How are these cars for towing?

[ZRX Doug]

It's almost time for me to start dragging my streetbike to the race track, and for the first time ever I'm without a pickup truck to toss the motorcycle in..

I've got a light trailer (figure right around 1,000 lbs loaded), but I've never used my Sube to tow with..it's an '89 GL wagon with D/R, seems plenty capable of handling this amount of weight..brakes, tires, suspension are all in good shape.

I guess what I'm asking is have any of you guys encountered any particular problems towing with these cars? Oh yeah, I'm also trying to find a used hitch before I end up building one, posted on the "stuff wanted" page.

(Sneaky way to get more attention for the want ad, huh?)

[zyewdall]

Don't know for towing, but I've had 1,200lbs of batteries IN my '89 GL wagon, and it did okay. Slow going up hills for sure, but still braked okay and didn't overheat. And didn't blow the tires out. Trailer will be slightly different -- less weight on the tires, but more odd forces on the car.

 

Question is -- if you're wagon's rusty, is there something good to attach the hitch to down there?

[pheonix165]

i've towed a fair bit with both of my cars. what i encountered was two things, first, primary front drive meant that i was using 4low to get going sometimes...and second, the breaks may not stand up to a lot of sharp stops.

 

some may tell you to watch you temps and what not but usually i only tow in the winter so i've never had an issue with that...

 

but then i guess if your pretty much just looking for a hitch anyways...

[Subaru_dude]

the load capacity for a soob is 800 lbs I think. but when I drove my auto 2wd loyale wagon to school with me, and 4 other people AND books, football stuff, etc... it was a little over 1000 lbs of weight and NO... it didn't stop very well... but the brakes weren't in very good shape at all. I'd say just 1,000 lbs... it can do it, just be careful. stay in the slow lane.

[ZRX Doug]

Yeah, the rust thing worried me a lot..but she seems to be solid enough in the rear bumper/tiedown hook area..I've used this car to yank stuck vehicles outta ditches & such for the past ten years, seems to be rock-solid back there.

The weight doesn't worry me too much..as you guys have mentioned, I've already gone beyond what the trailer is gonna weigh with passengers/cargo inside the car, never had any brake or overheating issues. (Picture five 200+ pound guys and their bowling equipment crammed in a GL..amusing thought, ain't it?)

What I was wondering about was more of a vehicle stability issue while towing..I used to have an old Dodge van that was rock solid until you put a trailer behind it, then it'd wander all over the place. I'd just as soon not deal with that issue again.

[Gloyale]

I hauled a trailer weighing at least 1300 lbs cross country in the winter. The northern route. I also had myself, 2 big dogs and a packed (500 lbs?) That was in an 86 GL carbed D/R. With 250,000 miles! It did fine. I had it for 25,000 more miles before and after that, then sold it as a winter/second car to a young couple with a brand new Forrester. That was an Oregon car, ie no rust. The couple couldn't believe it was an 86 and had 277,000 miles when I sold it. You don't see ANY 86 anything here in Wisconsin ussually. Let alone with zero rust.

[daeron]

Now I have zero towing experience with a subaru.. and honestly, I would consider it more than do-able as long as you feel the chassis can reliably mount that kind of load..

 

BUT I do have to play devil's advocate here and point out that the owners manual specifically says not to use your subaru to tow anything.

 

Like I said, I wouldnt hesitate to haul a boston whaler around with the soob by any means. (well, not MINE.. 2wd 3at.. but with a 4-wheeler...) If it is going to get away from you, you ought to know quickly enough; but it sounds like other people have had perfectly OK experiences doing what you are talking about.

[idosubaru]

always realize that towing doesn't mean bad things...but it does gaurantee increased risk. you can easily get away with lots of things...but that doesn't mean there are not risks involved. i've towed a number of different things with subaru's and they do just fine, but the brakes are average at best on the older soobs. i would look to go over the brakes thoroughly and possibly upgrade them some if possible and you plan on towing a fair amount. a trailer with brakes isn't necessary but it's a good idea.

 

be sure the hitch is properly mounted to good metal. i'd recommend a 2" receiver if you ever plan on getting a bike rack. i went with a 1 1/4" and am now building a 2" so i can use my 4 bike rack.

 

the more towing you'll be doing, the higher the speeds you'll be traveling, the worse weather you plan on encountering and the more mountains you'll be traversing the more all of this matters.

[psylosyfer]

It's almost time for me to start dragging my streetbike to the race track, and for the first time ever I'm without a pickup truck to toss the motorcycle in..

I've got a light trailer (figure right around 1,000 lbs loaded), but I've never used my Sube to tow with..it's an '89 GL wagon with D/R, seems plenty capable of handling this amount of weight..brakes, tires, suspension are all in good shape.

I guess what I'm asking is have any of you guys encountered any particular problems towing with these cars? Oh yeah, I'm also trying to find a used hitch before I end up building one, posted on the "stuff wanted" page.

(Sneaky way to get more attention for the want ad, huh?)

I used my GL to tow my daughters 77 Chevy Nova about 90 miles.(up and down hill, winding road) No problem except hot brakes. Seem's a bike trailer wouldn't hurt anything, Just drive mellow.

[baccaruda]

I'd definitely throw a set of rear disc brakes onto the back of your wagon. If the trailer has brakes that would be great too.

[ZRX Doug]

Thanks for all the thoughts..I just replaced rear brakes/wheel bearings about a month ago, fronts were done at the end of last summer..I wish I'd found this place before I sank all the cash I did into the rears (new drum, new wheel cylinder, shoes, bearings, etc). I had no idea there was a disc brake swap possible on these little cars up until a couple weeks ago when I wandered in here..

At any rate, the brakes on the car are great, tires are fresh, and stopping a measly thousand pounds (actually about 880, after I figured out the weight of the trailer) doesn't worry me too much..towing in and of itself doesn't scare me, I've been towing racecars & bikes pretty much as long as I've been driving..I was just wondering if there was anything special to worry about with the Soobs. (and fishing for a used hitch a little, too.)

:-p

Sounds like it'll be fine..I'll let y'all know wha' hoppens after the first trip, assuming I survive it.

[Tom63050]

I hauled a trailer weighing at least 1300 lbs cross country in the winter. The northern route. I also had myself, 2 big dogs and a packed (500 lbs?) That was in an 86 GL carbed D/R. With 250,000 miles! It did fine. I had it for 25,000 more miles before and after that, then sold it as a winter/second car to a young couple with a brand new Forrester. That was an Oregon car, ie no rust. The couple couldn't believe it was an 86 and had 277,000 miles when I sold it. You don't see ANY 86 anything here in Wisconsin ussually. Let alone with zero rust.

 

I second this! Go for it. My situation: 91 Loyale 4WD 5-speed wagon. Trailer, trailer load, and car load equaled 2000 lbs. Drove from Oregon to Virginia, no problems. Important to have the tongue weight right, so it handles OK. Max tongue weight is 200 lbs. My rule of thumb is, if picking up the tongue feels like a heavy toolbox and I can do it with one hand, or just barely need two, then the load balance is about right

 

Trailer hitch was a Dalan, model # 217367. Might be different for a GL, due to different bumper.

[kiwi subbie]

i used 2 tow heaps with my lil 88DL 1600 fwd wagon and used to go real long hilly distances. used 2 tow dead cars with an heavy unsprung race car trailer

[DaveT]

Here is my hitch:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/hitch.html

 

(designed & built about 15 years ago)

[ZRX Doug]

Oddly enough, I now have complete confidence in Sue..a friend moved out of state and left all his Mopar stuff behind..he knew I was into the same things, so when his ex-landlord told him he was gonna toss all the junk in the garage out, Tom told me to head over and grab what I wanted..

I went by today, and "what I wanted" turned out to be 990 pounds of landscaping pavers (bricks)..The soob made the 20-odd mile round trip with the full load in style..didn't give me any grief stopping at all, though she did tend to wallow a tad in the curves.

She's going back tomorrow to do the same thing with a load of cinder blocks and a complete 318 engine..if the car survives this torture, there's no way my measly little 900lb trailer with it's 150lb or so tongue weight is gonna bug it.

[MilesFox]

you should be able to tow 1000-2000 lbs no problem with you r soob. especially being a manual, especially since it has lo range

 

i have towed 3500 and 4000lbs cross states with my sedan. its a little tough getting going towing another soob up a hill in chicago rush hour bit lo range will save the day in that situation

 

towing a motorcycle will be no chore for the soob

 

if you really got heavy into towing you can remove the rear half of the driveshaft to use lo range all the time or better yet convert to rear drive with lo range for towing

 

i work at u-haul and the last time i checked there was a subaru gl hitch in the detroit area, its one for he more expensive hitches but the price is including the labor. call your local u-haul and get the retail price of the hitch itself or availability. ask for the employee discount even

 

you can buy the hitch outright and if you haggle you may be able to pick it up for right around 150 bucks

 

the wiring you will need would be one of the converter boxes they sell at u-haul the part number is 13486 and the price is $16.95

[flight_of_pain]

i have used the brat to tow countless other scoobs, several rx7s, and the most recent was an mx63 toyota cressida(door tag said 3214lbs lol). so i know from experience that ea81s will tow quite a bit.

 

isaac

[TahoeFerrari]

I agree with what has been said about 2" receiver and rear discs.

 

I don't know of any retail hitches for Loyales. I welded my own and used .25" x 2.5" angle iron at the ends so that I could bolt it on where the tie down loops are after redirected the tail pipe out to the side. I got longer flange bolts so I could retain the tiedown loops on top of the angles used to mount the hitch. If you replace the bolts be sure they are of equal hardness to the originals. I think that under normal circumstances (no shock loads), the structure is strong enough as long as it is rust free.

 

I regularly load about 1000# of engines, trans, etc. in the back of my '89 spfi d/r wagon and have no real problems running around - it averages about 6000' above sea level here so I've effectly only got about 70 hp - except on long hills where I often have to run in 3rd gear at about 35-40 mph or sometimes less. I also tow a 1200# trailer with the same results (although usually with a light load in the wagon). I've never had any problems getting going, but I've never really had to go from a dead stop on a steep hill. I also try to keep the combined weight of the wagon and trailer below about 4500# - which is about 700# (or 20%) over the rated max for the wagon.

 

I can't stress the importance of getting the rear discs - it really makes a difference on when it matters most - like on a long down hill with a lot of weight. I originally had drums, but they just didn't do much at all. You probably won't notice much difference on a normal stop, but under hard braking the difference is very noticeable.

 

All in all, pay attention to what you are doing and drive carefully you should be fine.

[Gloyale]

Here is my hitch:

 

http://home.comcast.net/~davidtief/hitch.html

 

(designed & built about 15 years ago)

 

I did a design very similar when I built my hitch. I made a full *box* out of angle iron to fit inside the cargo box. I then bolted the hitch from underneath to the *box*. I like this design better than just bolting to the recovery hook area, spreads the load alot and it would be almost impossible for it to rip out. It also makes a anti crumple zone in the back, keeps the floor from being crushed into the gastank in a rear ender.

I have seen ready made hitches for Loyales/GLs. I have one on my 89 Turbo. It mounts to the recovery hook area and then has a brace that goes further up the *frame* rail and bolts in again. I saw a rusty GL hulk being hauled onto a flatbed by the recovery hooks. They ripped and gave out about half way up the ramp. If your car is rusty I wouldn't mount soley to them. My car is not even slightly rusty, but I want to ditch it and go back to my custom hitch setup.

Stay away from the hitches that use the bumper as part of the structure.

(1-1/4 inch reciever) I've seen a friend with one of those hithces on his 88 DL. Bumper started sagging and pointing towards the ground after a few moderately heavy(1200 lbs) loads.

[Tom63050]

Stay away from the hitches that use the bumper as part of the structure. (1-1/4 inch reciever) I've seen a friend with one of those hithces on his 88 DL. Bumper started sagging and pointing towards the ground after a few moderately heavy(1200 lbs) loads.

 

My Dalan hitch mounts to the frame & bumper, and it carried a 2000-lb load. The problem is not the amount of total weight, but the tongue weight being too high. If you balance your load for a moderate tongue weight, say 50-100 lbs, no problems.

[Gloyale]

My Dalan hitch mounts to the frame & bumper, and it carried a 2000-lb load. The problem is not the amount of total weight, but the tongue weight being too high. If you balance your load for a moderate tongue weight, say 50-100 lbs, no problems.

 

Subaru bumpers are made of stamped sheetmetal. And have you ever pulled the skin off one? Even in *rust free* areas like Oregon or Cali, they get rusty and fall apart from the inside.(because the foam attracts and holds moisture. I never want my bumper to be part of the frame for a hitch. They just are not made for it. even with moderate tongue load, all it would take is one big bump to momentarily overload the bumper and tweak it. I just don't trust that type of set up

[moosens]

It's almost time for me to start dragging my streetbike to the race track, and for the first time ever I'm without a pickup truck to toss the motorcycle in..

I've got a light trailer (figure right around 1,000 lbs loaded), but I've never used my Sube to tow with..it's an '89 GL wagon with D/R, seems plenty capable of handling this amount of weight..brakes, tires, suspension are all in good shape.

I guess what I'm asking is have any of you guys encountered any particular problems towing with these cars? Oh yeah, I'm also trying to find a used hitch before I end up building one, posted on the "stuff wanted" page.

(Sneaky way to get more attention for the want ad, huh?)

 

 

Good man!! Hope you do well on the track.

 

 

 

...just saw the post before mine,and yes,you want something fastened to the unibody structure,not just bumpers.Amen!

 

Can't say much for the EA82 cars but we used an '84 GL wagon to tow dolley an '82 GLF back from Rochester NY to Danbury CT through the mountains.Scary at times but we made it and the engine never got hot.I don't see a real problem with racebikes and a small trailer.Used to see plenty of CCS racers doing it with smaller vehicles-non truck.

[Tom63050]

Subaru bumpers are made of stamped sheetmetal. And have you ever pulled the skin off one? Even in *rust free* areas like Oregon or Cali, they get rusty and fall apart from the inside.(because the foam attracts and holds moisture. I never want my bumper to be part of the frame for a hitch. They just are not made for it. even with moderate tongue load, all it would take is one big bump to momentarily overload the bumper and tweak it. I just don't trust that type of set up

 

That's a good point. Maybe I just got lucky then. I would not be surprised to hear that people had bumper failures when a hitch was bolted to it.

 

My Loyale spent 15 years of its life in northern Virginia, where they salt the roads when it snows, I had to buy a new wagon tailgate latch from Moosens when I first got it because it broke from being rusted through. But I was still able to pull a maxed-out load for approx 4000 miles.