Tow Weight

[inovermyhead]

Just wondering if any knows how much this car weighs. I couldn't find it in the service manuel.

1966 Pontiac Catalina 2 dr hartop w 389 with the bench seats.

I will be be towing this with a car trailer from NY to VA with a Chevy Suburban. Just wondering if I'm maxing anything out...... I know these cars aren't light by todays standards..

Thanks Y'all

[super]

I would guess a '66 Catalina to be approximately 4200lbs.

1/2 ton or 3/4 ton Suburban? What year Suburban too. My friend and I pulled a 3/4 ton suburban with a 1/2 ton 2000 suburban and it did great. I was actually suprised. My older suburban (1989) had to light of springs and did poorly pulling my 4000lb 1974 Trans Am.

What trailer are you using and what are the axles rated at?

[inovermyhead]

The trailor is a Falcon utility. It'a designed for towing cars, has two axels, 15 in. tires. According to the registration card it's empty weight is 2200 lbs and it's GW is 7000 lbs.

The vehicle I'm using to tow with is a 2006 Chevy Suburban, 1/2 ton with two wheel drive. It does have the factory tow package. The Empty Weight of the Suburban is 5255 lbs. The registration card does not specify a GW. So I don't know what it is rated to tow.

I didn't want this to be a "TRIAL BY FIRE" so I loaded my 1995 chevy 4wd pick-up which weighs 4200lbs. The Suburban didn't like it too much. It sat very low so I had to keep the truck closer to the rear of the trailor to reduce tounge weight.

It's seemed to be a kind of balancing act but on a flat highway at 60 miles an hour it seemed to do fine.

This trip will be empty to NY to pick up a parts car for project my father and I are starting. We will have a 66 pontiac catalina 2dr for the trip back. And some of this driving will be in the mountains.

Just looking for tips from some of you guys who do this on a regular. Does my combnation seem sufficient to handle load coming back?

Thanks for the reply.....

[super]

I do not think you will have any problems with your truck and trailer combo. Does your Suburban have the 5.3?

Is the '66 complete (motor, trans, etc.)? It generally takes a little longer to get trailer balanced if you tow a new combination.

As I stated in the previous comment, my friends 2000 5.3liter 1/2 ton pulled a 3/4 ton 4WD suburban with little effort.

Good luck on your trip.

Several 1966 Catalinas in my area. Many are good parts cars. My friend picked one up in Illinois (2-dr catalina hardtop) in running order a few years ago for $300.00. It only needs a drivers door. Car is in good condition. A salvage yard two blocks from my house has a couple '66 cars too.

[super]

Do you plan to use the Suburban for any other towing in the future?

Investing in a set of AirLift air bags is a good idea. They run about $230 through JEGS and help with balancing the load. I installed them on the 1989 Suburban I mentioned and they worked great.

I have a 1979 1/2 ton truck I picked up about a year ago. I plan to use it for pulling my T/A next year. It has a 400 Pontiac in it. I ordered a set of the AirLift bags for it. I could add a leaf spring or two, but I did not want to compromise the trucks ride quality when I am not towing something. the 400 has a ton of torque over the Chevrolet engine, but the springs can not handle it. I hauled 1600lbs of steel in it from St. Louis the other day. Another reason I want to get the air bags.

Just a thought.

[duncan2plus2]

The Standard Catalog of Pontiac lists the shipping weight for the 1966 2dr 6 passenger Catalina as 3835 lbs.

[super]

Add a bad tank of fuel and a few other items and it probably will bump the scales over 4000lbs.

Thank you for the information. The 2+2 models were over 4000lbs correct? 4005lbs? Where does the additional 170lbs come from?

[Larry]

A quick Wikipedia search produced the following inreference to a 1996 1500 Suburban question about towing weights:

Answer
Your owners manual will contain the answer. If you don't have one, a salvage yard is a good place to find one. You can also order one from your local dealer.
Answer
I've got the same question, but I know a few more variables. Engine size and rear differential ratio will affect towing capacity. So will other payload within the vehicle. I've seen 6000-7500 lbs listed on other sites, so there's a range of possibles.

I got this from the Chevy website. They have vehicles specs archived back to 1996

Suburban 1500 2WD 350 CID V-8:

Curb Weight - 4820
CVWR - 7700
Payload - 1980
Max Trailer - 6500

Suburban 2500 2WD:

Curb Weight - 5286
CVWR - 8600
Payload - 3314
Max Trailer - 10000

I have owned a 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton Suburban in the past . The 1/2 ton we beat the "you-know-what" out of hauling stuff for the mini-farm years ago. But, I would not have attempted much tongue weight hauling with it. The 3/4 ton saw a lot of horse trailer duty and even with its extra capacity a 4-house trailer and only two horses was a job.

That being said, a good trailer with even a car towing it has been done by many. You see it all the time at car shows. Just be careful with the balancing. Don't move the weight too far back just to reduce weight on the tow car. I'd rather ride a bit lower than have the two seperate on a good bump somewhere down the road.

If you have some time, I'd do as Super advised and pop in a set of air bags or at least add some shock coils or extra add-on leaf (don't remember what type of springs they have).

Check the Chevy site as the one fellow said and see if you can find your Sub.

[duncan2plus2]

I'm not exactly sure, but guess the standard bucket seats and dual exhaust account for most of it. The convertibles have "boxed" frames which add even more weight.

[super]

Thanks for the information. I guess all the little items add up. Additional muffler, pipe, seat frames, etc. Were all 2+2 models equipped with consoles and multi carbs?

[super]

Is your suburban leaf spring or coil spring equipped?

[inovermyhead]

Wow, I thank you all for the responses.

I have the 5.3 L engine, don't know the rear end ratio. It's a 2006 Suburban 2 wd. "plain jane" with the factory installed towing package.

There is a real posibility I will be adding a little weight too. A core support, two fenders and a hood.

I will take your advice and keep some weight on the tounge, maybe let it ride a little low in the back. I am also going to try to look at other ways to sure up the rear suspension on the suburban. Truth is, I'm making this trip on a wing and prayer as far as funds go. I know that's the case with most of us but it is especially rough this time of year.

Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated..

Oh, I almost forgot, SUPER, it's a coil spring set-up on the suburban, Know any tricks?

Thanks again you guys...

[Larry]

If you can find some of those big rubber coil spring blocks to put between the coils, that would at least help the sag (won't help the ride, but will keep it higher). Otherwise if you can find the cheap coils to add over your shocks, they work wonders to increase the load capacity. With the rear end jacked up, tighten the clamps; lower back down, and you should see the difference. Just be careful of the clamps and bolts when it lowers back down. I once had one puncture a brake line while bouncing down the road because I hadn't checked for clearance AFTER lowering the car back to earth.

Also, just keep your speeds down and you should be fine.

[duncan2plus2]

The 65 & 66 2+2's came standard with the bucket seat interior that was shared only with the Ventura models of Catalinas. The console and tri-power engines were also options. The tri-power engines came in 356HP and 376HP(HO) versions and a single standard equipment 4bbl version at 338 HP.
As you probably know, 1966 was the final year for multiple carbs on factory Pontiacs. Also 1966 was the only year for mechanical linkage on tripowers...all earlier years were vacuum operated from the factory, but many owners converted to mechanical due to the often experienced "delay" and somewhat unpredictable "kicking in" of the front and rear carbs with the vacuum sustems.

[super]

I believe airlift has an air bag that would work with your coil spring application. I don't think they are as heavy duty as the leaf spring applications they sell, but I am sure they will add a little more stability to your Suburban. They are about a third the price as the more expensive leaf spring kit.

Summit, Jeg's and several other online sites should have them.

I would say this would be one of the easier fixes you could do to help you transport the cool old '66.

As Larry stated earlier too, a coil over shock is not a bad investment either.

I still believe your 1/2 ton Suburban will do a great job once you get your load balanced on the trailer. It may take a couple times relocating the load, but you will get it.

What type of tires are you running? Are they just a standard radial? What ply rating are they?