Towing capacity

I was wondering if anyone could give me the pros and cons of towing something a little larger than the Manufactures suggested Max towing capacity of my car. The thing that troubles me is that my car had more than enough power to handle something that is say 1500 pounds like a 1750 fish hawk but the manufactures (GM) recomended max towing capacity is only 1000 pounds. My wifes car is an older 1996 olds ciera and I think it can handle 2000 pounds.
Now I plan on adding a transmission cooler to which ever vehicle that I use. My car is a 1999 buick regal.

Now I don’t want to read into this too much but I am thinking that GM found that cars like my buick can handle the tow but if a load is not stable and it ways more than 1000 pounds it could cause the car to crash where as something 1000 pounds or less would have less chance of having touble.

Now I tend to do most of my towing from Rochester up route 63 to Lake City.

If anyone else has any experience towing with something like my car I’d appreciate hearing about it.

Hi Lance,
I currently tow my rig from Rochester to pool 4 with a 1996 3.0 liter 200 hp V6 Toyota Avalon car. The car is rated for 2000 lbs and my current rig weighs 2000 lbs. I have never used a transmission cooler and have not experienced any problems in 10 years (although my previous rig only weighed 1500 lbs and it was also towed with a 140 hp V6 Ford Taurus).

Suggestions:
– Do not drive in overdrive (keep it in 3rd gear)
– If you can, put it in 2nd gear when going up the 2 hills between Rochester and Lake City
– Do not use your car when there is ice on the ramps (get a friend to pull your rig)
– Leave extra space for braking, especially if the road is wet.
– The longest distance I tow is only 50 miles.
– Make sure the hitch weight is correct (my trailer says 6% of rig weight)

My car has plenty of power as I can even accelerate going up the big hills. But I do worry about being right at the maximum load and the stopping distance. I may put on surge brakes but I am concerned about them icing up in the winter.

Will your insurance cover you if you pull something heavier than the car is rated for?

Dave Gulczinski

Be careful!!!!!!!! Have you had your boat motor and trailer weighed? I am guessing you are well over 1,500 lbs.

1750 Fish Hawk 1100#
24 Gals Gas 192#
Don’t know your motor but a 2 stroke Yam 90 is 261#
Trailer 400#

With this you are at 1953# and you still have not accounted for batteries, trolling motor, and gear. A safe rule of thumb is to keep your load at or below 75% of your vehicle’s stated towing capacity. (remember your towing capacity is MAX and based on the car having no other load, including passengers). As currently configured you are closer to 200%.

Does the engine have enough power? Possibly.
Will the transmission withstand this type of load? Doubtful.
Does your car have brakes to safely stop this rig in an emergency. Absolutely not.

Be safe, trade for a tow vehicle that will safely pull your boat.

Well I thought I’d add a little more info on this which I find interesting. I had only surfed the web to find the towing capacity of my wifes car and so I decided to actually look at her owners manual. It says that her car is normally rated at 1000# but if the car has a heavy duty cooling system and a few other things like a v6 and auto transmission then it can tow 2000#. Now my car is a 99 buick regal with more horse power than her’s, better brakes, and I also think but I’m not sure but it may already have a transmission cooler and yet GM says it can only tow 1000#. As far as the boat goes you hit the nail on the head. Yes I’m picking up a 1750 fish hawk with a 90 hp yam …

My old boat that I have had no trouble towing is a 73 tri hull vintage. My guess is that it runs around 1400# in weight.

Bottom line is that I’m going to take it easy running to lake pepin and back…

thanks for you help

I would be more concerned with braking. I towed with my car the last 2 years, and braking is a big issue.

Shouldn’t a guy with the handle “nubbinbuck” be posing with a much smaller deer in his user pic?

Very nice buck. Sorry to get off the path with this thread but this is the first time I saw that one and it caught my eye.