My donor K5 and the worst tow I ever made... pictures!!!

[Motorhead350]

This all happened a few weeks ago. I bought the body of a 1987 K5 Blazer for $300 and the truck was also in good running shape, but no insurance, so I had to tow it with my K5. I rented a U-Haul and lied to them saying I was towing a 95 Ford Tarus. They gave me the trailer and I was off. When I got to the doner truck I went to drive it on the trailer and it was too wide by inches! I knew the front axel was about 3 inches wider than the rear so I tried getting it in backwards and it worked. The reason I had to do this was because the front tires were driving right over the fenders of the trailer and the rear tires literally squeezed by. I had to drain the air pressue in the front tires to get them on the trailer because when they were full of air, the corners of the tires were up in the air! :eek:

So when I went to tow this thing it would swerve badly if I went past 55 and actually had to keep it at 45 to be safe like the trailer says. Normally I do 65 and it's fine, but not when one K5 is towing another. I got the doner to the body shop and they said they could work with it and for $300 I was very pleased to find that out. The work will be done for a total of $1,200 includding matching paint, but I'm going to have the whole thing redone as a birthday present from my dad and I'm super happy about that!

When I went to return the trailer to U-Haul I said there was a problem. The trailer says it can only hold 4,000 total, but the K5 is 5,839 lbs and everything was fine. My truck said the max towing was 5,000 on the trailer and I thought it was ok, but the trailer empty was 2,000... so you guessed it I was towing 7,000.... but the engine isn't the stock one with 210hp, it now has 350hp so everything went ok. I'll have pictures when it's complete in a week or so.

[nomad]

Which ones the donor truck?????
:lol:

[fastblackmerc]

Which ones the donor truck?????
:lol:

You got it all wrong... it's a "doner" truck.

[Spectragod]

There's a person on the hood of the lead truck, maybe that's why it was all over the road??? :dunno:

[Canucksmarauder]

Guess by the look f your front wheels the trailer did not have electric brakes:eek:

Love those K5's. Post pics when she is done.

P

[baltimoremm]

where did you get the donor? is that the one from craigslist?

[hot-rauder]

i like the front end of the donor better.... ne sure to switch that over too

[Motorhead350]

where did you get the donor? is that the one from craigslist?

Yup. I found that one a few days before you guys did. :D I might buy a 305 engine from the guy too. He has 3 K5's and one has a good complete 305 that I might buy for the 65 C-10. I'll decide on that later. The "donor" Blazer is the one on the trailer. It may look like it's in better shape than mine, but the interior was pretty much crap and it had a few rust holes, everything I needed was fine though. My body work has been completed, now I just need them to paint it. I should have it back next week or so.

[Drewstang]

Maybe I'm going out on a limb, but Dom that was stupid. Its customers like you that cause premature tire wear and stress to the equipment that I have to repair. Not only that, but what you did was dangerous to yourself and everyone you passed on the highway. Towing a heavy load with a short wheelbase vehicle is already difficult, but to load the trailer wrong and make it more dangerous is even worse.

Not only that, but in the event something happened, U-Haul would have been sued for allowing you to tow that truck on our equipment even though you lied to us.

Maybe I'm just being an a**hole? :dunno:

[offroadkarter]

Maybe I'm going out on a limb, but Dom that was stupid. Its customers like you that cause premature tire wear and stress to the equipment that I have to repair. Not only that, but what you did was dangerous to yourself and everyone you passed on the highway. Towing a heavy load with a short wheelbase vehicle is already difficult, but to load the trailer wrong and make it more dangerous is even worse.

Not only that, but in the event something happened, U-Haul would have been sued for allowing you to tow that truck on our equipment even though you lied to us.

Maybe I'm just being an a**hole? :dunno:


When maraudermark towed his car to reinharts, Uhaul told him to load it backwards.

It also swayed and broke the rear window.

[Motorhead350]

Maybe I'm going out on a limb, but Dom that was stupid. Its customers like you that cause premature tire wear and stress to the equipment that I have to repair. Not only that, but what you did was dangerous to yourself and everyone you passed on the highway. Towing a heavy load with a short wheelbase vehicle is already difficult, but to load the trailer wrong and make it more dangerous is even worse.

Not only that, but in the event something happened, U-Haul would have been sued for allowing you to tow that truck on our equipment even though you lied to us.

Maybe I'm just being an a**hole? :dunno:

I know what I did and I agree with you. Why did you think I said "worst tow I ever made"? I got it done and I don't care about what wares out first or last. It's U-hauls responsibility to maintain their own equipment anyway. I told them what I did when I got back and they didn't care, probably because their not the top employees at the company.

Drew, you are not being an a**hole, you are just speaking the truth. I disagree with you on the suing part. I would have been sued because I was the one that lied to U-Haul. It says in their computers that I was towing a car, not a truck that's nearly 3 tons. If I lied to U-haul I am responsible for my actions.

Work for U-Haul do ya? Please do something about the towing straps that go to the "FRONT" tires, they always unhook on me. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm serious, I'm sick of that crap. If you can make a difference please do so.

[justbob]

Short wheelbase tow vehicle:shake:
Overweight with the heaviest weight on the back of the trailer:shake:
I hope that this is lesson learned. It only took me one time to learn that one. Did you have to change your underware like i did?

[Merc220A]

Haha....you always have interesting experiences.

[Breadfan]

Towing capacity is more than just engine power...among other things, it also take into account braking!

[TAKEDOWN]

I do like the picture with your pumper butt up in the air!

[Leadfoot281]

Towing capacity is more than just engine power...among other things, it also take into account braking!


Ditto! You may want to go sniff your tranny fluid too.

[Ken]

Ditto! You may want to go sniff your tranny fluid too.kinky.. :rofl:

Ken

[n00bkiller944]

I have always loved blazers! Post up the pics when its all done.

[Motorhead350]

Wait until you guys see the color! :D

[n00bkiller944]

I hope you picked hot pink with some nice baby blue racing stripes

[bigmerc2003]

When maraudermark towed his car to reinharts, Uhaul told him to load it backwards.

It also swayed and broke the rear window.

Never tow anything backwards, all the wieght of the enigine is on the edge of the trailer taking all the downward force off the hitch. when the car/truck is facing forward the engine helps to keep weight on the hitch/pulling vehicle heloping to keep the triler straight and drive better. i pulled my truck home on a crappy trailer at 75 no problem

[hot-rauder]

I hope you picked hot pink with some nice baby blue racing stripes

too cool.....

its a light Mauve color, with suttle magenta and fushia flake in it... Right? possibly a tickle me pink "ghost" flame.....

ghost has to be in quotations cause it would already be a flame job :lol:

[n00bkiller944]

^^^^lmaoooooooooooo:lol::lol:: lol::lol:

[Drewstang]

I know what I did and I agree with you. Why did you think I said "worst tow I ever made"? I got it done and I don't care about what wares out first or last. It's U-hauls responsibility to maintain their own equipment anyway. I told them what I did when I got back and they didn't care, probably because their not the top employees at the company.

Drew, you are not being an a**hole, you are just speaking the truth. I disagree with you on the suing part. I would have been sued because I was the one that lied to U-Haul. It says in their computers that I was towing a car, not a truck that's nearly 3 tons. If I lied to U-haul I am responsible for my actions.

Work for U-Haul do ya? Please do something about the towing straps that go to the "FRONT" tires, they always unhook on me. I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm serious, I'm sick of that crap. If you can make a difference please do so.
I am one of the responsible employees that has to fix problems that customers create. Like worn tires, worn chains, and bad straps from them dragging the ground for 20-30 miles.

Reguardless of what you told the U-Haul center, we can and will be held responsible if something was to happen. Do a search on Youtube for a Dateline NBC special on the evil greedy machine that U-Haul is. A customer had never towed a trailer before in his life, loaded it completely wrong, and was speeding. He lost control, his father was ejected from the truck as it over turned and died on the scene. His family sued U-Haul for not telling him how use our equipment and we settled out of court.

There is no fix for the straps that go over the tires. They are not meant for oversized tires, and even some high profile OEM tires. The best thing to do is deflate the tires to 5-6 psi and ratchet as much as you can. You want to get a good wrap on the ratchet so it will hold. Lock the ratchet handle down, and find a good spot to attach the safety chains.

[Motorhead350]

I had no problem with the straps on the K5, but when I towed my 65 Chevy and someones 68 Mustang it was an issue, the weird thing is those vehicles have smaller tires than the K5.

[hot-rauder]

Dom, i re-read the title and thought, yeah a K5 is probably the worst piece of junk you could tow, lol

jk :lol:

[Motorhead350]

Dom, i re-read the title and thought, yeah a K5 is probably the worst piece of junk you could tow, lol

jk :lol:

It was more than a chore, it turned into a science experiement.