Re: Alfas as tow cars

[Richard Welty <rwelty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 04:55 PM 8/19/98 +0200, you wrote:
>>Fred correctly says "I don't care what kind of load you want to put on a
>>trailer, if it is nearly perfectly balanced, very little load will be on the
>>hitch." Perfectly balanced does mean slightly nose-heavy, probably fifty

you want 10% of the total weight of the trailer, roughly, as tongue weight
(weight on the hitch.) too little, and the trailer will try and wag the tow
vehicle. too much, and the rear of the tow vehicle and the front of the
trailer will sit down too much.

ideally, the tow vehicle should have an adequate wheel base, which varies
depending on the trailer being towed, and should weigh more than the
trailer being towed. for example, my 1973 IHC Scout II can tow a boat
trailer with a modest sized boat quite nicely, but the wheelbase is too
short for me to be able to comfortably tow my 2500lb Alfetta race car on a
1500lb trailer. that's what the 1993 1 ton Ford van is for. with the kinds
of numbers i'm talking about, a tow vehicle that weighs at least 1000lbs
more than the stuff being towed is a good target. for smaller
trailers/items, you won't necessarily need as much extra weight.

brakes on the trailer can be an issue, depending on circumstances. back
when we were towing the race car with a 1977 Ford Country Squire (full
sized wagon with a 460cid motor in it), we needed the electric brakes, but
with the big Ford van, we haven't bothered to hook them up and haven't felt
it to be a problem.

(the ford van is great. it has a 460 in it; i have passed people going up
steep hills, and they've been rather startled to discover that not only are
they being passed by a monster black cargo van, but they're also being
passed by a race car on a trailer in the process.)

richard

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