since everybody else will definitely be an enabler, I will give you the practical counterpoint here and say that by the time you actually change out enough parts on this car to make it reasonably safe and marginally pleasant to tow with, for your cheap car you will have spent more money than you could have just gotten pretty much any off-the-shelf older used SUV to tow with (early Sequoia, armada, etc) And you will still have something that is not very good for towing, in the end. I like cool old cars as much as everybody here does, But I have yet to understand why people want to tow with grossly under equipped old stuff that even when heavily upgraded is still pretty mediocre.
Towing is a means to an end. In my opinion this is like you buying a metal rod and then spending hours forming its into a flat head screwdriver and fabricating a handle...., when you could just go spend the $2 and buy a flat head screwdriver that works better in the first place.
All that said I'm also all for doing whatever the hell you want to do and whatever makes you happy when it comes to cars. If you have always wanted a Caprice then go for it. God knows the idea of taking something completely impractical and turning into a toe rig has crossed my mind many times (the practicality and common sense usually wins out with me). So if doing all the modifications on an old Caprice to make it an okay to vehicle is what you want to do then go for it. I just don't want you to do all that stuff and then find out you have something that still is lousy to actually use as a tow rig in the end, And you'll be sitting there regretting spending all the time and money on something that you don't really like using. Because few things in life are more frustrating than being on a long tow and thinking to yourself "damn this sucks"
Now if you wanted to turn a Maserati biturbo into a tow rig....;)
jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
jwagner (Forum Supporter) said:
I had a '77 with a 350. Rebuilt the trans twice - and did not tow anything. Don't know if it's the same trans, but I'd take a look before leaping.
77 was likely a TH350. No lockup converter. The TH350 is a great transmission, but nothing special.
TH350 was a good trans. Pretty sure I had a TH200 behind a 350 4bbl in my '77 which didn't work for long. It's worth knowing which trans is in the car the OP is looking at. I'm pretty sure the 200 was a default for the 305 for this era.
Ohhhh yeah, the TH200. (As opposed to the TH200-4R) It is funny that those were in 15 year old used cars when I started my career but I've never actually seen one in person.
I did work with a guy who mentioned that his Regal came with one, which had to be replaced under warranty twice in one year, at which point he said screw the warranty and installed a used TH350 on his own dime.
I guess it was an ultra cheap trans with things like plastic servo pistons, fitting in with GM's general "if you want better, buy a more expensive car" mindset.
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I was considering last night how a large sedan still wouldn't have the utility of a minivan, pickup or SUV with regards to moving things such as furniture and lawnscaping crud.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
I was considering last night how a large sedan still wouldn't have the utility of a minivan, pickup or SUV with regards to moving things such as furniture and lawnscaping crud.
It definitely won't but the trunk is ginormous at least.
Caprices are pretty sought after, I would get it if you can get it cheap regardless, you can always sell later for more than you paid
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
At the current pricepoint and low mileage on it, it would be very flippable, which may end up being the plan.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Antihero (Forum Supporter) :
At the current pricepoint and low mileage on it, it would be very flippable, which may end up being the plan.
By the way I am totally NOT saying not to get it. If it's a good deal and in great shape pick it up anyway to either drive or flip. I'm just saying it's probably not worth investing in all of the upgrades discussed in this thread just to make it a lousy tow/utility vehicle when many other options exist for fairly low dollars.
Even better if you can get a cheap and flip it for more, then you can put more money toward a better real tow and utility rig :)
In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :
Oh I was completely picking up what you were putting down. Not to invest in the platform to do something when there are other options that will do it better and more comfortably at a competitive price point.
BigIron
New Reader
5/16/21 11:12 p.m.
A 1989 Caprice will tow 2600 pounds on a tow dolly with no problems.
Back before everyone decided they need a truck people towed their campers, boats and race cars with regular 4 door cars and station wagons. A tow dolly isn't going to put a bunch of tongue weight on so cargo coils aren't even needed. Let alone everything else people are saying. Replace essentially the entire suspension to haul around 2600 pounds? Get out of here...
Just don't tow in overdrive and if really concerned put a trans cooler on it. Otherwise, other than slower acceleration, you won't even notice the Miata back there.
BigIron said:
A 1989 Caprice will tow 2600 pounds on a tow dolly with no problems.
Back before everyone decided they need a truck people towed their campers, boats and race cars with regular 4 door cars and station wagons. A tow dolly isn't going to put a bunch of tongue weight on so cargo coils aren't even needed. Let alone everything else people are saying. Replace essentially the entire suspension to haul around 2600 pounds? Get out of here...
Just don't tow in overdrive and if really concerned put a trans cooler on it. Otherwise, other than slower acceleration, you won't even notice the Miata back there.
You're right. These days people don't even buy the F350 because....well there's an F450. I predict in another 10 years we'll all be driving around in Peterbilt based trucks and yammering on about safety being the reason why.
In reply to BigIron :
Thanks for the reality check.
People towed with Astros all the time, which had the same size or smaller brakes and shorter wheelbase.
I don't get hung up on power for towing. If you need a lot of power to go uphill you probably don't want to be going too fast anyway, IMO.
I do, however, like the idea of better lateral location of the axle. I towed with a '76 Chrysler that would develop sway just because of how noodly the rear suspension was.
I had a THM200C in an El Camino. It died spectacularly. It lost second completely, but I had to get it home from college (about 3 hours). I hit the road, coaxed it to shift through to third, and with the exception of getting on/off the turnpike, I never let it shift or unlock the converter with some fancy right foot work. I got it to dad's garage where I yanked it to swap in a TH350.
I gave the THM200 to a local shop and told them they could tear it down and save any good parts, but I wanted the case because my BIL was doing a junkyard band for his students. I wanted to put some tubing and a mouthpiece to make a transmission tuba. They called me to pick it up and handed me a box of parts. They said that there was not a single piece they could use. Metal parts had exploded and sent debris everywhere. The input drum had about half of its teeth missing. The input shaft was fine but nicked/scratched.
The 200 was not one of GMs best, but I can almost guarantee that his Caprice doesn't have the TH200 if it has a 4000 lb tow rating.
My memory on this is hazy, but I think by 89, the Caprice sedan would have a 700R4 no matter what engine it has(4.3, 305, 350), and the Caprice wagon would have a 200R4 mated to an Olds 307. The THM200 would be long out of production by then. By 1989, I think the 700R4 had all the durability updates GM did to it during production, too.
