Tow hitch on a sedan?

#31

Looking up "Towing" in the 1983 Owners Manual, it talks about how to tow the vehicle, not how the vehicle can tow anything else.

Anybody else find towing information from Nissan for the Gen1 Maxima?

#32

oh, ahaha yea your right, I remember the car stating a very low weight rating somewhere, oh well. Ill scroll thru the FSM and see if I saw it in there or somethin

#33

I towed my maxima on a tow dolly with my 280zx turbo.

#34

I towed my '59 Cadillac Eldorado/Seville behind my '73 Volvo 145, 1600 miles -- but I was 18 and stupid and certainly am not bragging about it.

#35

If you don't try to stop and turn at the same time....no trouble.

#36

I did that stupid run in late January, and went over mount Shasta in the dark in the snow -- I-5 was not in the wonderful shape it is now, back then. Blew a rear tire on the Cadillac, dragged it more miles before honking horns of passing cars finally registered that something was wrong. Destroyed the rim, but I had a spare. Could not tell that there was a blown tire when towing in the snow in the dark. Scary.

Going up I-5 out of LA, in the truck shoulder, foot on the floor, 1st gear, eight miles per hour flat out for mile after mile. If the engine had burped, they would have had to tow me off that mountain: I would not have been able to slip the clutch enough to get started again.

I was very stupid when I was 18.

#37

I have seen trailer frames break. Both pieces of channel that formed the A frame for the coupler had cracked through the bottom flange and the web. The top flange was all that was keeping things together.

I have also seen a torsion bar axle snap. Tire, wheel, hub, spindle, and arm went rocketing off the road as an assembly. Thankfully, it didn't head into the other lanes of traffic.

Sent a full size station wagon to the scrapper after too much towing of too much weight. It had 4 link rear suspension, and the frame failed at one of the lower arm mounts.

Catastrophic tire failure without warning? You bet, it happens. So do flaming wheel bearings.

I am very conservative about what I tow anymore. Too many close calls, near misses, and breakdowns on the side of the road.

#38

I did, and I jackknifed a ranger. Result of my ignorance, overloading, and excessive speed on a off ramp. I am surprised I didnt eat dirt hard, bumper, tailgate and bed damage. Surprisingly nothing separated, trust me, its the ride of your life. After that I just wont tow with excessive weight or speed anymore

On another note, im planning on redoing my bumper and hitch, Im considering dropping the tank and utilizing the structural boxes that run under the floor pan with some angle iron, over to the hitch, and have the bumper mounted onto that assy. Also, another incentive is I also have to replace the fuel hoses from the rail/tank, and also I might need to get the grunge out of the tank and replace the sock. Probably gonna wait till the summer though, I wanna get the other things out of the way first, like the actual problems with the car.

Going up I-5 out of LA, in the truck shoulder, foot on the floor, 1st gear, eight miles per hour flat out for mile after mile.

dang, thats plum crazy!

#39

Rather than bore anyone with my stories of graduations from the College of Hard Knocks...
1)As a general statement wheelbase is your friend, the longer the better (tow vehicle) longer trailer also.

2)Better to have too much Tongue weight than not enough.

3)Use your trailer brakes to "straighten out" your rig, rather than to jam on the tow vehicle brakes and help a jackknife into fruition.

4)Speed magnifies your actions. You can't stick your head into a lion's mouth forever without getting a few tooth markes on your neck, someday. Everyone has already heard about speeding...

5)Overloading. Clint Eastwood says "Know your limitations"

6)Equipment and tires in good condition. If you think a cop might pull you over, well you might be right?

Don't forget that common sense is uncommon.

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Tow hitch on a sedan?

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