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Towing trouble

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So I have a small dilemma - mainly because I'm getting cheap in my old age...

We lease an SUV. It has 10 months left on this lease, and we don't plan to keep it. To fix it up for towing - receiver, wiring and hitch is going to be about $800. I think that's quite a lot for a car we aren't going to keep. The other car is a VW so it couldn't tow itself, and the LBCs are going to be towed. I can (and have with the prior SUV) rent a trailer from U-Haul for $50 a day, so that's not an issue.

I cast around, and the only thing I can 'borrow' that's set up for towing is 10 years old, and I don't trust it to go a couple of hundred miles ew.

I thought about renting a tow vehicle. Enterprise will rent me an F150 or similar for about $80 a day, but I don't know if it has a hitch or the wiring, and I won't find out until tomorrow.

Anyone else ever have this problem and come up with a solution, or should I just pony up the $ to outfit the LR properly?
 
Alan,I rented a 2007 Chevy Silverado 4 wheeler from Enterprise, for about $35 a day. It came equipped with the receiver, and the truck comes wired for a standard 7 pin trailer hookup. This was last January, when I made my trip to Duluth and Wausau, Wi. to pick up a load of Sprite parts.
Jeff
 
Seems awfully high for a heavy duty trailer hitch. Most fall in the $150 range + receiver and ball + plug-in wiring. Should be about $250 max.

Plus, some leases don't allow for trailing..read your contract.
 
Bill,

I paid $350 for the complete heavy duty setup to drag
my boat aroud the island. $800 sound like robbery.

d
 
E-Baystuff008.jpg


Truck = 500.00
Class IV hitch = 30.00 (breakers yard)
Assorted scraps of wood for the bed (not pictured) = ~50.00
"New" tires = free
"New" bumper (6" well casing) = free
Total price = 580.00

Total miles driven this year...About 2000
Total breakdowns....About 10
But you're presumably towing a street legal car and a rented trailer.....
What's the worst that could happen? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif

Offload the car...
Pull the plate & VIN off the truck and push it into the weeds...
Give U-Haul a 'courtesy call'
And drive home /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
TR6BILL said:
Seems awfully high for a heavy duty trailer hitch. Most fall in the $150 range + receiver and ball + plug-in wiring. Should be about $250 max.

Plus, some leases don't allow for trailing..read your contract.
Click to expand...

It's an LR3. They designed this godawful quick release trailer hitch that mounts to the back of it and costs nigh on $400 - no normal receiver like on the Disco it replaced (which when I used that for towing *did* cost me $150 for wiring and hitch).

That plus the hitch to fit the receiver, plus the wiring comes to about $800.

I kid you not - I was in shock when I added it up.

That said if I were to buy all this stuff, I'd be able to tow - nothing in the lease about that at least. Plus could you seriously see them in court - talk about bad for the brand image...
 
My '98 Dodge with about 100,00 miles still pulls strong anywhere I want it to go...I wouldn't worry about a 10-year old truck if its been maintained by its owner! Heck, I'd still take my '92 Sonoma out on the road - oh, wait, I do!!

....& we won't even get into a discussion on why leasing a vehicle is a bad financial idea!
 
I don't care about the financial aspect - I get enough of that from the inlaws. Then again they don't ever go more than 50 miles from home, and don't drive when it snows. We do...

The two cars we rely on get changed for new every 2 years. Looking at it from that perspective, leasing is mostly a better bet than buying, at least for us.

That said, we bought the last car, a VW wagon, just because the lease on one was outrageous. It'll still only be here for 2 years though.
 
So I just drove over to the local Enterprise. Guess what - no towing or hauling allowed with their rental trucks!

What's the point of *having* a truck if you can't do one of those two things...

Back to sq 1. Looks like I'm going to be better off just going over to the LR dealer after all.
 
Maybe you could rent a U haul 1/2 or 3/4 ton truck, I know for a fact that you can tow with them. I rented one and a car hauler to tow my friends El camino from C.C Texas to Florida.
 
I can, but the mileage I'm intending to go makes it cost prohibitive.
 
WhatsThatNoise said:
E-Baystuff008.jpg


Truck = 500.00
Class IV hitch = 30.00 (breakers yard)
Assorted scraps of wood for the bed (not pictured) = ~50.00
"New" tires = free
"New" bumper (6" well casing) = free
Total price = 580.00
Click to expand...
Pulling into a fancy coffee shop drive-thru and ordering a "Half-soy mocha Latte" in that monster....
Pricless.
 
... Or having it valet parked - "Don't scratch the-
- paint!".

... or - Taking it to a full service car wash & making
sure the put the hot wax treatment on.

The good news is that you could probably leave the keys in it & no one would steal it.

- Doug
 
Doug,

We bought a new Honda SUV and it costs a lot more to put a trailer hitch. Honda said they have to put in a trans cooler and other items before Honda will up hold the warranty. I have to wait until the car is 5 years old to put on an aftermarket.

My truck is down (no breaks and a vacume leak on the intake) otherwise I would let you use it. Try costing out a UHaul box truck and tow with it (see it all the time).

Bruce
 
Bruce,

I don't need it - thanks anyway.I have our Dakota,
& I'm looking for an older F250 as a real tow rig.
If you need it,I can take the Dakota.Give me a call.

- Doug
 
Banjo said:
Pulling into a fancy coffee shop drive-thru and ordering a "Half-soy mocha Latte" in that monster....
Pricless.
Click to expand...
Back here in "government cheese town"...
We celebrate ingenuity, resourcefulness, and stupidity.
People who have bed liners and "purdy" trucks are suspect.

BTW...WTH is a Half-soy mocha Latte???
 
Fufu $4-a-cup cofee substitute.
 
WhatsThatNoise said:
BTW...WTH is a Half-soy mocha Latte???
Click to expand...
Somthing I'd never buy. (At least not the soy part, or the $4 part)
Love the Targa towing rig! best use I've seen yet for a minivan. I dare say he spent as much time on the tow vehicle as he did the racecar!
I wanna build one too! I really love the dueal rear axles.
 
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