- posted
18 years ago
I put a hitch on my tri-power 69 427 and towed a small trailer from St. Louis to Ft. Lauderdale, about 980 miles. It had new front tires put on the day before I left. By time I got back the tires were about shot. Somehow the added weight in the rear screwed up the front end alignment?? The trailer had two motorcycles on it. One funny thing, on the way there the engine just quit. Was going down the highway about 75 MPH and it just went dead. I pulled off the road and coasted to a stop right in front of Honest Charlie's Speed Shop of all places. The rotor punctured and it took all of 15 minutes to find it and fix it.
Al
Dad, I had alway heard that towing was not good for the rear differential. it that a myth or something? would a hitch hurt my 84 - c4 ? Would it mess with the line up, like Big Al has stated ? Really would like to know the facts..
g'day
The rear end problem was real with '63 to '79. I'm not sure if the aluminum rear in '80-82 had this same problem but it may have.
The problem is that one design of one hitch was to mount to the spring bolts on the rear end cover. There was a hinge pin so the hitch could drop out of the way for the spare tire. The hitch was then supported by a bracket that attached to the bumper braces.
As a trailer bumped back and forth, it would strain the spring bolts or the rear cover "ears" where the spring bolted to, eventually breaking either the bolts or the cover..
Gotta straighten out this rumor -- it's the front differential that takes the hit from towing
thanks for your reply..
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