Towing with the Baja

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:20 pm

Ok, how many of you have tried towing with your Baja? I have towed my ATV twice with mine. 03 n/a, with auto trans, with a cooler that I added. Trailer weighs about 400 pounds, and the ATV about 750 pounds. So its a pretty good load. I am impressed with how it handled it. Not like a big truck thats for sure. I tried it on the freeway this time. It spent most of its time in 3rd gear, at 4200 rpm's to keep up with traffic at 70 mph. Also had the a/c on, so that sapped alot of power. Mileage also dropped from the 26 I get back and forth to work, to 18.6 towing. I didn't think that was too bad for the load it was pulling. Anyone else tried towing a bigger load like this? What was your experiences with the beast?? Mike

cyphergirl · Post by **cyphergirl** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:11 pm

Haven't towed yet, but probably will by the end of the summer. I think our friend's trailer weighs in around 450 or so, and our two bikes together are are under 800 so I would expect similar results to yours (I've got a manual tranny).

Anyone else?

jaxed · Post by **jaxed** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 7:35 pm

I want to tow one of these puppies:

http://www.tab-rv.com/

...but I'm just not sure about it (1346 lbs unloaded).

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 8:39 am

now there's a sex-ay trailer!!

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:36 pm

Thats prolly a little bit more than when I tow, so you will have quite a load. Do you have a turbo or n/a Baja?? Mike

jaxed · Post by **jaxed** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:55 pm

mbaksic wrote:Thats prolly a little bit more than when I tow, so you will have quite a load. Do you have a turbo or n/a Baja?? Mike

Me? I have a Sport. I have read in a few forums where ppl are towing a T&B with an Outback. But I'm at 5000+ feet, and just about anywhere I would take the trailer would take me over passes at 10,000+ feet. I'm not real sure the Baja could do it.

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:43 pm

Maybe mount a rocket on the back of the trailer, that should help out, and keep tailgaters away!!!

BajaBear · Post by **BajaBear** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 1:41 pm

jaxed wrote:I want to tow one of these puppies:

http://www.tab-rv.com/

...but I'm just not sure about it (1346 lbs unloaded).

Hey! that T@B is based on the old teardrop trailers! I'm look'N into getting a teardrop myself. They tend to be a bit lighter to tow. This is a cool link:

http://members.1stconnect.com/anozira/S ... 20Trailers

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:29 pm

wow, that leaves me all sad, i had planned to tow a u-haul with my baja when i move to new york, guess that plan is screwed now....

Potatohead · Post by **Potatohead** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 4:19 pm

Yes, I tow a 3-rail motorcycle trailer with cargo box and a couple of dirt bikes on it. Sometimes you have to kick the tranny down in 3rd when you're going uphill but it does just fine. Mileage is about 22 mpg.

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Mon Jul 04, 2005 8:58 pm

i like the truck cap, havent seen too many of those!

jaxed · Post by **jaxed** » Tue Jul 05, 2005 2:16 pm

This last weekend I saw a Baja towing a rather large pop up trailer heading towards Denver on I-25. So somebody else is out there using their Baja to tow, at least.

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 3:02 pm

Just got back from vacation. Towed the atv from SE Wisconsin to the yoo pee of Michigan. It sucked a bunch of gas, I didn't even check the mileage. It handled the trailer and atv pretty good. Lots of downshifting into 3rd gear, so the tranny got a workout. I am glad I put a tranny cooler on it last year. Most of the downshifting was with the cruise on to keep up with traffic at 70 mph. When it was flat, it would stay in overdrive, but as soon as you came to a little upgrade, the convertor clutch would disengage, then the downshift into 3rd gear. At 70 mph, thats about 4200 rpms. It would hold 3rd gear until you went downgrade, or the road flattened out a bit. But I could keep up with traffic ok, just worked the hell out of it. When I got off the interstate and onto 2 lane roads, it kept up much better. Not so many downshifts, unless of course you came to a hill. So it will tow, but if you have a auto trans, GET A COOLER!!!! Mike

Mr. JalapeÃƒÆ’Ã‚Â±o · Sun Jul 10, 2005 3:57 pm

How difficult is is to install an AT cooler?
Any other info. would be appreciated!

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 7:59 pm

It was kinda a pain to do, I did mine at the dealership I work at so I could use my hoist. I bought the smallest cooler that I could at Car Quest. It would fit on the right side of the condensor. I had to pull the bar out that holds the horns to have enough clearance. Then removed the right headlamp to run the hoses through. I had to enlarge a hole in the radiator support behind the headlight to get enough room to run the hoses, took the existing hole and chopped it strait down with my air chisel so I had more room. I also cut off the lower headlamp mount so I had more room for the hoses without kinking them. I heated the back of the right headlamp also and kinked it in so I would have more room. This did not change the headlamp pattern at all, since the reflector is inside of the headlamp. I removed one of the factory hoses, which should be the return line to the trans, and installed it on the cooler, since one of the hoses had to bend really sharp to make it to the cooler. This factory hose had a 90 degree bend, so it was perfect. I used the hose that came with the cooler kit in its place. Then tie strapped the hoses together so nothin would rub or chafe through. Took me about 2 1/2 hours. Maybe someone else has an easier way to do it. This worked for me. Sorry, no pics, as I did this at work last July before we had this forum. As far as I know, Subaru does not offer an auxillary cooler, so you have to make due with a generic aftermarket one. Mike