Towing a boat - Questions and concerns:

[TedW]

Every spring I tow a boat from my house to a boatyard about 5 miles away. I then tow it back in the fall. The total weight of the boat and trailer is +/- 4,500 lb. I started doing this a few years ago.

The route has a few hills, but nothing drastic.

I am concerned about stress on my drivetrain. Should I be? What damage can I be doing, if any?

I have a 1970 88 with a standard rear axle.

I pulled the axles last month and could see no twisting anywhere. I did see some wear on one side of each of the splines: is this normal for a pair of 42 year-old axles? Or am I doing bad stuff by towing this boat?

Thanks in advance for any / all responses - Ted

[westcoastkevin]

Sounds fine to me. Keep towing it. When I think about the 3 categories below. i expect pulling it out at the ramp is the hardest part of the job.A bit of spline wear is perfectly normal with age.

Drawbar pull.
Tongue weight.
Braking.

[keithg]

That's a good size boat at 4500lbs. and I'm sure it looks like quite a sight pulling it! How well does it stop it? I hadn't considered towing my boat with my '73 S3 because I thought it would be to much for it but it's about the same weight as yours.

[LR Max]

Its fine. I used to tow a Nissan 240SX on a heavy as heck steel trailer with my 109.

Key thing is braking distance. I had excellent luck towing at 6AM in the morning. No one out and was able to pass through all the lights.

Didn't use overdrive, so top speed was limited but like you, I was only towing 10 miles each way so I could spare the extra 5 minutes or whatever.

[TedW]

Sounds fine to me. Keep towing it. When I think about the 3 categories below. i expect pulling it out at the ramp is the hardest part of the job.A bit of spline wear is perfectly normal with age.

Kevin: Important omitted detail: I just drive it to the boatyard and leave it, and then drive back at the end of the season and haul it away; I don't launch it or pull it out of the water.

Keith: It's a 21' Wellcraft with a Suzuki 175 4-stroke. I'm estimating the weight.

No problems braking - so far! I keep my wits about me and don't go over 35 mph. I make it a point of going SLOW downhill.

[NickDawson]

I tow a boat about 3,500lbs with my III and have not had any issues.... knock wood.

Like you, keep it slow and take it easy. I did get stopped at a red light in the city once on a steep hill where the guy behind me decided to get a close to the prop of the boat as he could. Besides that stressful start, I haven't really had any challenges.

My biggest concerns are a) brakes and b) jack-knifing. The boat is longer than the 88" by a good measure. But, so far, it seems to work fine.

There have been times when I've needed to move it 45-60 minutes on the highway....I haven't used the rover for those trips, although I'd like to. I suspect it's just not worth the risk (mainly to me and anyone else in the Rover).

[keithg]

The next time you tow it take a few pictures....it would be great to see it! I plan on using my S3 to tow/launch my jet ski but I'm going to leave boat duties to my truck. I only leave it in the water for the weekend so I think it would be to much for the Rover on the launch ramp. It's a 22' Chris Craft with a 225hp 5.0L Ford EFI.

[TedW]

The next time you tow it take a few pictures....it would be great to see it! I plan on using my S3 to tow/launch my jet ski but I'm going to leave boat duties to my truck. I only leave it in the water for the weekend so I think it would be to much for the Rover on the launch ramp. It's a 22' Chris Craft with a 225hp 5.0L Ford EFI.

Keith: This is kind of an oblique shot from last fall - all I had. I'll take pics next month when I drag it to the boatyard.

Ted

[RNZack]

Keith: This is kind of an oblique shot from last fall - all I had. I'll take pics next month when I drag it to the boatyard.

Ted

Ah! That looks awesome. The boat is huge compared to the Series!

[TedW]

Ah! That looks awesome. The boat is huge compared to the Series!

Yes, it is huge! I'll get some nice profile shots next month. Pretty funny to see the setup all in a row.

[keithg]

It's like the "little engine that could"! haha

[yorker]

fwiw:

[TeriAnn]

I have a 1970 88 with a standard rear axle.

I pulled the axles last month and could see no twisting anywhere. I did see some wear on one side of each of the splines: is this normal for a pair of 42 year-old axles?

Personally, I'd swap in a new pair of rear axles just to be safe. 42 years is a long time to go on a pair of 10 spline axles. specially when they tend to break at around 50,000 miles.

You might be fine with the old ones but unbroken axles are real easy to replace and it could be cheap insurance.

[TedW]

Personally, I'd swap in a new pair of rear axles just to be safe. 42 years is a long time to go on a pair of 10 spline axles. specially when they tend to break at around 50,000 miles.

You might be fine with the old ones but unbroken axles are real easy to replace and it could be cheap insurance.

Agreed. My long-term goal is to replace the whole lot with a Salisbury.

Here's a question: Are there any known quality differences between the various replacement axles available? I'm thinking in particular of our host's Proline axles vs. Genuine.

Any opinions are appreciated.

Ted

[yorker]

It used to be that genuine axles broke clean and aftermarket ones wouldn't which can make a difference in how easy they are to remove when they do break. I don't know if it is still the case though. Keep your old ones for spares.