who is using a vintage pickup to tow a trailer?

This was taken in 1978 just before leaving on a cross country/3000 mile trip. At the time Willard was running a 322 nailhead and was otherwise stock. Anything over 55 mph was shear terror. I am setting Willard up to tow up to 5000# with 350/700R4. Jag IFS and 9 inch rear. I also had about 700# in the bed-including a complete rebuilt Model A engine (375# itself)

 

Check out the movie "The Long Long Trailer" (Lucy and Desi) it's hilarious, anyway it proves you can pull a big ass trailer even with an old Merc. It's not the pullin' that's the problem thou, it's the stoppin' when every mofo can't stand being behind you. I have 3 Ford pu's, a 36', a 72', and a 99' 4x4 Superduty. I use the big one to tow with.

 

I pull trailers with my 48. It will pull 999 around with out any trouble but I need to hook up some trailer brakes. I can stop but panic stops could get ugly.

I've towed bigger stuff locally but again brakes would be nice.

The other thing I've noticed is the tires. I can feel a little sway in the tires. If you're really gonna tow a lot I would suggest real truck tires.
Clark

 

Not a pickup but it's towing trialer.

 

Considering the speeds were lower and traffic considerably less then, it worked. With faster traffic, and even the cheapest POS new car has pretty damn good brakes, I'd be very hesitant to drive a '40s through early '60s truck with a heavy trailer at highway speeds. The late '60s trucks had better brakes, plus disc brakes were available in 1968 in Fords, 1969 on GM trucks, and 1972 on Dodges.

I had a 1967 GMC Suburban I restored in the late '90s (I wish I'd kept that!!!), that I pulled an 1,800# hauler with brakes, and usually a 3,800# car to the track without a lot of drama...but did get eight mpg loaded!

Old body on a newer chassis - sure, why not!

 

I towed the BFD with my old 37 Chevy truck. On bias ply tires no less. Went about 60 mph (CA has the stupid 55 limit for any vehicles towing trailers) and it was nice and easy. The truck had 350/350 and Must II front susp with the bigger disc brakes. Trailer has no brakes. One color pic and then another B&W that looks like it could be from the 1950's. I still miss the truck, been sold for about 5 years now.

 

1950 Mercury M47. Tows my boat everywhere I want to go. Doesn't slow down or even get hot up the mountain passes..............

 

hehehehe, my Crewlcab is a Merc! hahahaha

This is a great thread, lets see more!

-Shiny

 

I have a '54 Chevy 3/4 ton. I am looking for a '73 - '87 3/4 ton IFS to put up front. Swap the rear axle to open drive and drop in a SBC with a automatic. So I can update the truck and keep it 3/4 ton. This will handle my trailer and some light duty stuff.

I also have a 1 tom Chevy motor home chassis, looking to put a older cab on it with a Caddy 472. It will get a flatbed. This will cover the heavy stuff

 

I wouldn't hesitate to use my 55 2nd to tow if I needed to. The front end is tight and brakes are good. The suspension has been beefed up, I've had 5000#s in the bed alone without being on the stops. Yes, you can feel a load. Be aware of it and drive cautiously. The only change I would really like for much towing would be a gear splitter. Ratios are pretty wide with the stock 4 speed. The 235 has all the grunt you need, just don't try to wind it up.

Devin

 

Here's a question - is it better to load the bed of the pickup to increase the weight of the towing vehicle relative to the trailer weight?
My 58 GMC half ton gets steered a little when I flat tow Old Rusty my 31A on 32 Rails.
Mart.

 

i would think so you want the weight of the load over the axles but at the same time adding more weight to the load might not help you either.

 

I'm building a vintage truck to pull my trailer. I started with a '55 1st GMC 1-ton with 137 inch wheelbase. I've mounted a GM 14-bolt rear with 3.54 gears and am in the process of putting a '72 C20 IFS with power steering under the front.

I'll complete it with a Cadillac 500 with TH400 and 265/75-16 tires.

My goal is to run a comfortable 75 across Wyoming pulling 8- to 10,000 pounds.

My rear gears are a little light, but put the Cad in the right range at speed. This truck is replacing one with a 454, TH400 and 4.10 gears. And four-wheel-drive. The new old truck will be more than 1000 pounds lighter than the factory built truck and I think will out perform the factory combination until I reach for the shifter on the transfer case.

 

Depends on what you call vintage.. I wanted something with a little bit of weight.

Driving a 1968 Ford F250 Camper Special Ranger edition with a warmed up 390 FE and some other goodies, it will tow anything you throw at it without a problem. It has HUGE powered brakes, power steering and a full floater rear axle and looks like sh*t.

When I towed a 1946 full size lincoln zephyr sedan home I kept checking my rear view mirror to make sure the trailer was still there, because even with a trailer that heavy you hardly noticed it when driving.

It's one of the cars that I'll probably get rid of, need something a little more family friendly now that we have 4 kids ;-)

 

i have an 84 dodge dually crewcab with a 24 valve 5.9 cummins and a 6 speed allison trans,2 overdrives.
It will tow anything,anywhere!
The engine /tranny came out of a wrecked 2000 motorhome.its the shit..

 

I'm no expert, but I've flat towed enough to not want to do it again anytime soon!!!!


It seems to me that adding more weight to the rear of your truck isn't gonna make it steer any better while flat towing - but what might help you out is making sure the tow bar is leveled properly if it isn't already.

My biggest issue while flat towing was the lack of braking. Asking your tow vehicle to do all that additional braking is really asking ALOT.

 

My 54 Ford F-250 is a great driver and I tow a 19.5 foot ski boat with it all summer long. The front brakes are 1/2 ton conversion discs on the original I-beam, a 9 inch in the rear.

Never flat tow a vehicle with an I-beam front/drag link steering. Worst experience ever. No problems otherwise.

All it needs is a turbodiesel.

 

Is that a "Vintage" pick up??

 

How about a vintage car??

 

I pull my camper with my 56. Has a 460 and c6 auto. Stock frame and suspension and power drum brakes works fine.

I also pull the same camper with my buick with airride it actually pulls better and im using a clamp on bumper hitch.

 

Towed my 1956 silver streak (25') with a '61 F100 unibody.

Not suggested for many reasons:
-Single barrel Holly on a 223 straight 6
-3 on the tree, needed a few more on the floor
-drum brakes all around
-short wheelbase wags bad

But ya do what ya gotta do... As long as you drive slow and give yourself room it'll get to the beach and back.

 

Les Hume and his kid sister Brenda with his A40

Cruise the West Coast with HURST Slicks and Camper

 

Like HemiRambler, I too am planning to use my '46 Ford to tow my drag cars next summer. Right now it has the stock front suspension with drum brakes and manual steering. I plan to add a disc brake kit later using Chevelle calipers. My other concern is rear view mirrors. Since the truck is narrower than the trailer I will need some wide trailer mirrors. I have a set of clamp-on mirrors that I can remove. They clamp on the front fenderwells. I also wired in a trailer brake controller.

The truck has a boxed frame, 9" rear end, C6 trans and 460 BBF (until I can get the 523 in there).

 

I'm suprisied I haven't seen any of Tommy Ivo's Riviera or his Cadillac tow vehicles for 'Barn Stormer' posted yet.

 

I tow a four berth caravan and also a puck van with my 51 chevy pick up no problem got air shocks on the back just for the ride hight i would send a pic be hav'ent found out to do it yet im over 50 and not very computor literite

 

When I was racing stock cars, we used my dads 57 chevy caryall as the tow vehicle. It had a 350, BW super t-10 4spd, 4:11 stock rear axle. The truck is a half ton and as long as the brakes were in good working condition on the truck there was nothing to worry about. True, the carryall/suburban/panel trucks are heavier than the pick ups, they are still same suspension, axles, steering and brakes.

We have hauled cars and trucks from Va., Ok., Tx., and Ks. back home to Mi. with that old truck and never once had any trouble. This carryall was driven every day, year round, racked up 150,000 miles from 1983 until 1990 when it was taken down to be restored.....well dad lost interest in it while it was in his buddies body shop, and once it was done it got put in the back of my dads barn until I bought it from him in 2008. I plan on putting a new wiring harness in it, fresh rebuilt motor, and probably going to an OD trans and it will become my daily driver and tow rig once again.

One thing to keep in mind if the trailer seems to be to heavy for the back of your tow rig, put on a load distributing hitch and bars and this will distribute the weight more evenly on your tow rig making it pull and stop much easier. Some of the ads for the weight distribution hitches from the old days actually showed toronados(front wheel drives) pulling trailers WITHOUT the rear tires on the cars!!!! Those ads always cracked me up....what would you think/say if you saw a car pulling a trailer, and noticed there was no rear tires on the car!!!!? Does demonstrate/proove just how good those hitches work.

 

I love 60s to early 70s f250s. they tow great. FE , c6 or fourspeed, dana 60 rear ends , the later ones have great big disc brakes on the front(easily adapted to the earlier ones) .

they have a few goofy things , but are easy to work on.

The only thing that drives me nuts is the exhaust leaks but hopfully the remflex gaskets I got yesterday will solve that!

 

You made me laugh!

If you tried that in Oregon and were spotted by any john law (city cop ,county mountie, state trooper) you would end up so far back in jail you might never get out!

 

big trailer, little car doesn`t work. be careful out there.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMrYUloMcA

 

That is some funny shit.