distributed, and driving defensively, leaving plenty of stopping room and making sure the lights all work.

My truck was a 65 Ford F100 with 300six, 3-speed standard shift, short wheelbase, conventional short box from Joe Camp Ford in La Porte TX, siad so right on the channel iron bumper out back.

 

I used an old 63 F-100 to tow last year. Had a 292 V-8 and a four speed, no power anything, all stock. Didn't have any trouble towing anything. Just make sure you have good brakes, cooling system, brake controller, and a tight front end and you'll be fine. I would stay away from 50s and early 60s 6 cylinders though (GMC big block V-6 is an exception), they don't have enough snot in them to pull anything in modern traffic plus those trucks usually came with a top speed of about 50 mph. If it were me I would go with a early 60s dually with a 283 or maybe a GMC 305 V-6 just to be different.

 

whats that supposed to mean?

 

Here's some pics of various tow vehicles I have used in the past.
All worked very well.
One is a model A with a 324 ci flathead engine.
Next is a 55 Ford pu with a 345 ci Cadillac engine and a LaSalle trans.
The last one is a 97 Ford Mustang Cobra.

 

Heres my Crewlcab towing the phaeton home....



-Shiny

 

DAMNIT!! you had to post a pick of your crewcab!!! Thats it...screw the mercs im building my 65!!!

 

Thought I would add these because they look so COOL.

Kiwi rodder from Wanganui NZ..

Chevrolet '59 Apache Fleetside





.

 

NOw that is cool!

 

I've posted this pic before, but since you asked

It's usually good for a few smiles while towing out to the track.

I added power disc brakes to the truck and the trailer and car are fairly light so it tows real nice. The trailer does have twin axle brakes. The only down side is the strong arm steering - makes backing up the drivway rather tiresome - otherwise it works real nice. Just gotta add that PS and I'll be set.

 

lets ask Tuck

 

These work fine.The dodge is on a 1988 ram 1500 frame and running gear,360 ,auto,4x4,and disk brakes,The panel has a 300 hp 351 winsor,c6,and disk brakes both tow just fine,and are fun to drive.

 

i use my 53 to tow my utility trailer,(built by my grandfater in 1942)

 

There's a guy in my area who tows a gooseneck trailer behind a late 40s/early 50s sedan. It attached to a ball right behind the rear window. I haven't seen it in years, but I heard recently that he is still using it.

Slonaker

 

I just finshed restoring my ranchero. I plan on using it to tow the GizzleHopper on short runs (less than 300 miles). However, I have upgraded to a 390, added a/c, power brakes, air shocks, sway bar and will use electric brakes on both axles on the trailer. It better tow nice..........

 

Yep... tows just fine... wave if you see me, it's also my daily driver...

 

I love that pic

 

thanks paul,my trailer is starting to show its age plan on a resto in the spring

 

pulling doubles

 

Its a 1950 Ford with a 460

 

Been using mine as a truck for a long time. Best whenyou have trailer brakes and a brake controller.