Towing a MINI

[Beau]

I have searched here found a few informative threads on this topic, but they were all old (at least the ones I found were old ) .....

I'm thinking about getting a new vehicle for towing behind my motorhome. I used to have a 2002 Cooper and loved it and would love to have another.

I'm sure I could tow a 2008 Cooper using a dolly but wonder about towing it flat, as a dinghy, all four wheels down.

Anyone here doing it?

Anyone here willing to look in their owner's manual to see if it is: 1) ok? 2) not suggested? 3) doable but will void the warranty? 4) forbidden?

Thanks for any help.

[DEye]

From crawling around underneath i don't know where you would attach anything to the plastic front to flat tow it ???

Dolly would probably work - but traillering it would probabbly be best and recommended

[AprilWhine]

Here's a picture of us towing our MCSC when moving cross country. We also towed our GP cross country with our Toyota FJ Cruiser. Both were on the same tow dolly and were fine. The blue bra on the car is made from tape, it's to protect the front from rocks.



There is a kit available to flat tow a manual MINI, but it is not recommended and will void your warrenty.

[Beau]

AprilWhine! Is that you? I met you in April or May 2002 at a drive at Crown Mini. I was the guy with the little blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the BRG Cooper. Remember? Man, I can't believe you've moved cross country!

We live in Alabama now and are soon (I hope) gonna be travellin _all_over_ the country in our motorhome. I too have a FJ Cruiser but since it can't be towed 4 down, I think I'm going to go the Cooper-on-a-dolly route.

Thanks!

[AprilWhine]

Quote: Originally Posted by Beau (original)

AprilWhine! Is that you? I met you in April or May 2002 at a drive at Crown Mini. I was the guy with the little blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and the BRG Cooper. Remember? Man, I can't believe you've moved cross country!

We live in Alabama now and are soon (I hope) gonna be travellin _all_over_ the country in our motorhome. I too have a FJ Cruiser but since it can't be towed 4 down, I think I'm going to go the Cooper-on-a-dolly route.

Thanks!

Yes, it's me! I thought you dropped out of the MINI world! Mike Angier said you sold the MINI and bought a BMW SUV.

We have a Navion and are planning on towing the MINI behind it when we want a towd, but the skinny Winnie is so easy to park, we are going to just take it most of the time. I'm on a Yahoo group for those makes, and one of the other owners tows a MC 4 down. But IMO, the cost of the conversion equals the price of a good dolly, and doesn't void your warrenty.

Here's our rig:

[AprilWhine]

Hey Beau, wanna caravan somewhere?

[Beau]

Yep, that was true. I sold the '02 and got a 4.4 X5. That car was so not me ... I only kept it 4 months. I'd keep the FJ for a very long time if I could tow it. My 2 favorite cars I've ever owned are the FJ and the Cooper, so I suppose it's gonna be a new Cooper for me.

Which dolly do you use? Did you worry with supplemental braking?

Caravaning could be a good idea once we head out west!

[AprilWhine]

We have the Demco Tow-It with surge brakes: Tow Dollies and Tow Bars from Demco

Bought it slightly used off Ebay for a good price, but had to pick it up. No big deal, we were lucky it was less than 200 miles away. We have the one with surge brakes, that was necessary for the lightweight RV. We had an older dolly without brakes which we sold a few months ago, that's the one in the pictures. We towed the MCSC with the old U Haul west, then the GP with the FJ.

Agree with you about the MINI and FJ, we'll keep that pair. We're going to sell one of the MINIs, we just don't need three cars now that we're retired. Just have to decide which one. We put 10k miles on the FJ the first month we owned it, made a trip to NV then back to VA.

You can tow the FJ but it's not easy. Fuzzy says disconnect the drive shaft and use the dolly. We're going to do that to move it to NV, but for trips to Moab or Death Valley we'll just drive it with the RV.

We are currently in VA doing maintenance on the house that is for sale, we're heading back to NV soon. We're going to take the scenic route via the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and anything else that strikes a fancy.

[AprilWhine]

Here's some pictures of the FJ towing the GP

[Beau]

Wow that looks pretty gutsy. I just looked up the weight on the FJ --- I don't think my motorhome would enjoy the 4300 lbs (plus all the stuff I'd stuff into it). The Mini looks like the #1 option right now. How much does that dolly weigh?

[AprilWhine]

We'll tow it out with the old U-Haul, not the RV. Our Navion is only rated to tow 3500 lbs. If we're going off roading, we'll drive the FJ and the RV and haul more stuff in the FJ. Can't have too much *stuff* in the desert.

I'm not sure what the dolly weighs, maybe Fuzzy can answer? The dolly and MINI are less than the rated allowance of the RV.

[Jim Ray]

Hi Beau, strange world, isn't it?

The FJ is almost a MINI, it has a white top! I put a red "S" on the back of the FJ, makes it faster, you know. And, it has a MINI's on the dragon sticker. We drove the Dragon with it, and got posted on Killboy's site.

The combined weight of the dolly and MINI is close to the recommended for the Navion to tow. I feel more comfortable towing slightly more weight, with the dolly having the surge brakes. The trip towing the GP with the FJ was ok, till I got into that 4 mile long 9% downgrade on the Boulder Dam bypass going into Laughlen from the East. That was a pucker factor. Getting it up to speed is no problem, stopping it is the problem.

If you get your tow dolly used, they sell for about what you pay for them when you decide you want to go with something else. And they sell pretty fast. We sold the old one in Vegas to a guy who was going to tow a Scion XB behind a huge Class A. I had modified it to tow the GP. I took the ramps off, and made them stand alone by blocking the front of them with two by's. That way they could not kick up and damage the sills of the GP. The GP is so low it will not run over a soda can without hitting. I gained a little more clearance by replacing the tires on the dolly with the lowest profile Falken 512's that I could get. The Falkens are rated to 50 psi inflation pressure, so a little more carrying capacity. That dropped the axle of the dolly to about 2-3 inches from the ground. It dragged on high spots in gravel lots, but it was a strong beast, and no big deal.

Kept the FJ in fourth gear all the way across country, got pretty good gas mileage, and had no problems with towing the weight. Our best fuel mileage was in the mountains of Colorado coming back, but we could get real gasoline there (No Ethanol).

I would tow the FJ in flat areas, even tho a little overweight, but the electronics for the four wheel drive preclude that. Evidently, when you put the transfer case in neutral it starts the connection between front and rear to prevent gear grind. Too bad.

We pulled a travel trailer to MINI's on the Dragon with the FJ, so the GP was a piece of cake.

Here is a photo of one of the View/Navion owners towing his MINI. I will try to get details of what mods by what manufacturers products enabled him to do it. In the end, they are our vehicles, and we can do with them what we wish.






Jim

Quote: Originally Posted by Beau (original)

Wow that looks pretty gutsy. I just looked up the weight on the FJ --- I don't think my motorhome would enjoy the 4300 lbs (plus all the stuff I'd stuff into it). The Mini looks like the #1 option right now. How much does that dolly weigh?

[Jim Ray]

Beau,

Sherry and I were just talking.

We feel pretty good about our vehicle choices, considering that they are the same as those of a person who bought a MINI with a leather interior selected just to match his dog's coloring.

[Beau]

That's great data Jim, thanks!

And our next Mini, should that come to pass, will have the beige leather too -- since I now have _3_ of those dogs (though one is black).

Which reminds me ... it looks like all of the new cars have black carpet regardless of the interior color. True?

[AprilWhine]

Today, Fuzzy rigged our clubbie for flat towing.