Trailer question: What is too big for my car?

[MissTwisties]

Well most of the time it will be only my bike (EX500) and my mountain bike, extra gas. In my trunk I put my bag of clothes and gear. In my car I put my cooler in front of the passenger seat so it's easy access while I drive.

I was thinking if I have osmeone else traveling with me from time to time and they want to bring their bike, you double most of the stuff, and their bike will most likely be heavier than mine to start with...

I was thinking of an ALL aluminium trailer but they are very EXPENSIVE!!

[BCT748]

Check out the uhaul glossary link i posted above, I found that helpful.

so I assume I'm using that term correctly

Looks like you are right, just sounded funny to me.

[butcher bergs]

While we all can agree that your trans is the weak point, the ways you can avoid over heating the fluid is by not creating hard shifts in addition to attempting to maintain a certain speed by dipping into the throttle harder. That right there is enough to kill your gearbox.

When I was driving trucks, the key thing I learned was to use the down hills to gather speed in order to get ready for the following uphill. On some occasions during the uphills, I'd lose up to 20+ mph in order to avoid taxing the trans and/or revving the engine to the moon....of course this is a discretionary suggestion so use your best judgement based on circumstances.

Your best best, if you're going to use your car, is to keep every input as "soft" as possible.......and stay away from the enclosed units in this case.

My .02

[SVRACER01]

my car doesnt have a "transmission" per say

[Kurlon]

my car doesnt have a "transmission" per say

[TheIglu]

I pulled my ZRX and an SV 650 to North Carolina and back using my Saab 9-3. Wouldn't of tried that in an automatic, but it can be done with a small car.

[Trouble]

My co-worker has a Ford Focus and a little all aluminum trailer made by Thule that he has pulled quite a bit. Three of them took the car, three bicycles, and their gear out to the midwest this summer. The trailer is super light and has a vee nose so it probably doesn't offer as much wind resistance. It could easily hold a motorcycle.

If it was my car and I was taking it to the track I'd end up overloading it I'm sure. Even if you put most of your gear in the car you are still stressing the tranny, suspension, brakes, etc.

[daviid]

i believe jamie pulled 2 bikes down to VIR with his hyundai a few years back. open trailer and all the gear. so you should be fine

[MissTwisties]

i believe jamie pulled 2 bikes down to VIR with his hyundai a few years back. open trailer and all the gear. so you should be fine

Oh I already done it for LAPS track day....but had one of those ugly Uhaul open trailer with ramp. Had my bike, mountain bike, extra tank of gas on it. All my gear, cooler and personal stuff was in the car. I was rolling between 70-80 miles the whole way, taking it easier on up hills.

[SVRACER01]

CVT.