Hitch/towing question

I have done a search and seen the answers. Problem is most of the people who intend on towing are doing utility trailers or small recreational vehicles. I am in need of getting a vehicle home and running out of options. My father has a "collection" of cars from over the years. Most of them need some sort of maintence. He mentioned selling one a while back and I inquired what he wanted for it. It is a 91 Taurus SHO. It is in need of a clutch. He says it slips worst in 4th and 5th gear. This means trying to drive it 6-700 miles home is not a great idea. Especially considering I will have only 2 days to do this. Shipping companies start at $800ish on u ship.com. Even low balling it there will likely cost $550. The Mustang only has a class 1 hitch available for it. The SC has a class 2 available. Combined with a tow dolly it is looking to be my best bet. He is willing to give me the car I just need go figure out how to get it home. The clutch job on these cars is way to difficult to do before hand without my tool box or a garage. Way to costly to pay someone else to do(roughly the same as what the car is worth). Has any one towed anything larger than a utlity/recreational trailer over a long distance with theirs? What to watch for? Amy other things to watch for or options on moving the car?

Auto or manual SC what year?

If its auto I would put a couple more trans coolers on it and stay outta OD. Other than that its probably ok to use the dolly just take the flat route. Your mileage will be in the pooper.

90 with a manual. Just about everything has been replaced or upgraded recently though. Only thing untouched really is the rear suspension bushings. New shocks with lowering springs though.

I like your hitch. Would be nice if that is the one Uhaul still sells. According to their web site they are the only ones who make a SC specific hitch. It is made to order and takes a 14 day lead time.....

The route I take is very flat with very few hills.

I have a 90 manual with stock 2.73s and the special hidden hitch ordered some 17 years ago. It works great but have not towed much and always careful. I've towed a 95 SC behind mine several times but always easy on the boost and no 5th gear towing even though on flat roads it will do it easily. 4th gear is direct and the best way to stay off of the boost while the revs give you all the non-aspirated torque you need. NO overheating problems for me in the summer but mindful of that it can if you push boost.

Good Luck. A show is lighter than an SC I think.

If in doubt - check out a rental truck such as from Enterprise to tow with.

(I say Enterprise because I'm up to 2 days free rental with my plus points )

RwP

Towing no but, seeing your local as Nashville I assume TN and if your going 6-700 miles from there and flat I'd also assume up I-65. The only towing advice I say is BRAKES.

Tearing up you're.car and potentially killing someone trying to tow it is much more expensive than 800$

bowez said:

Towing no but, seeing your local as Nashville I assume TN and if your going 6-700 miles from there and flat I'd also assume up I-65. The only towing advice I say is BRAKES.

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I-65 or "the valley of the semi's" as I like to call it is a death trap and avoided at all costs. I spend 20 miles a day on it traveling to Bowling Green for work. I don't go any further north than BG unless I absolutely have too.
I am from Wi so yeah I am headed north. Through all my years of traveling between Wi and Fl I have found "the road less traveled". Safer with less traffic and saves me between 1 and 2 hours of travel time. The hardest part of it is hitting Chicago at the right time. Which really isn't that bad if you are patient and curtious.

RalphP said:

If in doubt - check out a rental truck such as from Enterprise to tow with.

(I say Enterprise because I'm up to 2 days free rental with my plus points )

RwP

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Truck + trailer + gas+flight/bus/train trip up one way= not cost effective. :-(

Jacob_Royer said:

Tearing up you're.car and potentially killing someone trying to tow it is much more expensive than 800$

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I understand your concern Jacob but we are talking about a 1991 Taurus SHO here. Book value on it is $1500 to 2000. Spending roughly 1/2 IT's value to have it shipped across country just isn't money well spent. The clutch job on these cars appears to be A big ~~~~. The entire front subframe needs to be dropped to pull the trans for the clutch. When you have to pull that much apart you need to have a budget that allows for the unexpected. Using 1/2 that budget up front means I will have another money pit sitting in the garage. I've got close to 30k in my cobra and 10k in the t bird. I just need a cheap budget car to get rid of a car payment, gets good gas mileage and can be dependable. I would love for it to be the bird but putting a minimum of 350mi a week on a car means I need something for back up just in case. Especially when dealing with 20+ year old cars.

I would not tow a car with another car. But thats just me. I take it you know nobody with a truck?

If you are looking for a reliable cheap car to get rid of car payments and rack up the miles, then you don't want an sho! They are even more labor and maintenance intensive than the SCs, not to mention difficult to get parts for. As far as towing, to do this safely, you need a class 3 hitch, which I don't think is available for the bird. I also would be worried about damaging the rear frame rails on the bird from overloading them, which would be very expensive to repair. Given your situation, I would say forget about the sho, and spend the money you would have spent bringing it back on a local 4.6 bird. If you absolutely have to have this sho for some reason, the fact is you need something bigger to tow it, preferably an f150, but an explorer at the least.

RalphP said:

If in doubt - check out a rental truck such as from Enterprise to tow with.

(I say Enterprise because I'm up to 2 days free rental with my plus points )

RwP

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jdsgallops said:

Truck + trailer + gas+flight/bus/train trip up one way= not cost effective. :-(

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Cheaper than losing the whole shooting match.

Besides, won't you have to drive up there anyway? So the only extra would be the truck rental. Which, for me, is about $300 for a week. Plus gas, which would be more than for the SC. Or maybe not, at that, plus it'd be regular, not premium.

Rent the trailer there to come back. Again, you'd be doing that anyway, so that doesn't affect the judgement much.

RwP

Lol. Having a truck means nothing. I have rented from U haul many times. When I did have a 97 f150 they wouldn't rent a car trailer to me. Their calculations put the weight of towed vehicle and trailer at greater than the towing vehicle. Didn't matter to them that the car being trailered had no engine in it. T bird weighs 4000lbs SHO weighs 3200ish. Plus tow dolly puts me much closer to the limits of the class 2 hitch than I would like yes.

Mikey the Sho was just named by Car and Driver to be one of the top 10 most reliable cars to finish the Lemons series in. I also know the history of the car and know it is very well taken care of. Just like the SC it has a cult following. The general consensus seems to be if they are maintained properly you have few issues with them. My father would prefer the car go to someone he knows will continue to take good care of it. Blood is thicker than water you know....

I run the lemons rare myself, and I can tell you from experience that a reliable endurance racer and a reliable street car are 2 very different things. I know that well maintained SHOs will be reliable, but they still require regular maintenance to stay that way, and the maintenance that an SHO will require will be substantially more than most other cars. I'm not saying don't get it, but for me an SHO would be something you use as a weekend car, or if your commute is relatively short. If you are going to rack up the miles on it, it will cost you more to keep up on than a standard tbird or Taurus. If you still want it, that's fine, and I hope you enjoy it, but to get it back home safely, you need a truck, plain and simple.

Ok you said that you could low ball and get it deliverd for $550. subtract all your cost from that $550 quote and see what the actual price is for a delivery. i would think it would cost you at least the same if all your cost were truly added into your adventure. unless you want and need to see family i would let the pros haul it.

Get someone to fix the clutch which you have to do anyway and drive it back home. Look at megabus... you might find a bus there for 35 bucks?

SHO for a reliable dd is a joke!

MadMikeyL said:

If you are looking for a reliable cheap car to get rid of car payments and rack up the miles, then you don't want an sho! They are even more labor and maintenance intensive than the SCs, not to mention difficult to get parts for. As far as towing, to do this safely, you need a class 3 hitch, which I don't think is available for the bird. I also would be worried about damaging the rear frame rails on the bird from overloading them, which would be very expensive to repair. Given your situation, I would say forget about the sho, and spend the money you would have spent bringing it back on a local 4.6 bird. If you absolutely have to have this sho for some reason, the fact is you need something bigger to tow it, preferably an f150, but an explorer at the least.

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I agree...Bad idea and not worth the risk to tow it with your SC. Plan B..Have someone ride there with you in your SC and drive the SHO back. Slipping clutch is a lot less risky than towing it with an SC.

David

Mike my father got this SHO from a dealership his brother worked at. It was previously owned by someone my father knows and he was meticoulous in it's care. I believe he was the original owner. I know the extended history of this car. Part of me getting this car is helping my father out. He is at an age and health condition that he can no longer maintain, drive, or continue to afford to store 10 cars. Therefore even though I am looking to get rid of a car payment and get a car that I can put miles on this is not the only thing at play here. I can tell NOTHING with a 4.6 will be sitting in my drive way, not even a Mustang. You might as well open the expletive book when I work on one. I view the 4.6 as a production R&D mule.

The Sho may or may not be A dd. The cobra will still be in the garage waiting to be finished. The t bird will still be in the driveway. The sho will be here and he has offered to sell me my 88gt back to me. Or I can do none of that keep my 11 and car payment which will mean the SC will need to go down the road and the cash from the sale used to offset the balance owed on that car. The only thing that is safe is the Cobra because there is way too much time and money invested in it. Life has changed for me in the last couple of years and as I adjust to the new things I am reprioritizing
Some things and a nice new car with a big car payment is no longer high on that list. I would much prefer to have several cheaper cars I can maintain and "restore" especially when they are specialty cars like the SC SHO or a low mileage Mustang Gt.

This thread is suppose to be about the viability of towing another car with the SC not what may or may not be A good 2nd car or budget daily driver.