I will be towing a chevy malibu from fairbanks alaska to South Carolina. This is my first long distance haul. Anyone have any tips. My truck is a 96 2500 w/ 360.

 

I just got back from North Carolina we left Colorado and went their empty and took a 97 dodge neon back. As far as running goes my 2001 dodge with a 5.2 ran great didn't even noticed the trailer my only thing was alot of coffee we did the trip in 3 days. That and watch out for the other morons on the road alot of our driving was at night which to me is the best time all you have to deal with is the truckers and if you respect them theyll usually do the same. Good luck

 

That sure is a long haul! Are you driving through Canada? Only advice I have (besides obvious fluid checks tranny etc)is make sure you have a good spare and jackfor truck and trailer and lubricate everything before you leave. If you have neglected anything like wheel bearings get out the grease and go nuts! I towed a trailer from Ontario to PEI once and my hitch wasn't low enough and I had to much weight on the rear axle of the trailer ......don't do that! lol

I put LED tailights on all my trailers...it sure makes it nice to not worry about bulbs and they are much more visable.

And don't drive tired.....after all the whole point is to make it there safe....good luck let us know how it went!

 

If you have an overdrive transmission, keep it out of overdrive. Hopefully you also have a good auxiliary transmisison fluid cooler.

 

I have to disagree somwhat with you turkeyhunter1962. I spoke to the dodge dealer last week as I have a boat I take on vacation about 3 hours away. They said if you can maintain speed in od then you are ok but if it is droping gears and not maintaining speed you need to turn the od off. He also stated the manual says that just to cover dodge. One last thing he said to check the tranny fluid for browning and burnt smells and if you are towing a heave load to go ahead and turn it off.

 

get the tranny serviced and a cooler installed, shouldnt take more then a day at a shop and ull have peice of mind, also make sure u got trialer brakes, a controller, and all the fluids are full, and as mention make sure u got a good spare for the truck adn trailer, and the tires are all good all around. and if u want, jack the rear tires up to near max ex. 40psi on a 44psi max tire, 60 on a 65psi tire, and etc. i have load range C tires so they max out at 50 and i keep them there. and make sure ur tires are rated to handle that much weight. figure about 800-1000 lb trailer, then around 3-4K for the car.

 

Same truck as me. If it's a 2500 with towing package, you should already have a tranny cooler so don't worry about that. Lube everything up, jack up the front end make sure there aren't any worn out parts. If its gettin close to needin a service, just service it cause that is a long haul. On flat labnd with an empty car hauler you shouldn't need to touch the OD off buttun unless your goin up grades, on the way back with a 4k lb car on it, keep it off the whole time. Have fun, don't rush the trip. Be safe, goodluck

 

If it's a flatbed trailer, figure it being 1800-2500 pounds for the trailer, and then another 3500-4000 for the car. I've towed from Seattle to Los Angeles and back in a weekend, and Seattle to Steamboat Springs, CO and back in a weekend (long weekends both) and my only recommendation is to make sure you've got at least one spare for the truck and one for the trailer, then make sure they both hold air and that the trailer spare actually bolts up to the trailer. Nothing worse than having a spare you can't use, and trying to find someone to swap it over for you in the middle of nowhere.

My dakota seems to pull all but the big hills in OD just fine, even with spares and tools in the bed and a 5500 pound load on the hitch. You should be ok too if you've got 4.11 or 3.92 gearing. With 3.55s you might need to pop it out of OD more often.

 

I made the same trip 3 years ago and all I can say is good tires and spares are a must along with a serviced tranny and engine. When I made the trip alot of the roads were unpaved so just watch your speed. Good luck and bring a camera its a beautiful drive.