Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey guys,

Looking at buying another car which is a bit more street friendly but one that can also tow my r33 when I take it to the track.

I've been looking up stageas because there are some sub 10k which is in my price range..

Obviously id put a trans cooler and other bits and pieces to aid in towing but I'm looking at any first hand experiences in towing cars with one...

Thank for any input

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/387208-towing-a-car-with-a-stagea/
Share on other sites

Sydney Kid is the one to look up. He tows his track car with a Stag, or did? Getting a towbar can be a pain. Actually found a Patrol the best option. That is used to tow the Sil

I used my stag to tow a car trailer on the odd occasion, and it towed my boat a fair bit. I didn't really like it. Not enough power so it kept changing gears every 2 secs up hill.

That's partly the reason I sold it, it can tow of required, but as a dedicated tow car, I'd look elsewhere.

It was a series 2 auto(neo motor) It had 3" turbo back exhaust, pod and 12psi, shift kit and sway bars.

It's more that it lacked torque, ie on boost up hills, all good

Off boost, slight rise in the road, gutless, down change a gear :(

I found that unless I was towing on the flat above 100k I'd just hold it in 3rd gear

The rear end felt fair average with the boat on it. Not ver heavy, ie 950kg on the trailer with spare fuel and ski gear, but the long ass trailer made the back end feel like poo

I've towed a few times with mine (rs4s), my only complaint is my excedy heavy duty slipped when accelerating ocassionally up hills. But I would deffinately recommend a brake upgrade just as a safety concern. Emergency stops are not possible. But my previous tow cars have been a 2002 Camry, 1976 corona, 97 surf, 89 falcon, 2000 hilux 2wd. The stagea towed better then those.

Just for information my mods were as follows. 3inch exhaust, front mount, k&n panel filter, split fire coils and the clutch.

as mentioned above, getting a towbar can be a pain. there is a guy in canberra who made one up rated by him to 2.0 tonne. don't confuse this with being engineered to 2.0 tonne you have to get it engineered urself to make it completely legal. however do your research as i bought one of these on recommendation of many SAU members and found it didn't allign at all with the back of my car. The installer up here did tell me though that once they got my rear bumper off there is evidence that my car has been in a accident (which i didn't know when i bought it) and was also told same thing by the tyre shop when they tried to do an allignment, so now i'm out $800 odd for a towbar that won't work on my car. So by research i mean no rear damage repaired or otherwise to the stagea you buy. Also alot of places won't fit second hand towbars, or ones that are made by someone else, or be willing to design one for you.

I tow a fair bit with my stagea and other than terrible fuel economy it is excellent.

All I had to change to make it tow well was:

Much harder and higher rear shocks

Big brakes

Big wheels to clear the big brakes

Rb30 with 25 head

High mount turbo

Front mount intercooler and forward facing plenum

PowerFC

GTR injector conversion

2t tow bar from Max in canberra (mine fit the chassis but required heaps of work trimming the dayz kit)

Also did a manual conversion but I don't think that helped it's towing ability, it is a bit of a pain to pull away from standing starts.

So....for irregular towing I would say go for it....but for regular towing of big loads a lot of work and money is required to work well.

Having said all that, I am very happy with how the car ended up. It is a daily car with occasional (1-2/month) towing of large loads (up to 2.5 tonnes) over long distances. When towing it is dead steady, brakes are great and plenty of power whenever it is needed. The only issue is the fuel economy is terrible when towing.

2t tow bar from Max in canberra (mine fit the chassis but required heaps of work trimming the dayz kit)

i have a mate that works in the industry that deals with hayman reese at good prices inc supply and fit, im sorting out a group buy for the WA boys atm.

Yep, just like my new ride

1989 chev silverado

350 chev, injected, auto, 1500kg in the tray, up to 3000kg on the tow bar.

Doesn't turn, doesn't stop, and it doesn't go fast, but it tows!

  • 3 weeks later...

Anyone have any experience towing with an M35 Stagea by any chance?

Ive been advised that you would (of course) have to get one custom made for the M35, but anyone know where to start in VIC? or is any have been made up in other states?

I am only looking at a tow weight of possibly 1.5-1.6 Tonne max, just a stripped out z20 drifter + trailer, so might not even be that heavy in total

Cheers

Ken

ive researched it to be something like 1.6 tonne safely? (according to wiki and car sales :P)

any chance you'd roughly know how much it would set someone back to get a custom one made up dirtyRS4?

even if its for a c34 id at least know a rough price range :P

cheers

Ken

  • 7 months later...

Not sure if your stil looking at this but these guys do them http://www.wynnumtowbars.com.au/Wynnum/Towbars.html but there in Qld... Im considering getting one done for a boat weighing 500kg gross payload.... Surely got to be better than trying to tow with the Mrs corolla...

  • 6 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I just got to work and skimmed through 61508 and 61511. I was surprised the CSA adopted both, but neither are enforced. To recap what I read, it states that in a perfect world, they should be segregated but they acknowledge that this is not industry standard and clearly mention that they allow mixing of safety and non-safety. 61511 also mentions software segregation like AB does in their safety PLC's.   Now if only I could go back to control, let alone safety over comms. In my current line of work, we're only allowed monitoring and basic control over comms. Everything critical must still be hard wired as much as possible. 
    • I've unfortunately never been as they're on the complete other side of the continent and another country that isn't currently letting us in as easily as they use to. I even heard their stop signs over there actually say "Stop" instead of "Arret". If I decided to trek the 48h drive, I wouldn't know when or where to stop haha. Whenever I order parts from UP Garage, I order from Japan as it's cheaper. Same with GKTech... oddly enough, it's cheaper shipped from Australia then it is the US.  UP Garage Japan operates their US leg though, unlike Tomei. If Tomei JPN had the power to close down Tomei USA, I'm sure it would be done in a day. They're two completely separate entities. Tomei JPN messed up somewhere originally agreeing to its creation and got sacked big time. 
    • I asked someone about this and he told me about the Audi 1.8T engine. But I think it would be difficult to swap
    • I don't know that machine specifically, but I'd personally go for something with a little more kick than 130amp. Around up to 180 would be good. At the 6mm range, you're really pushing the machine hard and don't have a long period you can run for with out needing to give it a rest. Lots of MIG machines come with a regulator and hose. A lot will come with a starter roll of wire too, but it isn't too expensive to buy. I'd recommend NOT buying a massive roll too, as you don't want it sitting around FOREVER in the machine between uses and potentially going to shit. For thin sheet metal, get a roll of 0.6mm if you're doing over 3mm and above, switch over to 0.8mm wire. Even by 2mm you'd probably really want to switch. As for gas battle, it's all swap and go style now. You'll pay a bottle deposit, and then X amount to swap for a full one. I think it's like $200 or $300 for a D Size bottle upfront as "deposit", and like $110 to $150 per swap. My D size CO2/argon bottle lasts a fair bit of welding on the MIG. And I run an E size bottle on the TIG. For DIY MIG, stick with a D size bottle. If you really start to get into a LOT of welding and doing it really regularly, then upgrade. If you're like most DIY car guys, one D bottle will last you 2 or 3 years easily. I think I've been on my current bottle about 5 years. It is starting to get low, but I've been smashing it a lot more the last 6 months.
    • SR20s came with cars like the Bluebird and Primera, but the RB20 never came. The ones in Turkey were either brought in specially or from abroad. That's why RBs aren't as common as SRs. And if a part breaks or I need to replace it when doing maintenance, it's harder to find parts for RBs.
×
×
  • Create New...