MG-Cars.net

Welcome to our resource for MG Car Information.

Recommendations

Parts

MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG MGA - towing??

HI ALL
just wondering how much weight the MGA 1622 motor would tow , we have a small caravan and it would be great to have the MG withus to go touring ???
Cheers Colin
c daly

I would not expect trouble if you drove accordingly and were carefull with the clutch.
I have attached a pic I took some few years back of my friends outfit in central Australia. They were using a little folding type caravan and it was quite heavy with extra jerries of fuel and water as well as spares. Try to avoid lots of down-weight on the draw bar.

Matthew.


M Magilton

I've been towing this one around for more than 100,000 miles since 1989.
http://mgaguru.com/ak/wta.jpg
It has 22 cubic feet of space in a sturdy fiberglass box weighing 150 pounds empty.

Loaded for a typical long road trip it starts with a fully loaded full size ice chest, camping gear, couple of suit cases, A box or food stuff, a box of utensils, a moderate size box of car parts, a case of oil, and with space allowing, a couple of pillows. I recon it commonly goes around 400 pounds inside, or 550 pounds gross weight. It slows down acceleration some, requires more stopping distance but cruises fine at expressway speeds. (Maybe turn down the volume before clicking this one).
http://mgaguru.com/pic89/trmont.htm
That was with a 1500 engine with "18" head. For the Alaska trip it had two spare car wheels and tires bolted underneath the trailer, a spare trailer tire on the side and another one inside, and it was really overstuffed, so add another 100 pounds or so.

I once had two complete MGA engines in the trailer.
350 x 2 + 150 = about 850 pounds gross. That was a bit of drag on the expressway around 60-mph, as the small 2-ply trailer tires have significant rolling resistance with high load, even with 60-psi max pressure in the tires.

For one trip to a swap meet It was probably heavier with an engine block, crankshaft, cylinder head, flywheel, two sets of carburetors, three complete gearboxes, and whatever else I could fit in the remaining small spaces. That was likely pushing 1000 pounds gross, kind of slow in traffic, and I wouldn't want to haul that much around an a regular basis.

In short, 500 to 600 pounds for the trailer can be comfortable on paved or gravel roads. The tail never wags the dog. At steady highway speeds you hardly notice it is even there, except it reduces fuel economy by about 2 to 3 mpg.


Barney Gaylord

cheers folks food for thought
Colin
c daly

This thread was discussed between 19/05/2013 and 20/05/2013

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.