What do you tow your Mac with?

[MacNCheese]

We pulled the 26D to in front of our house. Parked on the street and unhooked the truck while doing some maintenance...

My son and I heard a noise as we were setting up a pressure washer - and when we turned around... the 26D and trailer were rolling down the street.

There is almost NO grade on the street... a basketball or other balls will not roll on it... There was just enough of a slope to get the water to run off..... "Whoa....."
Doesn't take much to get it started.. stopping is a good deal more interesting, I think...
--jerry

Whoa, that was close!
I use a 2003 Nissan Xterra v6 4x4 for towing my Mac 26D, and it works fine. This is one of the few v6's in it's class to be on a ladder truck frame and has a 5000 lb towing capacity.

I've had a similar experience when I just had to tow my boat 40 feet to a different parking spot. I figured nothing could go wrong in 40 feet so I didn't bother to hook up the backup chains or to even turn the front wheel to it's sideways position (I did crank the front wheel up all the way, just didn't turn it sideways).

Half way to the new spot, I forgot about the speedbump and when I hit it too fast I heard a terrible "pop", and saw my boat lurching to port and just about crashing on the ground before the momentum caused it to right itself. Next thing I saw was the boat passing me on the right before it came to a stop just in front of a fire hydrant.

 

[Mac]

Anyone

use a Jeep? I have a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo six cyl. with a 3.7 motor. It has the electric shift 5 speed. I installed a trailer hitch on it this fall and want to try and tow my Mac 25 down to Maryland. At the present time I use a 1996 Chevy 1500 4x4 and it pulls it great! Not sure if I want to use the Chevy to go that far. At present I only tow it to and from the lake 45 miles away twice per season.

 

[Quebec1]

As sacrilegious as this sounds, I have enjoyed thousands of, 2 fingers on the wheel, miles of smooth driving with my 17 year old Buick.

The secret of my success. A heavy front wheel drive Buick with a Wiiide wheel base and a low profile with an indestructible and economical 380 V6 by GM , new cargo coils on the back, new shocks all around, a transmission cooler, type 3 hitch. Special load Cargo tires,surge brakes and bearing buddies on the trailer. I check my tires and the temperature of my trailer hubs every time I stop for gas, I maintain a correct weight on my hitch (300-350lbs), I do not strap the aft end of the boat to the trailer to reduce the stress on the tires when I am on bumpy roads. I rarely drive faster than 60 miles an hour and I always drive in 3rd gear. I carry a spare and an old fashioned wheel nut wrench for the trailer tires.

 

[doehunter]

As sacrilegious as this sounds, I have enjoyed thousands of, 2 fingers on the wheel, miles of smooth driving with my 17 year old Buick.


The secret of my success. A heavy front wheel drive Buick with a Wiiide wheel base and a low profile with an indestructible and economical 380 V6 by GM , new cargo coils on the back, new shocks all around, a transmission cooler, type 3 hitch. Special load Cargo tires,surge brakes and bearing buddies on the trailer. I check my tires and the temperature of my trailer hubs every time I stop for gas, I maintain a correct weight on my hitch (300-350lbs), I do not strap the aft end of the boat to the trailer to reduce the stress on the tires when I am on bumpy roads. I rarely drive faster than 60 miles an hour and I always drive in 3rd gear. I carry a spare and an old fashioned wheel nut wrench for the trailer tires.

I can tell you need help. I can save you from your evil ways.
I have a classic 26s and an Explorer. I would trade in a heartbeat!
That way you could live with yourself!
Good looking rig.
Jim

 

[Timo42]

As sacrilegious as this sounds, I have enjoyed thousands of, 2 fingers on the wheel, miles of smooth driving with my 17 year old Buick.

The secret of my success. A heavy front wheel drive Buick with a Wiiide wheel base and a low profile with an indestructible and economical 380 V6 by GM , new cargo coils on the back, new shocks all around, a transmission cooler, type 3 hitch. Special load Cargo tires,surge brakes and bearing buddies on the trailer. I check my tires and the temperature of my trailer hubs every time I stop for gas, I maintain a correct weight on my hitch (300-350lbs), I do not strap the aft end of the boat to the trailer to reduce the stress on the tires when I am on bumpy roads. I rarely drive faster than 60 miles an hour and I always drive in 3rd gear. I carry a spare and an old fashioned wheel nut wrench for the trailer tires.

How do you figure this helps? All you are doing is beating up the hull, and creating a potential for the boat to come off the trailer if the bow eye or tie fails. The tires are carrying the same weight whether the boat is strapped down or not. Not trying to start a fight, but that's a safety issue.

 

[BrokeNotBroken]

Although I haven't towed any long distances, I have had no issues with my setup so far. The only concern for me is making sure I can keep my generator on the van (It's a Class B RV) out of the water when launching as it is located behind the left rear wheel.

 

[monkeybars]

note to self, if you see an old brown car towing a bouncing blue Mac, get to hell around it and put as much space between us as possible before he kills himself and anyone else around.

 

[larizon]

I have the same size mack and was pulling it with a 2wd jeep Cherokee fine but it would get a litttle scary over 60 mph! Mine has almost no tongue weight

 

[Doug J]

I used to tow my 26S with a 91' Ford Aerostar, with a 4.0 V6. It had plenty of power. The problem was the factory trailer, single axle no brakes.

Now I tow with a 2001 Ford Expedition, with a 5.4 V8. Real nice towing with my re-built dual axle trailer with disc brakes.

 

[Quebec1]

note to self, if you see an old brown car towing a bouncing blue Mac, get to hell around it and put as much space between us as possible before he kills himself and anyone else around.

 

[abruzzi]

I tow with an old Toyota Landcruiser FJ55. I don't have a picture of mine, but it looks something like this:

Four wheel drive low made pulling out of the ramp really easy.

Geof

 

[Propnut30]

My tow vehicle is a 2008 Tacoma Double cab 4X4. It works great unless the guy in front of you makes a surprise stop. I have trailer brakes in my man cave waitin to be put on.