Quote:
Originally Posted by Goatracer1
I used my 1963 Bonneville to pull our 24 foot travel trailer with no problems. Brakes should not be a problem because in most states the trailer is required to have brakes. If your tow car's brakes fail you should be able to stop with the trailer's brakes. Not quickly but you can stop. It happened to me one time going down hill towing with an old truck. Also a big deciding factor when towing is frontal area. A car on an open trailer is easier to pull than a car in an enclosed trailer. I used a weight Distibution hitch with a sway control. My car was stock and in good "driver" condition. The only concern I might have is the condition of your transmission. I would have it checked by someone familiar with that trans and if okay add a big trans cooler. Good luck.
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Ohio has, as most other states, requires trailer brakes over 2000# empty. That leaves a lot of tandem trailers that can go down the road with zero brakes. I see tandem trailer here all the time with no brakes whatsoever, so they are definitely out there. I wouldn't own one, nor tow one loaded, but a friend of mine is a landscape service owner that has been using a tandem landscape trailer, loaded 6-7 days a week all during the grass cutting season, for at least a decade with zero brakes, towing it with a 2500 dodge. He has a stack of used up rotors, and drums behind his garage to prove it.....LOL
He said he was going to have brakes installed on it when he had the suspension serviced a couple years ago, but there was a shortage of backing plate and drum assemblies, so it never got converted..............
Bonnevilles, and Star Chiefs had the 4 speed hydramatic transmission at that time, although it wasn't a TH400, it was light years ahead of the slim jim for durability.
1964 was the first year that the blocks had provisions for a starter mounting, so they can be changed over to a TH400 fairly easily. When I worked at the local Pontiac dealer, one of the mechanics blew the slim jim up in his 64 GP. He pulled it into the service department after work, and drove it home later that night with parts pirated from the wrecks the dealership kept around for parts salvage. Took the transmission, starter, and flywheel out of a 65 or later B body, and the conversion went pretty quick.