I gave up on putting a trailer on the Crossfire, and I just securred a Chrysler Town and Country (and a hitch), I can rent a triler from U-Haul for $60 / day. So that I can put the Crossfire on a trailer. This will allow me to bring more than just 2 people. This will also have the added effect of keeping the mileage down on the Crossfire.

But I have some questions...Before I can rent a trailer, the hitch needs to be inspected for loading. The van has a 5500lb towing Cap, and I am getting a 5000lb hitch with a 3000lb ball weight cap. This is what I calculated will tow the crossfire (and the trailer). I know that this hitch (pictured above) was designed for towing a small trailer with spare rubber and tools for the purposes of going to the track, but have you calculated the towing capacity of the crossfire, the hitch and the ball? and if so, can you please post that info.

The hitch looks good, any pics with the trailer, and how well did it work?

 

Did you look into buying your own trailer or even a used UHAUL one? Figure how many times you will rent it a year and how long before you could have bought one or paid one off. Just something to look into since you now have the van and are getting the proper hitch setup.

 

I would love to have it available all of the time, but I have no place to store it when I am not using it. It will cost me double at Carlisle next year though, unless I just drive off the trailer at the hotel, but I may want to show tha van too =)

I should show all 3:

 

I think he likes blue...and I am in the market for a trailer, new ones are too expensive right now...

 

LOL ya think!

 

car tow dolly,,,jim some times u haul sells them.

TRAILER SUPERSTORE! Tow Dolly, Tow Dollies for Sale, Master Tow

 

I probably have the room to store the dolly but they do not reccomend them for rear wheel drive vehicles. The Chrysler manual reccomends a flatbed tow, so that is what I am going with.

Funny thing when you go to U-haul.com to order these, and you select the ytpe of vehicle pulling, there is no problem, and then select the type of vehicle you are putting on the trailer, Crossfire is not an option. I had to select a Merc. SLK 350.

I haven't called them on that yet =)

 

If you had a trailer dolly you could store it upright (i.e. the tongue up against a outside or inside wall). I still say $60 is steep for a day trip! I say you look on craigslist or other used market. A dolly would be much more compact. Although my qualm with those are if our Crossfires read the millage from the rear, we are racking up "body miles" not engine, but still would register on the odometer.

I am also discouraged with putting the double receiver on the underside of my car. Didn't realize at first when I was all amped about it I'd have to drill into my trunk... I'd rather do something that was an external weld and non-obtrusive/invasive to the rust/body integrity! I haven't gotten the chance to really examine the undercarriage. Only going by what others have already completed.

Anyone find a non-invasive method for attaching dual receivers to our undercarriage? Man--I am really about to buy another pick-up truck (used to have one), but frankly I don't want to pay the insurance which is really the killer. Gas aside.

 

If the ignition key isn't in the "On" position, I don't think there would be any mileage adding up on the odometer.
Besides, everytime I use a "Dolly" to tow a rear wheel drive car, I usually disconnect the driveshaft.
The Crossfire would tow just fine on a dolly, it's a pretty light car. The owners manual tells you a lot of things not to do, that you can still get away with, with no problem. Chrysler is just looking out for their own "butts" some of the time. For instance, if you towed an automatic on a dolly, and just put the car in neautral, it would damage the tranny, but a manual would be fine. That's why I drop the drive shaft.
I'm with Jim (AMX1397) on this one.

 

OK, That's fine, I have an autostick (that's an automatic), and I do not want to fool with parts that are under warranty in the field. I also don't like the forces that the dolly puts on the car, unless they are the center swivel type, and most are not. they can put a nasty side force on the suspension.

I will stick with renting a flatbed. I could probably rent it for a day to drive out there, return it there, drive around, and then rent it a day to drive back if I was really into saving money, but that might be a bother at the Dragon, besides if anyone broke down I could rescue them.

 

Scott, for the record, My Nephew and I use to have a used car lot, and we would travel to Florida and bring vehicles back to OHIO, sometimes using a bumper mounted "tow bar" and more times than I can remember with a tow dolly. Every tow dolly we ever rented, swiveled, and we NEVER had any problems with them.
I honestly have no idea of what you're talking about when you mentioned "nasty side forces".
Disconnecting the drive shaft is usually a very easy thing to do, but truth be told, I've never even looked at what it would take to do so on the Crossfire.
I only suggested the tow dolly as a cost saver over "renting" a trailer.
This probably won't thrill you either, but speaking as a "used car salesman" I would never suggest using a front driver Chrysler Mini Van as a tow vehicle for anything of much weight. Their 4 speed automatic trannys are notorious for failing. Just be sure you change the tranny fluid often, and only use Mopar fluid and you should be OK.
But good luck to ya in what ever you decide to do.

 

if I was going to tow my xfire i would tow it backwards back wheels not rolling, when you tow a front wheel drive car you put the front wheels on the dolly,,, I have towed a rear wheel drive car backwards lock and tie the steering wheel, beleave it or not, the hard part is getting the rear wheel drive car on the dolly. I have also towed a RWD car foward ,,front wheels up auto tranny ,nothing disconnected,, just go a little slower under 55 mph, that is the older cars,, not a new one with the computer running everything, may try it soon with the xfire, we'll see. jim

 

The trailer works great. No problem with the load. I limit my total to under 500lbs; 4 tires, jack, tools, chair and trailer.
Heres a photo.

 

What kind of cars were you towing? A high performance sports car like the crossfire needs special care on the transmission and suspension when towing, I am sure with special care it is possible to safely tow a crossfire with a dolly, but I am not going to do it.

The side force are delivered to the wheels on the dolly in a turn situation, I can describe it on paper, but not in the forum. For that reason alone they are shunned by sports car enthusiasts, and most manufacturers require a flatbed tow. Cutting corners here to save a buck is the wrong place to do it.

This is my 3rd Mini-van, I have had remarkably good luck with them over the years, each one has gone over 200,000 miles, and I have only replaced 1 tranny. I got the van with the towing package, the bigger engine, 5 speed tranny, etc... That should do the the trick for the 2-3 times a year I am going to do this. Heck the PT Cruiser would tow the crossfire, it's the trailer that weighs more than the car. The towing capacity is 5500lbs, the hitch capacity is 3500lbs, and the ball is 3000lbs. The first number is pulling cap. the second revers to the maximum tongue weight (downward force on the hitch), and the third refers to the total force on the ball. According to u-Haul, more than enough for the trailer and a Mecrcedes SLK350 (same car I think - LOL)

I will add a tranny fluid cooler as soon as I get the bank account out of the iron lung - LOL

 

I have towed cars with bumper hitches that was rated 3000 lbs , tounge weight 200lbs yet the car weighted 3000 and the trailer 1800 but if you know what you are doing it can happen ,, i did this every week for 8 years going to tracks across the U.S. in your case maybe you should get a 1 ton dually truck with 20,00 towing cap. and do your thing. I also have towed about 50 cars front and rear dr with a tow dolly the only thing you have to be good at is backing up.. doing that with a dolly takes practice and then you still do it wrong, backing up with a tow dolly is hard to do. good luck with your towing of your crossfire , also be sure to inform us what and how you did jim.

 

So did anyone ever come up with a for-sale solution for a hitch?

 

Ditto. Still leaning toward doing this mod!

 

Digging up an old thread, but if anybody is planning a trip to Canada, might be worth a visit to this dude:

Getting hitched in London, Ont. - Arts & Culture - Macleans.ca

 

Great article. I wonder what he charges for his custom hitches...

 

Thanks for the lead!