Re: Will my car be able to tow this boat??? Please help...
i've really got to wonder about this towing issue with cars.
as others have said, the issue is more with stopping then starting and moving.
once you get the trailer rolling, it will easily roll, unless your trailer wheels are faulty and don't roll smoothly. if you have the trailer unhitched, can you move it by hand? shouldn't be too hard. i know from experience it isn't too hard to push a 4000lb forklift by hand when its battery dies, and thats just one 200lb person pushing. a car engine is several hundred times stronger then a person, and the weights are a lot closer together unless the boat is huge. a trailer rolls, its not like your trying to pull a stump out of the ground.
a car engine does have to pull the cars weight, but think about it this way, how much force is it putting out when you slam on the gas compared to a slow gentle acceleration. if you slam on the gas, the engine will put out much, much, much more force in order to get the weight rolling faster sooner. thus showing that an engine can put out a lot of force if needed. if towing a trailer, it would need that force as well, but you would simply have to use gentle starts to get it moving to put less strain on the driveline and other components.
as for the rated towing capacities, those numbers don't mean the vehicle can't tow more then that without problem. the rated numbers of most things aren't the actual limits of the object. its just the recommended 'safe' limit. by law the numbers are required to give leeway. like in an elevator, have you ever added up everybody's weight to make sure everything is below the capacity? an elevators capacity rating is often 25-50% below what it can actually carry to take this into account.
i think the issues are brakes and being able to stop the boat (as others have said) but also weight distribution and shocks. a front wheel drive car will have a lot of weight on the rear when towing a trailer and thus the front wheels will be more likely to slip when accelerating. as for braking, that extra weight pushing to the front and on the front wheels will keep the brakes from locking up and more likely cause them to overheat due to the friction of braking. overheated brakes can result in the brake fluid getting hot and expanding and the excess fluid going into the brake fluid reservoir and then there being less fluid in the lines when you try to stop thus you'll have far reduced braking ability. easily to the point of having to have the brake peddle floored to just to have minor stopping force.
of course, just because i think all of the above doesn't mean i'm going to get a hitch for my 95 buick century and try towing my boat with it
