Tow vehicle, Honda Civic?

[glenn9171]

It may mess up your clutch, but if the suspension is taking a beating, then you are not distributing the weight properly.  With only a GS and a few supplies on a small trailer like he described, he should not have more than about 30-50 pounds of tongue weight on the suspension.  Less than the equivalent of carrying a person around in the back seat.  

I have a '95 Nissan pickup with the 2.0L 4 cylinder and 5-speed manual transmission.  Several times I pulled a 16' tandem axle trailer with four 4-wheelers (Honda Recon, Yamaha Banshee and Warrior, and a Kawasaki Bayou 220) on it 3 hours each way to Camp Claiborne.  Properly loaded the truck did not squat in the rear.  It pulled them adequately, though it did not stop worth a damn.   The truck is rated at 134HP.  190,000 miles on it so far and no clutch/transmission trouble as of yet.  

A Civic with a manual transmission should pull a single GS on a small trailer without problems.  Just don't fry the clutch and allow room for braking.  It's no worse than carrying 3 adults inside the car.  Keep the load balanced and all should be fine.  Anyway, its to track days.  Not every day use.

[yamahonkawazuki]

hey glenn9171, i thought the nissan p'ups of those years had the 2.4's, sorry didnt mean to nit-pick , my hardbody did, pulling a 12 footer w/ lawn equip. on it. youre right 'bout the brakes though, mine 87, was doin same thing, till master cyl quit. had to remember to pump pedal to stop :x  :x  my frontiers a little better. as far as the civic goes, id try it, on the flats first and see how it handles, but it wasnt designed to tow, really, it may have a rating, but... so does a volkswagen beetle. (my '73 did anyhoo), it wouldnt pull worth shiz civic probably would do better, but id be careful

[Lars]

I really don't see what the problem is. Here in Europe these cars are used to pull much heavier loads like caravans. 110 BHP is easily enough to pull a trailer with only a GS on it, even through the mountains. If you have a good trailer, it will have brakes on it (like any caravan also has) so you won't have problems with the brakes of your car, unless you are braking all the time when going downhill. (use engine braking instead).

I also don't see why you should have problems with the clutch. If you use 1st gear when accelarating from a stop, you'll barely need to slip the clutch. When you select 2nd gear, don't press the accelerator fully until the clutch has completely been let out. A proper clutch won't slip even under heavy loads. Remember to keep the engine in the powerband, don't shift before 4000-5000 rpm.

We have used an old Honda civic with a small 1.3 L engine (probably no more than 75 HP) to tow about 800 kg's of sand, about the same as the car's own weight. It wasn't faster than a truck, it didn't brake too well, but it worked. And it certainly didn't damage the clutch.  (We sold the car with 170.000 km's on it and it still had the original clutch)

[danci1973]

I have a 2.0 Subaru Legacy and I've used it to tow a horse-transporter with two horses - up to 1600kg! It wasn't a picnic, but it's possible and the clutch is still OK (over 90000km and two years of towing the horse thing). I guess I'm a clutch-ninja. :nana:

Small loads like a single bike should be no problem at all even for a torque-poor Civic. After all, a trailer + a GS + some accessories is not much more than 4 big people.

  D.

[ScottWV]

Here's the solution:

[GRU]

hhahah he saved the money for the trailer and bought a roof rack

[JamesG]

Aw man!  I've been looking for that pic all week!

:nana:

[ScottWV]

Aw man!  I've been looking for that pic all week!

:nana:

Yea, as soon as I read the topic I started searching my hard drive!  :lol:  

[Blueknyt]

Hey works for me, but, got to be alittle un nerving to ride up that ramp for first few times getting it up there. Bet the drive throughs are alittle tight

[BigRedMonkeyButt]

I towed tons of heavy stuff with my 110hp Ford Ranger.
Of course, trucks are made for hauling, but Ive drug cars (my Baja Bug), huge trailers full of stuff, and more for hundreds of miles, and it still runs perfect.  

I bet he wouldnt have any problems.  Just be careful.

[TheGoodGuy]

guess who is planning to take his focus SPI for a tow session up and down the state.

My friends want to get a bike and now its upto my car to do it.. i got ot get a hitch installed and get other things done.. either case.. i think any help from you guys with regards to how to set up the tounge weight would be good.

Manjul

[wiggy]

HI,

I have a Honda Civic. It will tow your bike no probs:0)

[GRU]

for towing you need torque...hp isn't a factor unless you wanna get up to speed with a trailer...