How much can an EA82 tow?

[Syonyk]

So...

 

My younger brother's Shadow has a blown head gasket. It's probably going to get driven a lot between now and the time I can get out there to work on it.

 

That will probably involve the heads getting warped somewhat, and needing more than just a weekend to work on it.

 

Is there any possibility at all of an EA82 SPFI wagon (92 Loyale) being able to tow something like that for a few hundred miles on a tow dolly? I'm not sure how much it weighs, but I'm pretty sure it's more than my Loyale does. I have 4 wheel disks, so I'm not too concerned about stopping things, but hills on the highway might be interesting.

 

I know this isn't "recommended use" or such, and finding a place willing to rent me a tow dolly for that car may be a challenge, but is it technically possible to do this?

 

-=Russ=-

[Subaru_dude]

I really haven't done a whole lot of towing... I have pulled a 6,000 pound truck up a fairly steep hill once, but as for that far of a distance with that much weight and only about 100 hp, I wouldn't do it. It may have 4 wheel discs... but my wag did too and even with it full of people and gear there was a noticeable difference in the way it stopped. I can't imagine what it'll feel like with a freakin car back there. I, personally, would say the car won't have enough power unless it has 4 lo, even then you're top speed will only be about 45-50. and you'll be suckin down some major gas.

[Numbchux]

these cars can tow alot more than they can stop. disks or no. don't even think about a highway, if you have to make an emergency stop at highway speeds, you'll be dead.

 

also, how are you going to attach it? I have no idea how much a shadow weighs, and I realize with a dolly that tongue weight isn't really a factor, but that kind of pushing and pulling on the rear of the car might be alot. even if you have one of those tie-down mounted 'receiver' hitches.

 

in fact, what is a shadow? the Honda motorcycle? if it's just a bike, even a larger one, you could do it. but if you need a tow dolly, probably not.

[Caboobaroo]

these cars can tow alot more than they can stop. disks or no. don't even think about a highway, if you have to make an emergency stop at highway speeds, you'll be dead.

 

also, how are you going to attach it? I have no idea how much a shadow weighs, and I realize with a dolly that tongue weight isn't really a factor, but that kind of pushing and pulling on the rear of the car might be alot. even if you have one of those tie-down mounted 'receiver' hitches.

 

in fact, what is a shadow? the Honda motorcycle? if it's just a bike, even a larger one, you could do it. but if you need a tow dolly, probably not.

 

Its a Dodge K-car or something along those lines....

[MilesFox]

i towed wth my gl sedan 2wd at converted to 4wd 5spd, my 87 rx loaded down with parts on a tow dolly some 300 miles or so. it can do it, the gearing is appropriate, if you are confident in your driving skills the car will do it just as well.

 

i towed with a 1,000 lb hitch and a 2,000 lb ball, did ok although it probably wouldnt hold up in a crash. i wont tell you not to do it, but then again i would only do it within your confidence to do so. my rig was pulling a good 3,500 lbs altoghether.

 

i have made the same tow fairly often and even in heavy rain, where i used the 4wd hi at 70 mph. just use common sense, defensive driving, plenty of stopping distance, and no erratic maneuvers.

 

the only warning i can present to you is that i am Miles Fox, and i am crazy like that.

[daeron]

Its a Dodge K-car or something along those lines....

 

i want to get a nice, cherry condition Aries or Reliant K-car and drop an SRT-4 driveline into it, find a way to give it a REALLY quiet exhaust with one phantom "hidden" muffler pipe, and try to give it a stoock looking suspension/ride.. MAYBE with some absurdly ghetto looking rims so you could throw some fat tires on it, but still just look like some fool in a K-car....

 

Just to smoke every tom, wongleflute, and harry out there in a mustang or camaro.....

 

I hate Neons and all, but have any of you ever ridden in an SRT-4?? my buddy has an '05, and when he got it the PO had somehow bypassed the boost controller enntirely.. I got the pleasure of sitting in it once or twice when he accidentally pushed it all the way to the floor and unlimited boost got pumped out the turbo.. can you say, thirty pounds??? it pegged his boost gauge that went up to 24.. it had wrapped it back around to the -16 vacuum reading, which was about 6 more pounds, radially. that thing has some crazy potential. (note: my friend has since repaired his boost controller, and his car is no longer EVER achieving this kind of boost. it was a mistake made by a PO, not some sort of home 2ner upgrade by he and I:))

 

and, back to the topic of the thread, I motion that we make this a sticky, or make a sticky with EA-82 towing experiences on it to help define its "capacity...." Naturally such a thread would be "Read/Imitate at your own risk!" but I think it would be helpful to know what others with similar rigs were able to tow, and what kind of terrain/distance was safely achieved.

 

I, for one, only care that I can get a soob that will tow a 13' boston whaler. I feel confident in that. Once I get/build that vehicle, though... I'm sure eventually I will wonder what MORE I can do.

[ShawnW]

No company should rent you a tow dolly knowing you have a Subaru of any kind. Not an H6 outback, Tribeca, Brat, EA82 anything...., no Subaru is capable of towing that way.

I towed an 83 wagon with my 90 Legacy FLAT with a towbar and even then I was exceeding GVWR of the Legacy by over 1000 pounds if memory serves me. It was stupid then and would be now.

 

Nobody even sells a 2" receiver hitch for a Subaru of any kind and thats the league you are in if you need a towdolly.

 

Rent a truck or a friend with a truck, full size van, etc. Something with enough STOPPING POWER to tow and with enough weight in the towing vehicle to handle a jackknife situation, extreme emergency stop, etc. Your life and others is at stake and its not worth it. Just because your Subaru will pull something doesnt mean it will stop it.

[Caboobaroo]

Just to smoke every tom, wongleflute, and harry out there in a mustang or camaro.....

 

Watch your mouth there bucko. I got one of the rarest Camaros built and I bet it would eat that SRT-4 alive with no problems... Just watch yourelf because there are people on this board who own another car of some sort, sometimes its not a Subaru.

[DaveT]

I have no trouble towing 1000Lbs with my EA82 3AT 4WD wagon.

 

2" reciever hitch:

http://users.adelphia.net/~davidtief/hitch.html

 

Years ago I towed a V8 Plymoth Duster with my 76 1400CC 4WD wagon. Above 40MPH it got scary almost lost it.

 

Obviouse warning about leaving long distances, no sudden manuvers, etc. Be very wary of long steep downhills.

[Subaru_dude]

the payload of a wagon is 900 pounds anyway right? how much does a shadow weigh? 3000?? stay on the shoulder. lol

[MilesFox]

No company should rent you a tow dolly knowing you have a Subaru of any kind. Not an H6 outback, Tribeca, Brat, EA82 anything...., no Subaru is capable of towing that way.

.

 

oh yeah i forgot to mention that u-haul wont rent a tow dolly to a subaru. i work at the u-haul as a matter of fact. that doesnt mean you cant tow a dolly should you get one by other means.

 

i wouldnt tow anthing on the auto transport with a subaru but towing an empty auto transport isnt impossible. but then again the tow dolly has no tongue weight.

[Quidam]

Hey Guys,

 

"Towing trailers or other items with your SUBARU is not recommended." This from pg. 109 in my Owners Manual.

 

The Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR), trailer and tow vehicle isn't listed because of the above short sentence.

 

My '87 GL Wagon has: Front, Gross Axel Weight Rating (GAWR) of 1770 lbs.

 

The GAWR of the rear is 1895 lbs.

 

GVWR is 3665, total for what it can carry. Car, fuel, people, etc. That is a 900 lb. "Capacity Weight", in RV terms, it's Carrying Capacity.

 

From a purely legal point of view alone, should you ever cause a fatal accident and be found over those weights, you could pay dearly. You could loose "everything". It has happened and probably will again.

 

A heavy hitch actually lowers your carrying capacity, tho Dave, that's a good looking hitch.

 

Forget about the engine power for a minute, the real issue is is a short wheelbase, 96.8" and the trailer trying to control the car. One other as pointed out is the brakes and suspension not capable of handling the trailer in an emergency situation. I agree, don't do it.

 

Doug

 

 

I have no trouble towing 1000Lbs with my EA82 3AT 4WD wagon.

 

2" reciever hitch:

http://users.adelphia.net/~davidtief/hitch.html

 

Years ago I towed a V8 Plymoth Duster with my 76 1400CC 4WD wagon. Above 40MPH it got scary almost lost it.

 

Obviouse warning about leaving long distances, no sudden manuvers, etc. Be very wary of long steep downhills.

[Snowman]

Seriously, rent a truck or something. U-haul rents F150s pretty cheap. Judging from how my Subarus have handled when towing 1000 lbs, and how a 1/2 chevy pickup handled when I used it to tow an EA82 wagon, I would not want to try something like this.

[RavenTBK]

I would like to echo the above, in that you should get a friend with a real truck, or rent one for this experience.

 

I've had to pull my old, now crushed '93 Nissan Altima 20 miles back home because the alarm system freaked out and killed the ignition in the middle of the road. At the time, my Bronco was tranny-less, and all I had was my Brat. I pushed the race car into the grass, and used my race trailer (steel, dual axle two plank dovetail, utility boxes and 6x occupied tire rack up top) to retrieve the Altima. Trailer itself weighed close to 1000#, with the car being 2900#... the Brat did a good job with 4-lo, 2wd was a non-starter. Stopping was scary as hell. But it did what it was supposed to do... got the Altima home, albeit very slowly.

 

So yeah, get a real truck to tow whatever you need to tow. Only use the Subaru if you're in a pinch and have no other options.

[Syonyk]

Fair enough.

 

I'll get a truck if I need to tow it. :-)

 

Good to know what they can do, though.

 

-=Russ=-

[GeneralDisorder]

I've flat towed with a strap locally using many different EA series subaru's. As long as the towee know's how to do his job on the Brakes, and you carry some two-way radio's it's generally fine. Slow speeds, lots of hand signals, etc.

 

Wrap the ends of the strap in duct tape over a peice of sliced radiator hose to prevent the strap from chafing on any body parts, and to keep it from falling off the tow hook.

 

With a strap it's doable - because rolling weight is not the same as towing weight, and because you have the added stopping ability of the towee's braking system. In some ways it's actually prefereable to have a marginally larger vehicle being towed this way as it will have larger brakes. You also completely eliminate the tendancy for a large trailer to "push" the rear end under brakeing, and the two cars being not hard linked together helps with emergency stoping.

 

*I* would probably do it, but NOT with a trailer, tow bar, or dolly. ONLY with a strap, another expert at strap towing in the towee vehicle, and long distances I would probably shy away from. I've done 50 miles or so with a strap and it gets on your neves after a while.

 

GD

[Quidam]

Good points, all. In Ohio I'm not sure of the requirements for a tow strap, but a chain between the two vehicles can't be over 10' long. A red flag of some sorts must be tied in the center of the tow chain, between the two vehicles. My best tow buddy is my Dad, he knows what to do.

 

 

I've flat towed with a strap locally using many different EA series subaru's. As long as the towee know's how to do his job on the Brakes, and you carry some two-way radio's it's generally fine. Slow speeds, lots of hand signals, etc.

 

Wrap the ends of the strap in duct tape over a peice of sliced radiator hose to prevent the strap from chafing on any body parts, and to keep it from falling off the tow hook.

 

With a strap it's doable - because rolling weight is not the same as towing weight, and because you have the added stopping ability of the towee's braking system. In some ways it's actually prefereable to have a marginally larger vehicle being towed this way as it will have larger brakes. You also completely eliminate the tendancy for a large trailer to "push" the rear end under brakeing, and the two cars being not hard linked together helps with emergency stoping.

 

*I* would probably do it, but NOT with a trailer, tow bar, or dolly. ONLY with a strap, another expert at strap towing in the towee vehicle, and long distances I would probably shy away from. I've done 50 miles or so with a strap and it gets on your neves after a while.

 

GD

[Numbchux]

I've done 50 miles or so with a strap and it gets on your neves after a while.

 

I did almost 70miles last fall, in my lifted wagon, behind an F150, in the dark. NOT fun. I would NEVER do it again. but, it did save me a fortune on the rescue cost (turned out to be a wet crank angle sensor.... ).

[GeneralDisorder]

I did almost 70miles last fall, in my lifted wagon, behind an F150, in the dark. NOT fun. I would NEVER do it again. but, it did save me a fortune on the rescue cost (turned out to be a wet crank angle sensor.... ).

 

Yeah - I have no love for being the "towee". It has much of the "suckage"

 

GD

[daeron]

i melted the front hubcaps on my geo storm one time when my buddy towed me off the interstate with his dually crew cab chevy 1-ton pickup... brakes got hot!!! being the tow-ee always sucks...

[Syonyk]

Eh, a friend of mine & I have strap-towed probably 5 different cars/trucks around town in the past year. It's not that bad.

 

But definitely not something to do a few hundred miles with.

 

-=Russ=-

[RONAN]

Hey Guys,

 

"Towing trailers or other items with your SUBARU is not recommended." This from pg. 109 in my Owners Manual.

 

The Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR), trailer and tow vehicle isn't listed because of the above short sentence.

 

My '87 GL Wagon has: Front, Gross Axel Weight Rating (GAWR) of 1770 lbs.

 

The GAWR of the rear is 1895 lbs.

 

GVWR is 3665, total for what it can carry. Car, fuel, people, etc. That is a 900 lb. "Capacity Weight", in RV terms, it's Carrying Capacity.

 

From a purely legal point of view alone, should you ever cause a fatal accident and be found over those weights, you could pay dearly. You could loose "everything". It has happened and probably will again.

 

A heavy hitch actually lowers your carrying capacity, tho Dave, that's a good looking hitch.

 

Forget about the engine power for a minute, the real issue is is a short wheelbase, 96.8" and the trailer trying to control the car. One other as pointed out is the brakes and suspension not capable of handling the trailer in an emergency situation. I agree, don't do it.

 

Doug

 

That`s funny, I had a 87 gl 4wd wgn with the ea82 spfi that I bought new from the dealership, that came with a dealer installed towing hitch and light kit. My owners manual had a section on towing and if I remember right? it said that it was not recommended to tow more than 1500lbs?

[idosubaru]

you could tow 2 cars, probably 3 if you wanted, the subaru would do it just fine...for a few miles....how long before you have an accident or the car gives out on you is the question. it shouldn't be done.

 

before i had ever really towed anything, i asked the same thing about towing a Subaru with my XT6. the answers were about the same that you see here. i now own a truck and dolly, am getting a car carrier soon and since putting a couple thousand miles of towing under my belt i am very glad i listened to the members of this board and the xt6 group. with the situations i've encountered and people i've talked to that tow alot, i am thankful i listened. although....i know my XT6 "could" do it, but you're hoping everything goes perfect if you try!

 

i'd be very concerned about the mounting of the receiver to do this anyway...better be done really well and better not be any rust.

[stephenw22]

I'm a fan of the strap-tow myself. I've shuttled lots of vehicles back and forth between my farm and the city (15 miles). I'd keep the speed below 30mph if I was using the Subaru to pull.

 

As long as the person in the towed vehicle knows what they're doing, I wouldn't worry about a 100-mile tow with a strap. However, if the person in the back doesn't know what they're doing, it's horribly frustrating and dangerous.

 

Scariest tow ever - being towed in a 1/2 ton by my dad's 1/2 ton - all we had was a 10-ft rope. By the time it was secure on both ends, there was about 5' between trucks. Then, my dad proceeded to go along at about 40mph down the gravel roads to our farm. That said, I'd still rather do a 100 mile tow with my dad than a 3-block tow with my wife.

[DaveT]

Yeah, I wouldn't do the duster tow now. That was when I was young and crazey and didn't have anything.