Towing an AWD vehicle

Hello!

Im moving from Los Angeles to Seattle. I have a 2019 Taco SR5 4x4 with tow package.
My girlfriend has a Subaru outback awd it weighs about ~3600lbs.

The only thing we are bringing is a TV stand, TV, queen size bed, computer chair, coffee table, about 4 suitcases, and 3-4 Boxes of Dishes/utensils/household crap.

If I can get everything in the truck(yet to be determined), I want to tow her vehicle as well. I just dunno how to do this or if it is even feasible. I know I am under the towing capacity with the car.

Some questions:
Is it possible to tow the subaru all 4 wheels on the ground? How should I hook up to it? with just a regular vehicle tow bar? Is it possible to hook up the brakes or does that not matter? Will cause potential damage to the vehicle?

Or I can rent a tow bed from UHAUL? Is this recommended? This will be the first time i have ever towed anything, but im a fairly confident driver.

Are there any special techniques or tips you can provide? I have been reading up on it and watching youtube videos as well.

Worst comes to worse we will both drive up separately.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

FYI... there's a mountain pass from LA to SEA. I would not recommend towing that much weight (car and trailer) over passes. As far as towing the Subie with all wheels on the ground, unless you can "disconnect" the AWD system (put it in neutral), then no, you can't. Regardless, I'd recommend a trailer... and a different truck to pull it.

 

Depends if its an auto or a manual. You can not flat to an auto Subie, center diff will melt. You also can't put it on a dolly and drag two wheels no matter what transmission.

Tow bar required, and probably not going to be super easy to bolt on. Also going to need some kind of harness or trailer lights on there too.

I'm going to say it's way better to drive both of them.

 

You can flat tow a Subaru with a manual transmission in neutral. You cannot flat tow or tow on 2 wheels an automatic. You would need a flat deck for this.

 

A tow bar on the Subaru isn't going to work -- you wouldn't have any brakes on the car. Very bad idea. (this is when people die)

A u-haul drive on weighs 2210 + 3600 (car) = 5810 add in the household goods and yourselves, 1100 miles, first time towing -- doesn't sound like a fun or safe trip to me.

Have her drive the car, take your time, be safe.

 

Thanks for all the advice ! Looks like we driving separately all good

 

It's a fun drive and lots of different side track you can take if you have the time. Good luck on your move.

Here's a fun little story about my trip moving from LA to PDX. Wife and I drove separately with our 4 year old son and a 6 month old puppy. We had 2 cars and we alternated the child and the dog because both cars were crammed with clothes and stuff we couldn't put in the moving van.

We left on a Wednesday night and stopped in Bakersfield for the night.
Thursday we drove to SF to hang with some friends before going further up to Redding where we were going to spend the night.

On I5 in the small town of Willows, we stop to get gas, and as we are leaving the gas station and my kid screams and says "it hurts!" from the back seat, so I stop and ask him what's wrong. He says, "There's a rock in my ear!" So I ask how it got there and his response was "I put it there", I asked him where he got the rock from, "It was in my pocket" he says...

We try to use tweezers, but couldn't get it out, so we find an urgent care clinic where we spend the next 3 hours waiting.
They have tools to do it, but they are the adult tools and are too big for the ears of a 4 year old.
They send us to the emergency room in Chico where the emergency room has the tools, but since his ear hurts now they give him ketamine so they can try to get the rock out. They can't do it.

The next morning (Friday) we go to an ENT(ear nose throat) doctor he tries, but the 4 year old has had enough of everything and the doctor has to schedule surgery for the next afternoon. After going under from the anesthesia, the doctor gets the rock out in about 30 seconds. We stay one more night (Saturday) in town on the doctors orders.

We drank some beers at Sierra Nevada Brewing and slept really well that night.

Sunday we had to get up early to make it from Chico to Portland so we could get the keys to our apartment before 5pm on Sunday night.

What I learned from all of this was that kids do stupid stuff, hospitals use ketamine, and Chico is a really cool town. My son just turned 10 last week, and I'm happy to report that the ears have been free of rocks for 6 years running!

 

Wait until he hits his teen years... there will be rocks in his head again, or at least you'll think there are...

 

Great story!

 

Based on my experience towing a 2300 lb boat and trailer with a 2001 Subaru Forester and a 2020 taco, I think you most likely will need a trailer with trailer brakes (probably even legally based on state laws). I've never tried to tow that much weight plus your payload, but it's possible the taco might be able to do it based on specs. I tend to do things many people consider outrageous and/or unsafe, however I think I would not feel comfortable with such a situation without first experimenting on a smaller trip to see how comfortable I am.