I'd do it, but I do dumb things all the time

 

My ranger is 2wd and I don't know the gear ratio, whatever is stock would be my guess. My biggest concern is the mountains and if I run into snow or ice. I would be doing this just after Christmas. I am no stranger to overloading a truck. My F150 has towed a large double axle trailer with a bulldozer on it before and the Inline 6 was not very happy about it. Uhaul's site says that my ranger is fine to tow the Acura but I take that with a grain of salt .

 

which acura are you pulling? Is it an RSX without an interior or something? I know my Sephia weighed 2300 lbs, as does the last celica. Both are made out of the thinnest sheet metal and cheapest plastics around. Hard to imagine Acura's build standards would allow it to be any lighter than that.

That being said, your power is of course not an issue. Easy on the clutch, but it sounds like you know that part already. I'd do it. The lack of tongue weight is what scares me with tow dollies though. Maybe throw a couple buckets or bags of playground sand in the bed of the truck.

Crazy thought, what if you fabbed up a quick bracket in place of, and remove, the e-brake lever in the Acura. Then go get 25' of 1/8" cable at the hardware store. Run this into the cab of the tow vehicle. Maybe though a length of cheap garden hose with the ends cut off. Attach to the cable end where the acura lever came out, and attach it to a junkyard brake lever screwed to a piece of Plywood on the floor. On long down grades you could put some tension onto the rear brakes of the car on the dolly to create enough drag to prevent it from pushing the tow vehicle around.

Maybe some tweaking and thought should go into it. But the theory should be effective. And cheap.

 

The RSX is not an Integra. The car I am towing is a 89 1G Integra, its only a little bigger than a CRX.

I think your towing idea is creative but has many flaws to include:

*The car is only on the dolly with a couple straps.

*I am not making holes in my truck.

*I am not making holes in the Integra.

 

there are holes already through the firewall. And the engine bay. and the nose of the integra. and I take it you truck doesn't have a rear slider then? Either way you could zip tie it up under the truck and run it in next to the shift boot. Or connect it to your truck e-brake main cable and disconnect the cables to the truck wheels. Connect the Acura towing cableto that, and you truck e-brake could do the job.

as for the straps, they are designed to carry the weight of a ranger. And in turn thats all you would be doing. They do also have safety chains that should be hooked to a solid point on the car, tie down hook or at the very least a strong suspension piece. You don't need brakes to do the stopping. You just need something to create a little drag on the rear vehicle to keep it from trying to pass the tow vehicle.

Is the Integra running? I would suggest driving it there itself. The amount of money saved in gas would probably pay for a plane ticket back.

 

Rereading your original post and tow vehicle, and having a better idea of the car being towed, I think I would go with the trailer idea. Even the U-Haul rental weighs in pretty heavy at 2000 lbs. You're looking at around 4200 lbs. gross trailer weight. I know your 5-speed limits your tow "rating" to something like 3,500 lbs. But it's more than capable to pull the same 5,980 lbs. My auto is. Ford didn't want to warranty inexperienced drivers to pull that much with the covered clutch and trans components.

If you look in my album, you see I tow 5000+ lbs. with my 2wd B4000 auto. So I am not just making a random suggestion. The only thing I question is weight distribution. With surge brake equipped rental trailers, you can't use them. But I think for that trip and weight you will want them. One option I see around here is find someone local who has a newer open car hauler. They are a good 800 lbs lighter then the U-haul units, and you can slip on the mounts for the weight distribution hitch in about 3 minutes, without drilling or damaging the trailer. Often private owners would be more than happy to rent it to you for the week or so to make the trip, and probably for much less than U-Haul. One flaw to this idea, do you have an electric trailer brake controller? And does someone around, maybe comes with a "borrowed" trailer, have a WD hitch setup to loan you.

Given the car, you could almost get away with a 2 axle "landscape" type trailer. Thats what a lot of racer's around here do, and they hold up on single axles with local trips. So with the 2 axle it should handle well.

Some other ideas for you anyways.

 

I've towed through the Rocky's before and its not fun It takes a lot of power to get up AND down those hills. Be SURE!!!! you have chains and 4x4 if you go through after Christmas... and plan well so you aren't going through during a storm. I've spent many an hour pulling people out of snowbanks in Colorado! And those were people who have lived there their whole lives!

I don't think I'd try it myself... you can have it hauled for pretty cheap! My friend had a car towed 1200 miles for $550. With gas prices what they are, and the wear and tear/rental, that may make more sense than doing it yourself.

Look at uship.com for haulers.

 

It would be easier, safer, and about as cheap to ship the car. If you look around on the net you can find guys that are bringing back empty loads that would haul the car. I had an 04 explorer shipped from Colorado to Missouri for $500. If you figure extra cost of gas, trouble, and cost of tow dolley you probably would not save that much towing it yourself. Tow dolleys are a pain in the ***. You can only tow to about 45 mph before they start swaying back and forth and throw you in the ditch. I towed a s-10 with a 4x4 s-10 from Virginia to Missouri and I would never do that again. Good luck, hope this helps.

 

It would cost me $650+ to have the car towed back from a company. The main idea I am thinking about is flying out there and driving the car back. I am just worried about the reliability of the car. I will be in Washington anyways for Christmas. It would be me and my girlfriend and I figured the cost of gas would be very close to the cost of two plane tickets.

 

Drive one out and drive two back. piece o cake

John

 

I too would perfer a trailer over a dolly, dollies work fine for short distances, but for what your trying your definatly going to want a trailer. I towed a car once on a dolly about 200 miles and it was a real PITA, and that was on flat ground.

 

I've towed a trailer from Washington (Monroe) to Indiana (Evansville) using an F-150 4x4 with a 302. Trailer weight was about 3500 pounds.

Makes sure the dolly has (as a minimum) surge brakes. Some of the passes will be a crawl. I went over the continental divide at 35 MPH, foot to the floor and that 302 was screaming bloody murder in 2nd gear.

Be careful going down the grades. Shift down a gear and compression brake as much as possible.

Wind will be a big problem. The Ranger doesn't have as much weight, so the car and dolly are going to pull your back end all over the road if you get into a cross wind.

I did my trip in 3 days, but the last day was a 19 hour grind. Plan on 4 days minimum and take your time. Some states (Illinois comes to mind) have reduced speed limits for any vehicle towing. Plan accordingly, avoid big cities and make the trip an adventure.

 

And for the love of God, please remember trailer towing isn't about speed. It isn't even about maintaining speed. It's about a tow vehicle that can safely do the work you're asking it to do. Many trucks out there are only rated to pull their max tow rating up 6% at 25 mph.

Let the engine find it's happy spot in the power curve, and then watch the temp guage. Ignore the Speedo altogether, except to know when you fall below 45 mph so you can put your flashers on to indicate to passing traffis you are going slow.

Truck engines are made to work, not race.

 

It is possible, but take it very slow and check your straps every chance you get.

 

You will either be deeply in love at the end of this venture, or hate one anothers guts - just at a guess.