towing a 73 caprice with a 95 Tahoe

[__CHI__]

I'm about to get my Tahoe and car trailer ready for a recovery mission for my buddy to prevent his car from getting impounded. I get to drive 6hrs,or 355 miles,one way to Clarksville TN to pick up his 4 door tuna boat. After we load his car on the trailer we get to creep the highway back to Ohio lol. I'll post pictures of the 'hoe and green ******* whenever I get down there..
but I have a question about doing all of this..is this even a good idea to tow a car that weighs almost as much as the vehicle towing it? I don't have trailer brakes,but there is a set of helper bags on the back,I've hauled my RCSBs around on a trailer but I'm almost positive the caprice weighs more..I'm just a little sketched out by all the hills

 

[BoxerPitMix]

Man I would invest in installing a brake controller, even if it's just a temporary installation. That's a lot of weight to be pulling around with no trailer brakes. You can pick up a Draw-Tite 5500 off eBay for under $50. I've installed hundreds of them, they're great inexpensive controllers. Take an hour or so to install that and a plug in the back, you'll be a lot safer.

Are you renting a trailer? I don't know if this still applies, but IIRC the old U-Haul flat beds used to have surge brakes. That would eliminate the need for a controller. You may want to call around and ask.

 

[Shaun Anderson]

I agree, a trailer brake controller is needed here. Too long a distance and there's hills. I just installed one in mine last weekend. Took me a few hours because I was careful how I routed the wires and mounted everything. A temp install could be accomplished in under an hr. Aside from the brake controller you'll need a couple rolls of 12 AWG wire (two 15 ft rolls), a 7 pin receptacle for the trailer to plug into and some weatherproof butt connectors, weatherproof quick splices and ring terminals. You can get everything you need from your local auto parts store for less than $100. If you need wiring diagrams let me know.

 

[drewcrew]

I'm about to get my Tahoe and car trailer ready for a recovery mission for my buddy to prevent his car from getting impounded. I get to drive 6hrs,or 355 miles,one way to Clarksville TN to pick up his 4 door tuna boat. After we load his car on the trailer we get to creep the highway back to Ohio lol. I'll post pictures of the 'hoe and green ******* whenever I get down there..
but I have a question about doing all of this..is this even a good idea to tow a car that weighs almost as much as the vehicle towing it? I don't have trailer brakes,but there is a set of helper bags on the back,I've hauled my RCSBs around on a trailer but I'm almost positive the caprice weighs more..I'm just a little sketched out by all the hills

Have your buddy rent a truck from U-Haul or Ryder and use that to tow the trailer. Save the wear and tear on your vehicle. You could go with him and help him drive and make it a fun road trip.

 

[Ironroad9C1]

A u haul trailer with surge brakes will be fine, but load the car on backwards to take some of the tongue weight off, the u haul trailers dont give you the option of adjusting the placement of the vehicle to adjust tongue weight.

 

[__CHI__]

I would have loved to install trailer brakes before I left butit was a last minute thing,he just got released from the army and someone else was supposed to haul his car with an F350,they never showed so he called me to come get it. The Tahoe was getting super hot,pretty sure my water pump siezed,it's only like 8 years old lol. I ended up towing back my buddies caprice with a Jeep grand Cherokee and a car dolly,it was one of the sketchiest things I've ever done,but it was still an awesome trip. I was worried about the jeep being able to safely tow the caprice and about halfway into Kentucky I seen a Nissan SUV with a car dolly,there was a sentra on the dolly,then hooked to the bumper was a corolla,and hooked to that bumper was another Nissan SUV..after seeing that I kinda didn't have much worries lol. I am seriously impressed that the jeep hauled that boat of a car with zero problems or hesitations though,i was just gonna use the jeep as a woods toy but it tows better than the Tahoe does,i think she's earned a spot in the barn lol. I'll upload a picture here shortly of the car on the trailer,it looks hilarious

 

[__CHI__]

There's the green ******* and chief grand cherokee lol

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[BIGFOOTDUDE1]

I'm about to get my Tahoe and car trailer ready for a recovery mission for my buddy to prevent his car from getting impounded. I get to drive 6hrs,or 355 miles,one way to Clarksville TN to pick up his 4 door tuna boat. After we load his car on the trailer we get to creep the highway back to Ohio lol. I'll post pictures of the 'hoe and green ******* whenever I get down there..
but I have a question about doing all of this..is this even a good idea to tow a car that weighs almost as much as the vehicle towing it? I don't have trailer brakes,but there is a set of helper bags on the back,I've hauled my RCSBs around on a trailer but I'm almost positive the caprice weighs more..I'm just a little sketched out by all the hills

i just hauled a 62oo lbs. trailer up and over the Sierra nevada mts. 7500 ft. elevation in my 1/2 ton Tahoe no problems up and back just keep it around 60 mph and DON'T use ooverdrive. oh my 98 Tahoe has 255,000 + miles and the trip was 350 mi. each way good luck

 

[__CHI__]

I'm already back from the trip,I used the jeep in the picture lol it was 746 miles there and back,I used 147 on gas and it did awesome towing that behemoth,I probably would've spent double in the tahoe

 

[CrustyJunker]

Glad to hear your trip was successful. Car that size might have been more fun to get it running, then tow the Jeep home.