Towing with a DSM

sleepydsm · 11-08-2005

Is it possible to tow anything with a turbo awd dsm? I don't plan on towing anything, I was just wondering if it would be possible. I'm sure the cars have the power (but maybe not enough low end torque?) to tow something, but those unibodies sure wouldn't like it. Just want some thoughts.

AJ · 11-08-2005

I'd feel safe pulling somethng small. They don't have an actualy towing capacity that I know of, but I'd think just about any car with a bit of power can tow your average Jet ski or Sled & a small trailor with ease.

**1ViciousGSX** · 11-08-2005

DSM's barely make it where they are going when being pushed by another vehicle, do you really want to tow with one?

CDeutsch · 11-08-2005

I've used mine to tow a small trailer with a go-kart on it.

sleepydsm · 11-09-2005

haha, well... as stupid as this sounds. Up in anoka, where big trucks and hicks are everywhere, some kid in my class is telling me my car is weak, and doesnt make any power, in fact, he thinks it makes less power than his damn older GMC sinoma with a v6 and 4 wheel drive. I won't do this, but he wanted to have a TOW OFF... aka hook up each others vehicles and start pulling. I laughed at him and told him to go back home and F*** his John Deere.

CVD · 11-09-2005

That is pretty dumb, and something you might not win, especially with a manual trans. Why dont you just race him instead of trying to pull your car out of alignment?

Steeltwo · 11-09-2005

i've seen people with S2000's towing jet ski's

and if there is a car with no low end torque, that would be it.

AJ · 11-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepydsm

haha, well... as stupid as this sounds. Up in anoka, where big trucks and hicks are everywhere, some kid in my class is telling me my car is weak, and doesnt make any power, in fact, he thinks it makes less power than his damn older GMC sinoma with a v6 and 4 wheel drive. I won't do this, but he wanted to have a TOW OFF... aka hook up each others vehicles and start pulling. I laughed at him and told him to go back home and F*** his John Deere.

I'll hoook up with him

sleepydsm · 11-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by DSMStyle

I'll hoook up with him

I'll let him know

**Kracka** · 11-09-2005

I know an S2000 guys that tows his sailboat with it!

Towing with a turbo car is a bad idea, when the turbo spools a lot of shock is placed on the trailer and hitch. If you do tow anything with a turbo DSM, take it easy with the gas pedal and make the sure load is very light.

Jakey · 11-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by S2kracka

Towing with a turbo car is a bad idea, when the turbo spools a lot of shock is placed on the trailer and hitch.

Huh?

**1ViciousGSX** · 11-09-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jakey

Huh?

Yeah, what he said.

If you are already pulling a load and the the turbo spools, there is no shock to the trailer or hitch, it's preloaded.

93sc · 11-09-2005

Here's my experiance, and while it's a different platform, I beleive the concepts are the same. With the SC's if you brought it in to the dealer for service and you had a hitch on the car it voided your warrenty. The reason is that when under a prolonged loaded condition you ACT's would really start to climb and you could very quickly heat soak the motor. Racing stoplight to stoplight gives your ACT's a chance to come back down while your idling. If you can imagine running your car at as little as 4 or 5 pounds of boost for minutes at a time you can see how quicly things start to heat up, which makes for perfect conditions to start detonating.

That being said, you guys are running much larger and more efficent IC's than we have in an SC and your not making full boost just off idle either, so it's possible that you wont run into the same issues as quickly or maybe at all. I guess I'll just have to see what happens when I get mine and see how similar things act. But that would be my main concern when thinking of towing.

Steeltwo · 11-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by 93sc

Here's my experiance, and while it's a different platform, I beleive the concepts are the same. With the SC's if you brought it in to the dealer for service and you had a hitch on the car it voided your warrenty. The reason is that when under a prolonged loaded condition you ACT's would really start to climb and you could very quickly heat soak the motor. Racing stoplight to stoplight gives your ACT's a chance to come back down while your idling. If you can imagine running your car at as little as 4 or 5 pounds of boost for minutes at a time you can see how quicly things start to heat up, which makes for perfect conditions to start detonating.

That being said, you guys are running much larger and more efficent IC's than we have in an SC and your not making full boost just off idle either, so it's possible that you wont run into the same issues as quickly or maybe at all. I guess I'll just have to see what happens when I get mine and see how similar things act. But that would be my main concern when thinking of towing.

this brings up a conversation I had with a friend/mechanic a little while ago.

i said, the typhoon or cyclone can't tow anything and has a haul limit of 500lbs. He said the reason was what you said. Heat, the typhoon or Syclone has the power and hardware to tow, but the heat created would cause problems and big time premature failure of many parts.

his idea was to use a nice liquid i/c, a boost controller(drop the boost when towing to create less heat) and big tranny cooler.

one of his friends tried it in the hills of colorado and said it worked find when towing his snowmobiles. Of course who knows for how long that truck ran, it popped the tranny at a track about 8 months after.

A//// Guy · 11-10-2005

I understand that totally but when your towing something there is not constant load on the car unless your going up a mountain to get somewhere... If you towing on the highway, you wont be using alot of turbo unless your going pretty fast or if you load is super heavy...

Also what about the heat made by turbodiesels?

Steeltwo · 11-10-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by M/// Guy

I understand that totally but when your towing something there is not constant load on the car unless your going up a mountain to get somewhere... If you towing on the highway, you wont be using alot of turbo unless your going pretty fast or if you load is super heavy...

Also what about the heat made by turbodiesels?

that is why you have a boost controller, turn it up and down as you go.
but what might happen, is if the load is too heavy for the non boosted engine to maintain speed, even on a slight grade hill, it'll hit up boost. Of course it would do that without the load, just not too the extent.
The point he was trying to make was that, using the boost controller, i'c and cooler. That he could counter act the extra heat.

and that is a good question about the diesels, i'm not smart enough to ask him about those.

But as diesels are so different, i'm sure I wouldn't have been able to understand the answer had I asked.

niterydr · 11-10-2005

We'll stand in with our truck for you sleepy, if you need it.
We'll even go in reverse

.

sleepydsm · 11-11-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by niterydr

We'll stand in with our truck for you sleepy, if you need it.
We'll even go in reverse

.

Thanks for the support

**1ViciousGSX** · 11-11-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by M/// Guy

I understand that totally but when your towing something there is not constant load on the car unless your going up a mountain to get somewhere...

Yeah because what you are towing is actually self-propelled and just looks cool pushing you around.

MustGoFaster · 11-11-2005

It would be ok to tow with a turbo car if you were able to cruse on the highway and slight hills with out making boost. Heat build up is the problem.