I am preparing to run a 1/2 scale jr dragster this year. Actually, my 9 year old daughter will be driving and I will be the crew chief. Because it is 13 or 14 feet long, Towing it on a full size trailer is required. The dragster and all of the support equiptment is 600 pounds or much less.
I am thinking of putting a class 3 hitch on the vette and using it as a tow vehicle. Opinions

 

What were you planning on doing for ground clearance?

 

Go for it

 

Its your car, if you don't have a problem doing it then go for it.

 

Good point. With the light tongue weight, I had not considered ground clearance.

 

I think it may weigh less than this?

 

Sounds like a sweet rig to me.

 

The best part is that I could race the vette from time to time also. It will already be at the track

 

I was wondering if you'd think of that part..
Really sounds like a win-win to me. You get to spend some quality time with your daughter, she gets to race and you do too.

 

Do they make air adjustable rear shocks for a vette? Tongue weight limit is supposed to be 200 lbs, you are looking at close to 1,000 lbs including the trailer. It would be really cool to make it work out for you and your daughter!

 

Look at the pic mojo posted, if he can haul that and so u can, pete u smart and experienced if not u will figure out anyway, man those jr dragsters are more fun to me actually than vettes.

 

Thanks sami. Lindsay said you could drive her dragster if you like. She is pretty sure you can handle the power

 

I was at a parade once, and I swear I saw a Corvette with a hidden hitch mounted behind the license plate. The plate was just folded down on a hinge. There was no way I could have asked the owner how they did that, but this would solve the ground clearance issues.

I wonder if the interior of the car was modified with the back end of the hitch protruding into the cargo area, or if it was shallow enough to fit without messing with anything....

 

I would say no. The weight of the dragster and all of the support equipment still has to be added to the weight of the trailer. What trailers are you looking at? A 16' aluminum trailer could run to 600-800 pounds or maybe more.

With the trailer at 16' and a tongue at 3 to 4' that makes the trailer much longer than the car and you may experience some problems with control in heavy side winds or being passed by large trucks.

In addition, most full size trailers will have at least one axle with electric brakes (not too sure about the laws, but it may be a federal requirement). The Corvette will have no provisions for the installation of a brake controller. Surge brakes are another possibility but I would certainly not tow a trailer of that size if it did not have brakes.

Other issues would be cooling the transmission. A manual tranny simply would not cut it and an automatic would need extra cooling especially if you encounter hills or lots of freeway traffic.

Have you found even found a Class III hitch for a Corvette? Most of the ones I have seen or found online are Class II and that IMHO would not be enough for towing a full-size trailer.

Your best bet here is a full-size pickup or an SUV capable of towing up to 4000lbs. The nice thing about a lareg tow vehicle is that you have a way to haul extra stuff, people and also can secure the cargo. A Corvette doesn't really have a lot of space inside for stuff. And the stuff you would put in a Vette, still has to be added to the gross vehicle weight.

 

My first reaction is that you were nuts to even consider it, but after seeing that picture on Mojo's post, I'm reconsidering. I guess it's all about how tight you can tuck the hitch up in the car and how much tongue weight the trailer places on the ball. Will you have to cut the bumper to do it? I'm happy to hear you have a fellow motorhead in the family. I have four kids and only my youngest (8 yrs old) is as into cars as I am! Maybe one day the two of us will line up against you and your daughter!

 

go for it I think I read tongue weight should be 10% of trailer weight so a 2000 pound load would be 200 lbs and in ma. I believe you dont need brakes until over 3000 lbs but a surge brake system would be a plus if you decide to do it pics would be cool.

 

I think it would be cool.
But doubt that you can find a Class III for a Vette.

You may just want to use a truck.

Larry
code5coupe

 

It would be kinda cool, I wonder if you could make a pass while pulling the trailer

 

You can do what you want but, I used to pull this 15-20 miles each way 2 or 3 times a month. Never had a problem 'till I went to go down to Lake Worth (Approx 300mi) with just the trailer (no karts) and the sprag in the tranny let go about 85 miles into the pull.


There were about 108,000mi on the tranny and I don't baby my cars. I don't know if pulling the trailer took out the tranny or if it was just it's time. The tranny re-builder said "I'm surprised it lasted this long and pulling a trailer wouldn't necessarily hurt it too much."

 

I'm not a tranny expert and while I don't recommend towing anything with the vette, I would say that the added weight from the trailer definitely had something to do with the failure of the trans, especially after all those miles and by your own admission, not driving easy.
The trailer may not have been the cause, but it certainly didn't help.

After all(at least on the later C4's) there is nothing(that I recall) about towing, but of course, some folks pull small light trailers for tires and stuff. I actually have a trailer hitch for my vette, but never installed it since I don't have a trailer to pull.