Towing a U-Haul trailer
 

I know this is a bad idea. But has anyone ever done it before? I might have to move out of state and it’s an option I may consider to do. U-Haul sells and installs a tow hitch for a RX-8.

that hitch is for light loads, the RX-8 is not rated to tow and their trailers are very heavy so they likely won't rent you a trailer to tow behind the RX-8 even if they install the hitch. They will let you rent a box truck with a hitch for your belongings and a car trailer to tow the RX-8 behind it

+1

Putting a hitch on an rx-8 is like putting a hitch on a Ferrari. Grounds for execution lol.

I wouldn't tow anything with my rx8. I don't think it has a lot of torque to tow a heavy load or anything less than that. If i were you, i'll say no.

Under towing in my manual it says this.

The Mazda RX-8 is not designed for towing. Never tow a trailer with your Mazda RX-8.

Seems like it would be pretty hard on the car/transmission to me. Just do as someone else suggested, rent the box truck and then rent the trailer for your car that the truck tows. Just triple check it because it can look like the car is attached to it properly and it may not be.

if you do it, post pics lol

I tow a trailer to every track event - sometimes for hundreds of miles at a time.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1303890549

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1303890568

There's about 700 pounds of stuff on that trailer (not including the trailer itself) - two full sets of wheels and tires, 10 gallons of fuel, a complete set of brakes and rotors, my full tool kit, a steel Harbor Freight floor jack, a compressed air canister, a spare for the trailer, an Easy-Up canopy, cones, oils, water, etc.

I was going to mention that people have towed tires and such to track events, but didn't realize someone carried that much stuff...

It still depends on how much you're looking at towing. It would still probably be better if you didn't tow with the 8 unless you absolutely needed to.

MM you certainly CAN tow with it, but the smallest trailer uhaul offers is 45 cubic feet and its almost 600 pounds. Cant carry very much inside it. You go about a step up to the 142 cubic foot trailer and its nearly 900 pounds empty. The OP is talking about moving out of state so I imagine he would be wanting a bigger trailer than even the 142 cubic foot one. If you include all the crap he probably owns you might be talking easily over 2500-3000 pounds including the trailer.

I just cant see towing that much being a good thing, that would be like towing another rx8 behind you.

700 lbs is nothing. That's like taking 3 adult men in the car with you. I wouldn't technically call that towing.
Rent a truck and put the car on a trailer behind it. Will be more expensive but money is just money ;) the pics of an 8 with a U-Haul behind it last forever.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...1&d=1303890549

Sea Otter Classic?! No way!!!!

http://i.buyoly.com/berkeley-otter-lg.jpg

Don't forget, the car doesn't see the weight you are towing. It is over the wheels of the trailer. The car only sees 60 pounds or so if you load it correctly. The only time the mass of the trailer is presented to the car is during initial acceleration and braking.
When you are at a steady state on the highway, ONE adult male in the car is way more impactful on the car than 1700 pounds of trailer and payload.

Haha thats crazy !!!

Sure if you live in Nebraska lol where the interstate is 400 miles of flat turnless bore... but as soon as there's hills and mountains involved that weight is present.

Nope. You are just adding throttle to move it. But it does not weigh the chassis any more, no matter how great the grade.
Now, having enough power to move the increased mass is another thing, but that is why interstates are limited to something like a 16% grade or less.

What everyone is worrying about is the stress on the chassis. You said it yourself when you tried to equate an increased passenger load to the weight of the trailer. This is not the same thing as the power required to move an increased mass.

I've pulled that 1700+ pounds of trailer through hundreds of miles of mountain twisties and crossings at 70+ MPH and you wouldn't even know it was there.

The manual also says to use Premum gasoline and to not use synthetic oil.

I'd worry about the stress on the tow hitch mounting points. I'd be leery about getting a hitch installed at a random U-haul location. The last time I towed a trailer, the guys at U-haul just clamped a hitch to the back bumper of my '53 Chevy. Fine then, but it seems that a bit more skill is needed for a modern unit body car whose manufacturer does not endorse towing.

Can you say something about your hitch and how it's attached?

Ken

Actually, I don't believe that is entirely accurate.

You are forgetting about the extra loading that happens with the wind resistance that the trailer sees at varying speeds. This changes greatly with the type of trailer used, and the shape of the load.

A 5'x8' box trailer is going to have a lot more loading from wind resistance, than say a small 4'x4' open trailer carrying a kids dirtbike. Especially if there are cross winds, putting a different strain on the trailer, and that loads the chassis in a sideways direction.

That wind resistance loading force gets placed directly on the trailer hitch ball, which goes into the mounting points for the receiver.

Now here's a quick question on this topic -

Does anyone know if the Series 1 trailer hitch would fit the Series 2 cars?
My search-fu hasn't brought up that answer as of yet, and I've been trying.
Nothing that I found seems to indicate that the mounting points on the trunk pan are any different, but there were slight changes to the bumper, so I just don't know if it will fit.

BC.

Whole different ballgame.

U-Haul, in your case, mounted a universal bumper mount trailer hitch on your 53 Chevy. In the case of the R8, they would mount a trailer hitch designed specifically around the trunk pan of the RX8.

Here's a link to the mounting instructions for the trailer hitch, and it includes an image of how it mounts:

http://www.etrailer.com/instructions.aspx?pn=11472

Hope that clarifies it a bit for you.

BC.

FWIW I use the same trailer as MM does for 3 years now going to the track with zero problems. As for towing a u-haul trailer? I'd say no thank you. :)

I doubt it is going to damage your car towing 500-1k lbs like someone in this thread but the OP is talking about getting a 900lb trailer and loading it with all his possessions in order to move. The RX8 is not designed for that type of use. You would put a lot of added strain on the entire drive train that it was never designed to endure. If you have to go up and down hills or mountains during the move it would destroy the car.


Also you may have trouble getting your car fixed under warranty if something does go wrong. It does say in the manual never to tow anything with the car, so I can see a dealer not wanting to honor your transmission breaking from towing a trailer.

Thanks! I have no plans to pull a trailer myself, but it's nice to see how this stuff is done.

An image has suddenly popped into my head...a field in the middle of nowhere, with mountain of clamp-on trailer hitches, all made obsolete by modern bumpers. Kind of like the capsule dump in "Lost."

Ken

Bullshit.

I've towed an entire other car with mine. It was, just like the trailer, a non-event.


Only in the North American manual.
The European manual has towing guidelines and a hitch was an option at the dealerships there.

Probably because we're all fatties here.

lol ok.

The Mazda CX-9 (there biggest SUV) is only rated to tow 3500lbs but you think doing that with a sports car with no torque is a good idea?