wagonerkl

I am putting together a '65 coupe (L6 engine) for my daughter to take to college. I am looking for a tow hitch setup so she can tow a light trailer with her college stuff.
uHaul claims to have a bolt-on hitch for the car. Two questions; Does anyone have any experience with the uHaul hitch and is there a better or similar alternative? Thanks.

barnett468

hello;

there used to be one that used the bumper for 1 mounting point. this is the best but i don't know who makes it you can ask u haul and the place below. mustang brakes and suspension suck. if she tows anything over 1000 lbs total i'd be a bit worried. a set of air shocks with separate air lines might help but as long as the upper shock mounts are good and you don't use more than around 70 lbs in each one it should be fine.

http://www.autoanything.com/towing/77A3389A3775124.aspx

Al Newman

First, a tow bar on the unibodied Mustang chassis is a formula for disaster. If you tow more than a small amount of weight, you could actually break the car in the center behind the seat platforms. Second, as stated, the I6 brakes are marginal at best, and asking them to stop a loaded trailer, however small, is really dicey. Third, the U-Haul hitch most probably is designed to lock onto the bumper, which, on your car is nothing more than cosmetic. Those hitches that will tow a really small trailer have to be attached to the rear frame rails as well as the bumper. You would be dollars ahead by shipping her stuff Fedex or something than risking her and/or the Mustang's safety. I am really surprised that U-Haul is even offering a hitch setup for the Mustang.
Best,
Al

creaky

Sound advice!

rmodel65

worst advice on the forum never install air shocks they will punch a hole thru the floor of the car

Al Newman

+1 - no air shocks, for sure. I've welded up more than one upper mounting hole because of air shocks.

barnett468

LOL, The above comment is the worst one on the forum .They will NOT punch a hole thru the floor unless the mount is ALREADY cracked. I have had dozens of Mustangs that had them on and have worked on over 100 Mustangs that had them and had them for many years and not 1, 0, nada zilch, EVER had one sticking out thru the floor.

In addition, of the dozens I checked, NONE even had a crack in the upper mount.

Also, it is a FACT [not a supposition, assumption or opinion] which is known to people that are actually KNOWLEDGEABLE in this area, that a shock with high damping rates like some Konis and Bilsteins etc., can exert just as much force or more on an upper shock mount than an air shock can.

Now, if you are some bozo running them at 352,978 psi and have 10 cases of moonshine in the back and are loaded up with 3 of your 300 lb plus friends, and decide that it is a great idea to go driving on a motocross track at wide open throttle or play dukes of hazard, well then I guess you might put one thru the floor, lol.

As I mentioned in my previous post, check the upper mounts BEFORE installing air shocks. This goes for any other type of shock too. If it already has cracks, it should be repaired. IF it is repaired PROPERLY, which means reinforcing it with a large od, thick flat washer etc., it will be STRONGER than orig in most cases. You can also get them reinforced PRIOR to installing the shocks. this will obviously greatly reduce the possibility of one "punching" thru the body while you are out driving your friends and moonshine around.

yOU COULD ALSO TRY TO FIND SOME OLD SCHOOL HELPER SPRINGS AND USE THOSE INSTEAD OF THE air shocks but the suspension will remain stiff until they are removed.
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Al Newman

Just shows to go ya that years of similar experience can yield vastly different conclusions. I owned a restoration facility for years and repaired several chassis floors around the rear shock mounting point. True, the area could have been weakened via aggressive shocks, but the air shocks were present whenever the floor failed. Also can't believe you recommended cheater springs. They can change the suspension handling characteristics and not in a good way. In addition, they could damage the rear shackle mounting areas. Bottom line is whenever a car had either cheater springs or air shocks or lift style rear spring shackles, the car got new springs, shocks, and shackles - no exceptions.

barnett468

hello

here's the deal for the third time and i seem to be the only person that gets it.

she may not want a stiffer ride. if she doesn't and they install stiffer leaf springs, which i think is the best way to go about stiffening the suspension, she has to have the stiffer springs removed after her trip. perhaps these people are made of money and this is not a problem for them i don't know.

i think stiffer leafs is the best/safest idea.

the op is NOT trying to fix a poor handling car or one with "bad" suspension. he is simply trying to get his daughter, her car and a trailer from point A to point B at which time the trailer will be removed unless she chooses to put her books in it and haul it to school.

i hate helper springs, however they do in fact work and i have had the fortune or misfortune of seeing more cars than i wanted to with them on and the springs created no probs with these car and they had been on for many years.

the reason i mentioned them is because someone obviously over zealously took exception to my suggestion of air shocks run a 70 lbs which is low for air shocks if you know anything about them.

i recommended 70 lbs instead of 2,497 lbs like i have seen other people use including myself on my lemans/gto when i was 16 years old because i know that it will put additional strain on the upper mount.

i also suggested the op inspect the mounts first. obviously if they are cracked fix them. i also know that they can be weaker from fatique but have no visible cracks.

i did not design the mustang, its none of our faults the bodys are not super sturdy etc., but i don't think it's practical to tell him to put on new rear leafs, rear sway bar, bigger front sway bar stiffer front springs, higher damping shocks and weld the tow hitch to the car and weld the bumper to the car if the hitch uses the bumper as one of the mounting points.

you have seen a few cracked mounts and air shocks were present. ok, that obviously means little to nothing because as you mentioned, you have no idea if it had stiff shocks before. you also have no idea if bubba and his buddies went off roading with the shocks at 200 psi each. it is IMPOSSIBLE to draw conclusions regarding the cause of the cracking simply because you have insufficient info to do so.

i have personally seen people do incredibly stupid things with cars including mustangs. some of those things have actually been driving the car on a motocross track. i have done some stupid things with cars myself.


heres the best suggestion imo. rent a truck.

Al Newman

10-4 on the truck rental