Thread: Developing hard-shifts / Towing / Need Opinions

Originally Posted by 02GPinNY

I'm curious now after reading this thread. September 13th I'll be trailering my bike down to the races 120 miles away on pretty flat roads all the way. My bike weighs 480lbs. and the trailer (Harbor Freight) weighs 180lbs. I'm looking at less than 700lbs. total. The GP runs fine and has 140K on the clock. I'm having the pan dropped and filter changed this Friday. I'm hoping it will be okay to tow such a light weight. My thinking, which I'm not sure if it's correct is that if I had four adults, all my size in the car it would be 1,000lbs. I'd be towing 300lbs less weight. Just curious about your thoughts on this? Thanks.

Originally Posted by 02GPinNY

Thanks again Scotty. As soon as I get back from the races I have another week vacation. I'll install the cooler myself at that time. It's all 95 from my house to Exit 4 and then 55 South to Millville. Shouldn't be that hard on the tranny. I'm just gonna keep it in 3rd gear and take it nice and easy.

You will make it there and back fine assuming everything is in good working order. Do you have a Heads Up Display (HUD) with a transmission temp readout? Also, I've heard that some older grand prix models do not have a "hardened 4th gear" or something to that effect. If you have the hardened 4th, then I don't think you'd have to keep it in 3rd gear unless the car starts shifting between the two gears frequently.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

im sure you'd make it there and back. towing is easier on the car vs hauling the weight. but a cooler seems to worth it for any of us really.

I would disagree that towing is easier on a car than hauling weight. If I were hauling 1000lbs in my trunk, the shape and aerodynamics of my car don't change. If I am towing 1000lbs in the form of an open trailer with 2 motorcycles on it, a couple tires and gas cans, I've negatively changed the aerodynamics of my car and will therefore increase the constant load on my transmission. This is more and more true as speed increases - such as highway travel.

I would argue that if I were to put this 1000lbs into my trunk I could still achieve close to or above 30mpg. While trailering with the setup mentioned above, I actually see about 21mpgs.