Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Howard Sterndrive

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4,603
Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

I just bought 3 relays (about $12 total) and made my own trailer power. One relay for left turn, one for right turn, one for brake. $4 each for the ones with the little LED on the relay. I also bought the trailer connector with 4 LED's on it - if I ever need to troubleshoot, I want lots of lights telling me where to look.
I have a power amp in the trunk, so 12V power was already there- I fused the trailer lamp feed at 20A
I suspect a towncar has power back there somewhere.
My 07 CV is only rated for 1500 lbs, but some say that is because Ford wants to sell F150's.
I put an oil cooler on the trans. Town car might already have one.
Panther tows my 185 just fine. I have no ramp issues - the traction control is amazing on this car.
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ajgraz

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Mar 1, 2010
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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Hate to be Debbie Downer here, but...

Does the vehicle have enough power to physically pull the load? Can you stick a 3000+lb hitch on a car not rated to tow that much? Probably yes to both.
Can it be done safely? Can you control and stop the load? Maybe...

But if the vehicle is rated to tow x lbs and you tow x+y lbs, you are going to be in a world of legal hurt in case of an accident--your fault or not.

(And yes, not only should you use the e-brake at the ramp, you should use chocks, too.)
 

Splat

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Hate to be Debbie Downer here, but...

Does the vehicle have enough power to physically pull the load? Can you stick a 3000+lb hitch on a car not rated to tow that much? Probably yes to both.
Can it be done safely? Can you control and stop the load? Maybe...

But if the vehicle is rated to tow x lbs and you tow x+y lbs, you are going to be in a world of legal hurt in case of an accident--your fault or not.

(And yes, not only should you use the e-brake at the ramp, you should use chocks, too.)

Please... let's not cloud this argument with facts.

Bill
 

98Shabah

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Please... let's not cloud this argument with facts.

Bill

Facts require information to back them up.. This is all opinion on both sides of the argument, and this battle never gets settled. lol!
 

gtochris

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742
Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

I 2nd the wheel block on a steep ramp- Anytime I have a decently heavy boat behind on a ramp I put a block behind a rear wheel- Park isnt designed to hold and the parking brake isnt the strongest in many vehicles.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Hate to be Debbie Downer here, but...

Does the vehicle have enough power to physically pull the load? Can you stick a 3000+lb hitch on a car not rated to tow that much? Probably yes to both.
Can it be done safely? Can you control and stop the load?

towncar has a full frame, and the EXACT same engine and transmission as a V8 F150 truck and pretty decent 4 wheel disc brakes with a drum-in-rotor type parking brake.
It can be done safely, or dangerously - up to the driver -same as any tow vehicle
 

ajgraz

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

^^^
Nice partial quote there. You neglected to include my objection.

I will defer to those who know better the capabilities of the vehicle in question as to whether it can be done.

As to whether it should be done, I stand by my argument that, based on the info provided, OP will be over the published tow rating of the vehicle, and that's problematic from a legal liability standpoint.

You could squeeze 6 people onto a 15' runabout instead of the 5 people it says on the placard. But you shouldn't.
 

Splat

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

towncar has a full frame, and the EXACT same engine and transmission as a V8 F150 truck and pretty decent 4 wheel disc brakes with a drum-in-rotor type parking brake.
It can be done safely, or dangerously - up to the driver -same as any tow vehicle

That's all great good and even fine to get it going, but lets talk about the important stuff like center of gravity, weight distribution, and that little thing called a suspension. That's the stuff that really matters, I can get a semi trailer moving with my 2001 envoy with a 4.3l, but if it hits a bump and pushes me all over the road, or the suspension bottoms out and rolls every time I tap the brakes it's not a very effective or safe tow vehicle.

People need to deal with REAL weights, not guestimations, and work well within the manufactures recommended towing capacities for HOW THEIR VEHICLE IS EQUIPPED. If the OP deals with actual weights, and is within the vehicles intended towing capacity then I don't really see a problem with it. It may not be conventional, but if it's safe who cares.

Bill
 

98Shabah

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

The rear air bags in these cars are also used in the town car limos.. How much extra weight do you think those support? Or maybe a couple 200lb people in the back seat and all their luggage in the trunk of a taxi? That is quite a bit more weight than the tongue weight of an 18' fiberglass boat & trailer. In the early 90's the Crown Vic (with is a panther platform, as is the grand marquis and towncar) earned Trailer Boat Magazine "tow vehicle of the year".. since then it's gotten a hydroformed frame, more HP, better engine and transmission cooling, numerous tranny improvements, traction control, larger brakes, etc.

I'm not trying to argue that people should disregard manufacturer towing recommendations, all I am saying is that for me this vehicle works very well as my primary tow vehicle.. The wife's grand cherokee with the higher tow capacity and smaller brakes, less HP, no frame, no auto leveling suspension, and crappy gas mileage gets left at home in the garage.
 

Bamaman1

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

Ford Motor Company obviously didn't put any resources into making a Town Car or Crown Vic a tow vehicle. Everyone switched over to pickups as tow vehicles in the 70's. I remember seeing Ford station wagons pulling 23' Airstream trailers that were heavy as lead. Now, the engines are not 390 or 429 cubic inches--they're more like 302's and 4.6 liters. The cars themselves are very heavy, and perfectly capable of handling pretty large boats--if the engine will pull'em. And, Town Cars from the early 90's on came stock with automatic leveling rear air shocks--a nice addition.
 

Howard Sterndrive

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Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

A 1996 Town Car has up to a 5000 lb towing capacity...... (???)
http://www.edmunds.com/lincoln/town-car/1996/features-specs.html
yeah, and the car has not changed in any significant way... Ford wants to sell trucks and they don't want to warranty the transmission for towing. The transmission is not heavy duty.
There is no connection between manufacturers recommendations and the highway traffic act where I live, but the OP may want to check with his local authorities or insurer.
I got the green light from my insurer to tow my boat as long as the hitch is rated for the load, which it is.

lets talk about the important stuff like center of gravity,
seriously? have you ever seen a towncar? :)
 

wifisher

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Mar 9, 2011
Messages
578
Re: Pulling 18' boat with Lincoln Town Car

2010 Lincoln Town Car curb weight 4502 lbs.
2009 Ford F-150 curb weight 4743

http://autos.yahoo.com/lincoln/town-car/2010/signature-l/specifications.html
http://autos.yahoo.com/ford-truck/f...9/126-in-wb-stx-flareside/specifications.html

The town car is not the same as a focus or cavalier. It is a heavy car. I would not worry about pulling that kind of load with it any more than I would a F-150 RWD.

Cars in the US typically have a much lower tow rating than other areas of the world because of the irresponsibility of drivers. If you go to europe you will see that there are very few pickup trucks, and people tow with cars quite often. The same cars over there will have a much higher tow rating.
 
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