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Performance Towing w/ a Volvo?

blkaplan

50 shades of beige
300+ Club
Joined
Jul 30, 2002
Location
Rockville, MD
So I have my Lemons car up and running and we are looking at running some more races this year. Last race I borrowed a 2001 F350 Dually 2wd and a 2 axle drive on trailer. It worked great as expected...

What I want to figure out is can my 95 960 sedan tow my 2700 lb race car reasonably safely?

Factory tow rating is 3500 lb. That leaves me 800lbs for a trailer. How much does an aluminum dual axle trailer weigh? I know I could probably use a tow dolly but i'd prefer not to.

Many people just say buy a truck and do it right, it may come down to it but if I can make some improvements and tweaks I would rather have 1 less vehicle to maintain and pay registration and insurance on.

In Sweden people tow all types of **** with their 960s and you can actually get extra bracing and reinforcements that Volvo installed on their heavy duty application vehicles.

Volvo made a set of reinforcing plates that raise the towing capacity to 1900 kg / 4200 lbs

http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-part...-parts/reinforcing-kit-trailer-hitch/1015479/

http://www.skandix.de/en/spare-part...tch-with-rigid-coupling-ball-1600-kg/1002412/

I could certainly make a heavier duty version of that hitch with some thickwall tubing, triangles, and




Perhaps with either a Volvo Brand trailer hitch w/ a 2" receiver or make something heavy duty myself?

Things I would want to have if I seriously considered it.

Uprated front brakes (302 rotors or bigger?)
electric trailer brakes w/ controller.
Light weight trailer to reduce total weight being towed.

So say I make the chassis strong enough to do it and I have the correct trailor hookup. How well can I get this thing to tow? Wheel base is decently long. What do you guys think?
 
Rear air shocks to correct rear sag. Lol How far are you going to tow. Grades? That 960 will definitely pull just fine. Stopping would be my only concern. Nice hitch to chassis and the trailer won't go anywhere. Brakes and tires should be main concern?
 
Rear air shocks to correct rear sag. Lol How far are you going to tow. Grades? That 960 will definitely pull just fine. Stopping would be my only concern. Nice hitch to chassis and the trailer won't go anywhere. Brakes and tires should be main concern?

Car has 17x8 pegs now.... thats enough wheel for a decent load capacity tire.

brake upgrade on the car and good trailer brakes should slow it down i would hope?

Being that I'm on the east coast, things are mostly flat around here. I could be looking at some long tows though.

Like something from DC to Georgia

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Roa...8637e986669e1a5!2m2!1d-77.1420412!2d39.098323

The car already has super stiffly valved rear shocks that feel right when i have about 4500 lbs vehicle weight.

Some nivomats would also probably be a nice idea... if i were super serious
 
The transmission would be a weak link as well. They can overheat even without towing. Would definitely consider upgrading the trans cooler.
 
The transmission would be a weak link as well. They can overheat even without towing. Would definitely consider upgrading the trans cooler.

Yes, that would be a good idea. I was gonna do a manual swap on the car but if im towing it might be better to keep the auto. the Xc90 comes with a really nice trans cooler i could fit.
 
I would do it. Tranny cooler hell yes. Hook it all together and do some brake checks some place safe. Adjust as needed. BAM ready to tow when you find a balance of vehicle and trailer braking. Oh ya need any drivers for lemons?
 
Oh ya need any drivers for lemons?

At the moment I have 3 other dedicated drivers I believe so the team is full but i'm sure we might have an open seat sometime in the future. There was some talk of doing a west coast campaign in it next year. We will see how the next few races go.
 
We do a lot of long distance heavy towing with our Volvo's but mostly using 240's. We have towed a lot of heavy stuff like Range Rovers and Toyota Landcruiser's as well as plenty of Volvos most often well loaded up. We run lowered front springs up front with twin rate rear springs with adjustable dampers to take the extra axle weight.
With the Auto box a big oil cooler is a must as we have killed a few boxes due to lots of over heating. They don't fail leaving you stranded but get very noisey but if up put up with the noise for long enough they are going to totally give up and topping up with oil gets a bit of a pain when they have worn.
 
The other thing I would recommend if you're not already a devotee is synthetic lube. My personal favorite is the Amsoil product line, and everyone has their favorites. No matter what, a premium synthetic will put up with more heat than it's regular petroleum counterpart. Most automatic trannies, as you know, die from excess heat, so a cooler and synthetic ATF will help a bunch. An adjustable brake balancer will help for your trailer, obviously. You may end up having to take a second vehicle loaded down with all of your spares, etc. The weight adds up quickly.:omg:
 
With the tongue weight already maxed, you cannot have enough weight in the back of the wagon to give you good control in an emergency maneuver. Don't be a fool.
 
Get a trans cooler off of a kia Sedona, they're huge. Other than that, I beat the snot out of my 960, that trans should be able to handle towing if you can keep temps under control.
 
Accumulator mod and tranny cooler should have you set there.
Brake upgrades would be nice too, trailers may have brakes but they don't stop the full weight o the trailer and load.
 
Accumulator mod and tranny cooler should have you set there.
Brake upgrades would be nice too, trailers may have brakes but they don't stop the full weight o the trailer and load.

Is there an accumulator mod for the AW3040? Its a pretty damn stout tranny compared to the AW70/71, and the lockup function is nice.

Trailer brakes, if setup and maintained properly, can haul the trailer and tow vehicle down at quite a good pace. Most all trailer brake controllers are very adjustable and can be dialed in very nice. No need to break the bank on that necessary bit.

I used to work at a small truck custom shop and installed all sorts of these accessories, and overload springs of all sorts of varieties. I honestly prefer air bag assist over permanent helper springs or overloads, they just ruin the regular ride.

T'were me I'd figure out how to incorporate an air bag assist, and just run some lines and mount two schrader valves right under your gas door, no onboard compressor. Its simple, and when your not towing, air them down to 10psi and enjoy normal a normal ride (very common on trucks, and IMHO the best solution). Although Airlift does have self leveling systems for $$$$$ but they are a set it and forget it thing, VERY nice if you haul all sorts of different loads and trailers.


But I digress. My 960 hauled a 244 with no motor, on a double axle trailer balanced just right. It wasn't miserable, but I definately would have wanted trailer brakes if I were going any more than the 20 miles I went.
 
Blkaplan, thanks for posting this! I'd love to be able to haul my other volvo's with my 740.

I have been wondering some time why some german Volvo 700's are allowed to tow 1900kg while others are only allowed to tow 1500kg. I thought it had something to do with the rear springs, but i guess i was wrong. HD rear springs will defenitely be usefull, but i thinks it's the reinforcements that make the (legal) difference.

Now i need to figure out if it is possible to get a 1900 kg registration for my 740 from the RDW (dutch T?v). Maybe i need to get a t?v-approval first..
 
HD trailer brakes with a prodigy brake controller/thread


Build it all yourself, you will have the piece of mind you did it right.

Also get a low profile ducktail trailer. The lower center of gravity will help with emergency maneuvers. I converted a dual Axel boat trailer to a car hauler a while back ....it was nice having the weight low to the ground. With your skill you should redo the whole rear suspension.....keep springs, keep it simple, less things to go wrong on road trips.

Also some big ass brakes.
 
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