How much force can the rear bumper mounts take?
09-01-2004, 07:03 AM
#11
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Serious Comments? Your talking about pulling a 2800lb load with a Honda S2000! The whole freaking car weighs that much! your car --> \___ < your boat!
That bad boy will lift the front end of the car right off the ground! How in the world is anyone going to take this question seriously. Please if you do this take a video so we can laugh our asses off. How are you going to stop! Even at ten miles an hour! Well if you do do it then thats one less s2000 on the road and our cars will go up in value. I suggest towing it in the snow with so2's on.
That bad boy will lift the front end of the car right off the ground! How in the world is anyone going to take this question seriously. Please if you do this take a video so we can laugh our asses off. How are you going to stop! Even at ten miles an hour! Well if you do do it then thats one less s2000 on the road and our cars will go up in value. I suggest towing it in the snow with so2's on.
09-01-2004, 07:03 AM
#12
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Originally Posted by TubeDriver,Sep 1 2004, 09:54 AM
The question could only be answered by someone who yanked on the bumper mounts till they sheared off while measuring this. I don't imagine you will have much luck finding this individual here. If your sure that your car and drivetrain can handle it than no big deal (other than the bumper/incline clearence issue). Personally, I would get a pick up truck as a third car if I owned a boat. Good luck. 
I agree with your point, but it wouldn't provide any real benefit to me. I already have a car that I can use to put the boat in and out of the water, but it isn't the car that I drive every day. My S2000 is my daily driver, and I want to be able to spontaneously decide to stop by the lake on the way home.
The drivetrain is not an issue at all. If you tried to pull a 1K ton train, you couldn't put any more stress on the drivetrain than you would accellerating at WOT pulling nothing. The drivetrain ONLY experiences the force that the engine can put out, regardless of the load. Of course, there would be a significant amount of wear on the clutch, since it would have to be feathered out quite a bit.
09-01-2004, 07:09 AM
#13
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Originally Posted by exceltoexcel,Sep 1 2004, 10:03 AM
Serious Comments? Your talking about pulling a 2800lb load with a Honda S2000! The whole freaking car weighs that much! your car --> \___ < your boat!
That bad boy will lift the front end of the car right off the ground! How in the world is anyone going to take this question seriously. Please if you do this take a video so we can laugh our asses off. How are you going to stop! Even at ten miles an hour! Well if you do do it then thats one less s2000 on the road and our cars will go up in value. I suggest towing it in the snow with so2's on.
That bad boy will lift the front end of the car right off the ground! How in the world is anyone going to take this question seriously. Please if you do this take a video so we can laugh our asses off. How are you going to stop! Even at ten miles an hour! Well if you do do it then thats one less s2000 on the road and our cars will go up in value. I suggest towing it in the snow with so2's on.
09-01-2004, 07:09 AM
#14
I understand the point you are trying to make about not dammaging the drivetrain, but think about it this way:
If you tied your car up to a brick wall or some other "unmoveable object" and then tried to drive away, what would happen? Something is going to take all that stress, it might not be the transmission, but it could be the clutch, the diff, the half-shafts and the tires.
Karnak says: You're gonna bust somethin'
If you tied your car up to a brick wall or some other "unmoveable object" and then tried to drive away, what would happen? Something is going to take all that stress, it might not be the transmission, but it could be the clutch, the diff, the half-shafts and the tires.
Karnak says: You're gonna bust somethin'
09-01-2004, 07:16 AM
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The owners manual states a 400 lbs limit.....and you want to tow 2800lbs?
I don't think its going to work. Not only is the drivetrain going to take a beating, but the suspension as well. I can just picture the rear end squatting under all of that weight.
I wouldn't do it.
I don't think its going to work. Not only is the drivetrain going to take a beating, but the suspension as well. I can just picture the rear end squatting under all of that weight.
I wouldn't do it.
09-01-2004, 07:18 AM
#16
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Originally Posted by ruexp67,Sep 1 2004, 09:59 AM
Ok, I'll admit I thought about being an a-hole and a jerk to you on this, but I decided to give you a real answer.
1. The Boat and trailer are beyond the rating of a Class I hitch.
2. The S2000 is not designed to tow anything.
I am sure you know these things, but I wanted to reiterate them. Shearing off the bolts or the bumper mounts is a possibility, but you should seriously look at what it will do to the frame if it DOESN'T shear off. It will torque and twist the frame up into a knot.
There is a BIG difference between hauling a trailer on the highway and climbing hills with it as you already have momentum and inertia on your side, but when pulling a trailler and boat out of water and up a steep boat launch ramp you will be lucky if your doors ever close again (let alone the fitment of the convertable top.)
I realize that the X-Bone frame is strong, and stronger than most convertables but, please, don't try to tow a boat with it.
1. The Boat and trailer are beyond the rating of a Class I hitch.
2. The S2000 is not designed to tow anything.
I am sure you know these things, but I wanted to reiterate them. Shearing off the bolts or the bumper mounts is a possibility, but you should seriously look at what it will do to the frame if it DOESN'T shear off. It will torque and twist the frame up into a knot.
There is a BIG difference between hauling a trailer on the highway and climbing hills with it as you already have momentum and inertia on your side, but when pulling a trailler and boat out of water and up a steep boat launch ramp you will be lucky if your doors ever close again (let alone the fitment of the convertable top.)
I realize that the X-Bone frame is strong, and stronger than most convertables but, please, don't try to tow a boat with it.
It is true that the boat is about 50% beyond what the hitch is rated for, but the rating is based on towing things on real roads at posted speed limits, where the hitch can see HUGE variances in forces. For example, a 200 lbs tongue weight can spike to 500 lbs easily by going over a slight change in pavement on the highway. A hitch has to be able to withstand extreme changes in load that go way above their rating. I would never try towing this boat anywhere other than from my storage to the boat ramp with either of my cars. The only reason why I am even considering this is because my wife's car does such a great job. Keep in mind that my wife's TL has the same class hitch that mine does, and it wasn't designed for towing a trailer either.
There is no chance that I could hurt the frame of the car before the bumper would sheer off. The hitches on my car AND the TL are both bolted to sheet metal. If there was much stress on those mounts, the sheet metal would give up the ghost long before the frame would.
09-01-2004, 07:20 AM
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Originally Posted by gernby,Sep 1 2004, 10:09 AM
You don't know much about the physics of trailers, do you? I could pull this boat down the road with a 4 wheeler. I can pick the front of the trailer up without much effort at all. What forces are you referring to that will "lift the front end of the car right off the ground"? BTW, the brakes on the S2000 are at least as capable as the brakes on my wife's TL. So far, the TL has done a perfect job performing these duties.
09-01-2004, 07:22 AM
#18
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Originally Posted by ruexp67,Sep 1 2004, 10:09 AM
I understand the point you are trying to make about not dammaging the drivetrain, but think about it this way:
If you tied your car up to a brick wall or some other "unmoveable object" and then tried to drive away, what would happen? Something is going to take all that stress, it might not be the transmission, but it could be the clutch, the diff, the half-shafts and the tires.
Karnak says: You're gonna bust somethin'
If you tied your car up to a brick wall or some other "unmoveable object" and then tried to drive away, what would happen? Something is going to take all that stress, it might not be the transmission, but it could be the clutch, the diff, the half-shafts and the tires.
Karnak says: You're gonna bust somethin'
09-01-2004, 07:23 AM
#19
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Originally Posted by 03_AP1,Sep 1 2004, 10:16 AM
The owners manual states a 400 lbs limit.....and you want to tow 2800lbs?
I don't think its going to work. Not only is the drivetrain going to take a beating, but the suspension as well. I can just picture the rear end squatting under all of that weight.
I wouldn't do it.
I don't think its going to work. Not only is the drivetrain going to take a beating, but the suspension as well. I can just picture the rear end squatting under all of that weight.
I wouldn't do it.
The suspension will only have about 100 lbs on it!
09-01-2004, 07:30 AM
#20
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Originally Posted by exceltoexcel,Sep 1 2004, 10:20 AM
Go down into a valley when the car starts going up the hill and the trailer is still going down the hill the force of the trailer will be focused on the hitch! Also when you back the car into the water to release the boat and I'm sure that cement will be very wet you take a chance of sliding backwards. Oh yea how are you going to back an s2000 into the water? The tailpipes are so low they will be in the water!
The traction issue may be enough to make it not work, but that is not what I'm concerned about at this point. All I'm worried about is pulling my bumper off when I go up that ramp. It doesn't take trial and error to find out what the bumper can take, but I'm not sure how to calculate the load capacity. That's really all I'm asking here.