I have 1980 427 corvette, want to tow my 16 foot enclosed cargo trailer. trailer 2,000 lbs, load also 2,000 lbs [Harley and three racing motorcycles. Thus total weight of trailer and payload is 4,000 lbs.
Let me add that the trailer has its own electric brakes on all four tires, and the trailer is way below capacity-it's a race car capable carrier.
Please advise.
Thank you in advance,
Cheers,
Rick
ROPDNYC@GMAIL.COM

 

You can't be serious?
No way in hell would I tow that trailer with a car.

Since your 1980 Corvette is a C3, you might ask over in that section.

 

I used to tow an 18' boat with my '83 Trans Am. And not "I did it!"...but I did it ALL THE TIME. I towed that boat all over carnation, launched and retrieved it at boat ramps...even sandy/dirt ramps, as this was back east where a "ramp" is often just a gap in the trees at the water's edge. Sometimes I'd get a little "stuck" trying to pull the boat on these dirt ramps, but no problem; just tilt the 200 horse Merc outboard back down, fire it up, and have a partner put it in gear and throttle it while I drove the car. Worked like a charm.

As for how the car towed, lets compare it with an..."acceptable" towing vehicle: a 1983 Chevy half ton truck.

.............TA......Truck
Engine: SBC.......SBC
Trans : 700R4....700R4
Rear : 10 bolt......10 bolt
Brakes: 4w disc....disc/drum

So both vehicles spec out about the same, except for brakes where the TA had smaller front, but 4 wheel disks brakes. The 'Vette has the exact same drive train as the "acceptable" towing vehicle (a truck), except that it has arguably better brakes. "Safety" comes down to tow vehicle weight, wheel base, and stability. TA was way more stabile but also much lighter. I probably wouldn't have towed 4000 lbs with it....but it could have, and it towed the 18 foot boat w/zero issues. It was better than good enough.

Frankly, the biggest concern I'd have w/towing with a Corvette would be the hitch to frame interface, and how well the frame is able to deal with those loads. A C3 would probably be better than a C4 since it has "real" frame rails.


.

 

Another Case of who's Towing Who, Or as I like to call If The Ball Fit's Tow It.
But if you put that Drive train in a Pick up or blazer this would not be a issue, But a Corvette Frame or Any Trailer Hitch Available for it would NOT handle this job I think you would wind up with Cracking in the Quarter panels.

 

C3 frames (as well as C2's) are pretty stout as long as they are corrosion/rust free.

what a lot of folks fail to take into account is tongue weight of the trailer and GAWR and GVWR of the vehicle doing the towing. tongue weight can overload the axles and cause a failure. Corvettes are just not engineered to be a tow vehicle. I found a pic on this thread:

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ion-label.html

that shows the GAWR on that particular C3 car as being 2100 lbs. (rear). now if you get into an accident pulling a trailer that exceeds the gvwr/gawr of your vehicle, you give your insurance company grounds to deny the claim and open yourself up to litigation.

http://www.titaniumrvowners.com/yabb...le%20/gawr.htm

you can exceed the GAWR by changing the way the trailer is loaded and increasing the tongue weight

a corvette is a sports car not a pickup truck or a full size 1960's/early 70's full size car equipped with a towing package.

 

There are trailer hitches for most of the Corvette generation cars, but if you look at the sticker on the driver's door, you will see that the maximum payload weight will be around 400-450 lbs. That weight is typically an estimate for 2 people and a reasonable amount of luggage.

The trailer tongue weight (10-15% of the total weight of the trailer) will come out to be at the listed payload weight. The available hitches are typically a Class 3 rated hitch but the weight you are considering hauling is still waaay beyond the capability of your Corvette.

Further there is no way to install an electric brake controller in a C3. Or at least no reasonable way. Then putting the tongue weight on the hitch will drop the rear end of the Vette to where there may be little, if any, suspension travel left. And there are the outside rear view mirrors; No way that stock outside mirrors on a C3 will provide views down the sides of an enclosed trailer. And I have never seen a set of trailer mirrors that will attach to Corvette door mirrors.

What you need is something like a 1/2 ton pickup, Tahoe, or similar tow vehicle. Larger vehicles will have the capacity to tow your loaded trailer safely. One thing you will gain is storage volume. You can put lots of stuff in a pickup box or the back end of a full-size SUV.

So IMHO, your idea is not a good one and I would think it would be unsafe at best.

 

No,no,no

 

You know when you post something like this, you always get replies saying " I towed a tugboat with my moped and it did just fine ". Posts like these are about more than what a vehicle can do. It's about what you should or shouldn't do. It's about safety and the reasons behind why. You can say to a OSHA GUY, hey, why should my guys wear safety glasses, I have never reported an eye injury ?
I have an outside foreman who has no common sense at all. I am watching him all the time hooking up a 30' flat trailer hauling about 10,000 lbs of stuff, plus the weight of the trailer, to his 1/2 ton pick up truck. Can the truck pull it, sure, should the truck pull it, NO! It's unsafe.

Your answer is, can your vette pull it, sure. Should it pull it, NO, IT'S NOT SAFE.

 

You might state why, rather than simply picking the "red herring" argument. If the car has all the same components as the alternative (a p/u truck), better brakes...and it's also more stable, then were is the danger? In the name of the vehicle?

In this case, with 4000 lbs the danger is in the frame/rear suspension of the vehicle....not the fact that "it's a Corvette". I don't believe that the aluminum rear frame section could possibly deal w/400lbs of tongue weight and I wouldn't want to test it either.

I guess in this thread, I am "that guy" who towed the tug boat w/a moped. There was no danger in towing a boat w/my Trans Am...and in fact, I'd say any day of the week that it was safer than a pickup of the era simply be virtue of the brakes and stability that it had.

I do have to wonder if this thread is a joke, however. OP is one and done, it seems.

 

Seems there is a lot of that going on lately.

 

Borrow a pickup truck, preferably a 3/4 ton.