I have an 89 Pickup 4x4 with the 22re and 5 speed and I need to haul my friends Dakota about 15 miles on the highway to our auto class and I'm wondering if it's at all possible. I have a frame welded 2in receiver and we don't plan on going any faster than 55, we just need to get it to the shop cause he burned out his brakes and using my truck over renting something is going to be much much cheaper

 

Since your asking most likely a good idea to not do this.

There are quite a few threads on towing perhaps read through them.

You don`t say just how do you plan on Towing this??

Tow Dolly or on a trailer??Brakes or no brakes??

Total weight of every thing??

It comes down to if you trust the welding of your receiver hitch??

What sort of brake failure caused the brakes to catch on fire??

 

It would most likely be a tow dolly so no trailer brakes. Total weight comes to less than 4000lbs and I'd trust the welds to more than 6000. His brakes didn't catch fire but smoked like crazy and two hours later you could still smell the rotors, it was caused by the front driver's side caliper not releasing. I trust the truck to do it for the most part, I'm just wondering if there are any weak links in the drivetrain that might cause issue.

 

And I already checked some other threads but they're all talking about towing often or in less flat areas and this is just a one time deal with flat terrain

 

You won't hurt the truck any unless you get into an accident. However, braking will be very marginal with a gross weight (towing vehicle + towed vehicle) of about 8000 lbs. Your insurance may not cover you if you rear-end someone because you couldn't stop in that situation. I wouldn't go anywhere near 55 mph; 40 mph absolute max.

 

What He Said !!!

If at all possible avoid any highways.

Braking and taking corners to fast can cause problems .

Just take your time.

 

I wouldn't do it. Having your insurance deny your claim if you rear end someone will be much, much more expensive. Tell him to spend $60 on a AAA membership and wait the required week, then have them tow it to the shop. Or just call a tow truck, wouldnt prob cost more than $60-$80

 

I also doubt seriously that you'll be able to rent a tow dolly for this, at least not from U-Haul, Ryder, etc. They ask about your tow vehicle and what you're planning to tow, and won't rent to you if they think the load is too much for your towing vehicle. My son was turned down trying to rent a dolly to tow his Nissan Sentra (about 2800 lbs) behind a '97 4runner.

I agree the easiest, and by far the safest, would be to call a flatbed tow truck to haul it over. $4/mile is a fairly typical rate as I recall.