[Yelcamino]

I was thinking about getting a receiver hitch for my '66 Elky to tow the Chevelle but started thinking that might not be the best thing to do.

Have any of you towed a car on a trailer with an El Camino? Would you do it again or was once enough?

Thanks.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

I have never towed with an Elky but I have towed trailers with many cars and trucks.

You have the horses to pull, you have the rear end to pull. My concern is the weight distribution and rear suspension. Rear coils give and sway alot IMO, I would rather have leaf springs. You can build them up with air bags to keep a good ride height.

It can be done but trailers really are rough on a tow vehicle. If it is weak it will break while towing. I have blown 1 engine, torn ot 2 transmissions, burned up plug wires and overheated cars while pulling.

 

[BillsCamino]

It's been discussed here a few times...do a search...
Personally, I wouldn't recommend it.
The rig being towed outweighs the tow vehicle. A big concern regarding sufficent braking.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

Agreed. With trailer brakes and a twin axle trailer the trailer should take most of the braking load. The side to side sway and fish tailing would be my concern.

 

[Jerry Briggs]

I have a dealer installed trailer hitch on my 70 elky, have pulled 16 foot open trailer - no load on it several times. It did well. But to answer your question I would not pull a trailer with car on it with out substantial improvements made to the suspension and would also wire for trailer brakes. Pulling is not the issue - ride stability and stopping it, are the concerns.

 

[Yelcamino]

The only reason I ask it because I think it would be cool to be able to take both cars to shows and events. My wife won't drive either car :sad: so it's tow or leave one at home.

My biggest concern was stability due to the Elky's length compared to the loaded trailer, plus the Chevelle would sit almost twice as high as the Elky once it was on the trailer. I have ART bags on the rear so the loaded ride height is adjustable. If they aren't up to the task I still have the coil springs w/ Air Lift bags I could swap in.

I think the Elky's braking ability would be capable with the Baer/Hydroboost system combined with a trailer brake.

I don't know, I probably won't do it. Once the Chevelle is on the road, I guess I'll just flip a coin to decide which car to take.

As always guys, thanks for the useful comments! :beers:

 

[animal69]

I used to tow my Camaro race car with my El Camino 35 years ago. It was ok for 40 miles but I wouldn't do it for any longer distance. I was young and foolish back then and probably wouldn't do it now, but then I have a K2500HD for pulling trailers now.

 

[Motorhead62]

I used to tow my Camaro race car with my El Camino 35 years ago. It was ok for 40 miles but I wouldn't do it for any longer distance. I was young and foolish back then and probably wouldn't do it now, but then I have a K2500HD for pulling trailers now.

I had towed my Chevelle with my El Camino. I did this out of necessity for moving cross country while I was in the military. I agree, I don't think I will do it again. :noway:

 

[schmol]

I have a dealer installed hitch on my '66 Elky donor frame, I sure as hell wouldn't trust it.

 

[Ronin8451]

The previous owners of my '70 SS Elky used it to tow their '67 Chevelle drag car to the strip for many years ! I even found a pit pass from the early '80's for Green Valley Raceway inside the defrost ducting .

My Ex-Brother-in-law used to tow a 28 foot travel trailer with a '67 Olds Cutlass Supreme 4-door . His main thing was he used a sway bar set-up for the trailer so that it would evenly distribute the load on all 4 of the car's tires and stop swaying while at highway speeds.You should be able to get one at any trailer shop or where travel trailers are sold.

Rick

 

[68KMENO]

Ok .......... I'm certifiable I've towed way to many cars on a twin axle car trailer with El Caminos...... I would not recomened it !! there are to many good Tow vehicle's now days to press you poor little 66 into tow duty !! yes with a BBC an gears you have the power !!

BUT you don't have the weight or the springs & tires to do the job properly !! even equipped with a sway away friction link & levelers your camino is OUT weighted !!

have you ever heard the "STORY" of the TAIL WAGGING the DOG ???
believe me you don't want to experience it first hand !!!

stick to towing Jet ski's & motor cycle trailers :thumbsup:

 

[Yelcamino]

Ok .......... I'm certifiable I've towed way to many cars on a twin axle car trailer with El Caminos...... I would not recomened it !! there are to many good Tow vehicle's now days to press you poor little 66 into tow duty !! yes with a BBC an gears you have the power !!

BUT you don't have the weight or the springs & tires to do the job properly !! even equipped with a sway away friction link & levelers your camino is OUT weighted !!

have you ever heard the "STORY" of the TAIL WAGGING the DOG ???
believe me you don't want to experience it first hand !!!

stick to towing Jet ski's & motor cycle trailers :thumbsup:

I was just thinking out loud. I'm not going to turn my Elky into a work horse! It's too polished to risk messing it up towing stuff. Besides, if I'm going to mess it up I want to do it on the track!

 

[dcarr]

I once drove this rig 2700 miles round trip to Nashville & back:

 

[vrooom3440]

I don't get it...

So which weighs more a on a tractor/trailer rig: the trailer or the tractor? I am pretty sure it is often the trailer. And those things are running all over the place without a lot of mayhem. Nobody is terrified driving those (unless it is in urban traffic and idiots pulling out in front of them).

So why should we get all bothered if the El Camino weighs less than what it is towing?

Now as the towed weight goes up so too does the equipment and care required. I am thinking controllable electric brakes become very important for example. Trailer loading becomes critical.

If you keep the trailer weight sufficiently in front of the wheels it will make the trailer more stable. Get the balance point too far back and the trailer becomes unstable and starts trying to wag the dog.

It would seem to me that the El Camino really has three fundamental handicaps as a towing vehicle:

A) the long overhang of car behind the back wheels (a load equalizing hitch is required much sooner).
B) the converging 4 link rear suspension allows more side to side axle movement (can anybody say "panhard bar"?).
C) the soft spring rates in the rear allow more body sag as you add tongue weight and the soft spring rates overall allow more wallowing.

I recently hooked a trailer up behind my daily driver Mustang GT. I had never really thought about it much, but the 245/45-17 tires, bigger disc brakes, and high spring rates I have for handling also make it a very stable tow vehicle. Add a low first gear and V8 torque and it did very well. Of course I was not pushing the envelope either, but it was probably a 1000 lb trailer with a few hundred lbs of load so it was not a featherweight either. And that was without any kind of trailer braking.

 

[68KMENO]

A) the long overhang of car behind the back wheels (a load equalizing hitch is required much sooner).
B) the converging 4 link rear suspension allows more side to side axle movement (can anybody say "panhard bar"?).
C) the soft spring rates in the rear allow more body sag as you add tongue weight and the soft spring rates overall allow more wallowing.

you forgot the soft sidewall radial tires !! even with Electric brakes on the trailer the weight transfer onto the El Camino will push you all over the place !!

I didn't say it couldn't be done ..... I just don't recomened it
there are much safer ways to tow

 

[NikBenko]

Sorry for bringing back such an old thread, but I'm considering using my 83 El Camino for towing a 5x8 enclosed trailer with my bikes and gear in it for bike races, over all I can't imagine the trailer weighing over 1000 lbs, does anybody think this is a really bad idea? thanks,

Nik

 

[Sean]

For years I towed my drag car on an open trailer to the track (over 100 miles each way). I used an 84 Caprice wagon, 305 with a 700r4. Bone stock, over 100k miles.
These cars (A body and G Body) can Easily tow as much as a 1/2 ton truck if they are properly set up. I used MOOG cargo coil rear springs. You NEED a weight distribution hitch, which equally distributes your tongue weight between the center of the tow vehicle and the center of the trailer. You NEED to hook up the electric brakes on the trailer. You NEED to go EASY on the tow rig when pulling. This means slowing down abit, letting the inertia take you up hills, trying not to let the trans downshift too often ect, ect.
If you are gonna tow while driving like an animal, you will burn stuff up in ANY vehicle. If you care about your stuff and treat it as so, these cars will last a very long time.

The Caprice wagon always treated me well, I always towed in overdrive. Change the fluids regularly and watch them closely.

Sean

 

[Hrdlx62]

Maybe a set of Air Lift air bags would be a good idea. I used them in a 1/2 ton chevy with some pretty saggy springs to tow my '67 Chevelle back then, and they helped quite a bit to firm up the weak springs and level out the rig.

 

[JJ'65]

The operative factor: what exactly does your 1983 owner's manual have to say about towing? Most of the rest follows or is irrelevant.

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

I used an 83 Olds 98 for a tow vehicle for a few years. We had a 20' pontoon boat at the time. I put in a new 307, replaced the transmission (200R4)and installed 3.55 gears. The car was fine at slower speeds but really struggled at higher speeds.
One time on our way to Ocean City,MD I was pushing the car a little too hard on 95 and when we got on 58 I heard the engine knocking. We drove it all the way to OC (over the Bay Bridge Tunnel) with the trailer while knocking. My parents brought a car from Frederick, MD, we left the boat in OC, they took the Olds to a Frederick dealer to have the Target Master replaced under warranty.

3 weeks later we drove back to OC in my parents car. They brought the Olds back and we hooked up. On our way towards the bridge the car started misfiring. I did not see the problem but it was getting worse. We hit the bridge with 1/2 tank of gas. The car was struggleing to make it up the bridge. It started running rich, fuel level dropping. We came out of the first tunnel up the hill at 15 mph, low fuel light came on. At the top of the tunnel we found a pull off. I dumped the boat gas into the car tank. (little background here, Labor Day, wife 7 months pregnant, hot outside, and in case you don't know the bridge tunnel is 24 miles toll booth to toll booth over the Chesapeake Bay and this was before the 2nd bridge was opened). We took off again with a WOT we limped across the bridge top speed of 35 MPH tieing traffic up. We came out of the 2nd tunnel at 15 MPH and finally could see the shore.
We found a UHaul dealer in VA Beach, rented a truck to pull the trailer, my wife drove the car. Finally it could go 55. We limped it home (alternator light on in the UHaul, go figure). In Raleigh the cars CAT started to come apart. We made it the 45 miles further home. Car shut off and would not start. It was the trip from HELL 10 years ago!!

The dealer who replaced the engine routed the plug wires wrong and at the same tine the carb screwed up. After this experience I bought the Durango with the 5.9L. My next truck will be a 2500HD Duramax. I learned my lesson not having enough of a tow vehicle.