Towing capacity question
 

Read this editorial and respond:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/edi...ng-conspiracy/

Do any owners other then those in the US know what the towing capacity restrictions are from your owners manuals? (to be sure, I am not certain where the HHR is sold).

For the auto, it's 1000 lbs. Manual is not recommended for towing.

Solman, you missed the point of the posting. We know what HHRs sold in the US are rated for, the question is the rating for HHRs sold outside the US borders. It may be that only Canada can reply as I do not know where GM sells the HHR. Chrysler quickly sold PTs in Europe and they did well there. Anyone?

Why we differ from other contries as far as wuoted towing capacities? My guess is because we live in a society that is more apt to sue someone than to use common sense to regulate what they do, hence the conservative or no tow rating.

HHRs have the same tow rating in Canada & the US.

I read how the rating gets established the other day. Let me find the link and I'll post it later. It's all about torque, and the automatic has more (through the torque converter) at startup than the standard, so it gets the 1000 lbs tow rating and the standard gets 0.

There ya go: http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/jk/080227.htm

Now I'm sure that there's a hefty safety margin in those numbers, and a good deal of CYA from the actions of stupid people.

Yves

The Vectra in the UK is rated to tow 3300lbs (slightly more than its own kerb weight) with the 2.2 engine. Another Delta platform car, the Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Astra Wagon with a 1.8L, and the same transmission as the HHR, has a tow rating of 1,400lbs. (630kg.) for trailers without brakes and 2,700lbs. (1250kg.) for trailers with brakes.
Given the very short first gear in the HHR, I doubt that off-the line torque would be an issue.
Odder still is that the towing limit on my Camaro is also 1000lbs, but it has 350hp, a very stout transmission, and large vented discs all round. A similarly equipped Holden will pull 3500lbs.

We were just on vacation and had towed our Can-Am Spyder down with us. The Spyder weighs 700 pounds, the trailer is probably 300 tops plus us and our stuff which was probably 400 tops. So that's 1200-1400 pounds on the high end and the car performed famously and that included climbing mountains. We averaged 16-20 MPG too!

Geoff.

My question would be, could my HHR pull a teardrop trailer?

Towing Capacity HHR
 

I have a 2008 HHR and after reading the factory manual I felt I knew no more than when I started. They state the towing capacity is 1000 lbs, but then it goes on to how to calculate the gross vehicle weight. The problem is they did not bother to provide what that number might be. The pages in the manual are generic.

So I decided to call the dealer and all they could tell me was read my owners manual. Gee, thanks. At this point I decided to call GM directly and find out if 1000 lbs was truly accurate. I thought that that seemed too low because even the lightest pop-up camping trailer (which many manufacturers claim can be towed by small car) weigh typically 1250 lbs or more.

Here is what GM told me. My 2008 HHR with the standard non-turbo engine and automatic transmission can tow up to 3030 lbs. In addition, the HHR has a payload weight capacity of 1002 lbs. They were unable to provide me with tongue weight, but the payload capacity gives you a good idea what might be possible.

I think that if your loaded trailer weighs around 2000 lbs there should be plenty of HP to pull the load. My concern is the transmission. I think there are other factors to also consider, such as "Is the trailer height; low or high?" A pop-up trailer does not have much wind resistance, therefore stress and strain is much less.

Bottomline in my mind is cooling. If the cooling system can keep up and maintain the motor temperature where needs to be there is no issue. The transmission is the big concern, heat is a killer. I think that an additional trans cooler and probably a temp gauge is a must for any towing. They de-tuned the turbo version because the transmission is a weak link.

Other considerations to reduce stress and strain on the vehicle I would suggest are: 1. load leveling/torsion bars. This shifts the weight off of your vehicle and distributes more it to the trailer. 2. Possibly, anti-sway bars 3. electric brakes on the trailer. One issue is that you will have to install a class 2 hitch with a 2" receiver. It seems they only make loading leveling devices that fit a 2" receiver. I found a couple of companies on-line make such a hitch. I need to find out if I can get one to fit the HHR. My research continues.

From what I was able to gather, when I researching the hitch for my HHR, the limiting issue was not the Power/Torque of the engine as much as it was the physical mounting of the hitch. The typical HHR hitch is only bolted to the rear unibody channel. In other words you are talking about just a couple of bolts per side, bolted through sheet metal.

To tow more weight safely you might need to reinforce the mounting points or come up with a mount that used more/better mounting points.

1,000 lbs. is just enough for me... one of the biggest reasons I went with the auto.

However, I wish there was a little bit more... my El Camino did 1,500 easy.

I can agree with HHorange. I have a hitch on my HHR. Class one is what you will find, unless someone is making class II's. It only attaches to sheet metal with 4 bolts hanging from the frame. It would need better mounting for anything of a higher rating.

i was just thinking about this and looking at t@b teardrop trailers the other day. They range from 1500-2000 lbs, would love to pull one of it was possible.

still might add a hitch on the back for bikes, even though i hate how they look. I would still have to get a new bike rack since mine is the larger hookup and the hhr hitches i think are smaller (can't remember the dimensions...)

Wish there was a way to attach brackets and hook the entire hitch part on as needed. Especially since it will be mainly for bikes, it won't have a lot of weight on it. Tried getting the bikes in the hhr, it didn't go well. I have an XL frame hybrid bike, and to get it in and still have room for other stuff i'll have to take both wheel and the seat off. PITA.

My last car (Buick w 3800 sc) I had a hitch and towed stuff when I moved to Florida. The manual recommended towing in 3rd gear as with the transmission in OD would kill the transmission towing a trailer (U-haul). I pulled the trailer some 1300 mile from NY to Florida, then used it to move some furnature from Boca to Merritt Island. My biggest complaint was the lousy gas mileage I got towing ...16 mpg, whereas I had been getting nearly 28 mph cruising. I think the HHR recommends towing in "I" to keep the rpms and hp up there.

My second trip, I rented a mini van, took out the back seats loaded it up as it was lots easier. (3000 miles in a week) My third trip I just loaded up the Buick, installed a bike rack in the trailer hitch and took it easy.

Towing for hhr
 

is it possible to get the hidden hitch assembly for 2011 2lt hhr 2.4 auto and tow a 2000 harley davidson heritage softail classic???

There is more to towing than how much power to pull is available. You also have to be able to control both vehicles, and get them stopped at the bottom of a 7% grade when something unexpected jumps out in front of you. IMO if you want to tow, the HHR is not the best choice, though I know many do tow with them.

I am looking into getting a hitch for my HHR in the near future and have been comparing brands. I don't think anyone makes a class 2 for the HHR, only class 1.

Yes..Have one on my 08 SS and pull a dressed Road Glide on a 4 by 8 trailer from Harbor Freight.....tows better then I expected.
Theres no difference in body construction thru out the HHR years

The reason for the low tow ratings in the USA are quite simply that thier are an amazing amount of stupid people here and lawyers make sure that they are never at fault for thier stupidity. I see so many dangerous towing and loading of vehicles and so much failure to secure loads it really is just amazing. Like most things, the irresponsible few ruin it for the responsible many. I would never hesitate to tow with the HHR if you do it correctly. I myself towed a few times with my Honda CRV which was rated at 1500 lbs. and I know I went over 2000lbs a couple of times and the vehicle had zero problems, even stopping in snow from highway speeds when moving stuff from Indiana to Ohio one winter.

I have a friend in Louisiana that went to rent a small trailer from "the big trailer rental" company and they refused to rent to him on liability grounds... he was driving an Explorer with a class III welded on frame hitch.

Go figure

Another difference in tow weight ratings of North America vs. Europe is that "experts" here recommend 10-15% of the trailer weight as allowable/ideal tongue weight as opposed to the European practice of 7-12%. I just saw this today on http://www.tnttt.com, while trying to arrive at a compromise on my trailer build (I'm either gonna be too heavy or too light, either way,without major adjustments).

Hi All

Well I am buying a trike ( used older ) and wish I can tow it with my HHR.. Bike weight is
1,300.00

I was checking out a towing device and thought this was intresting:

http://www.trikedoctor.co.uk/shoputrailerette.php

As to the discrepancy between U.S. and European towing limits, there has got to be some factoring in of the different road conditions and speed limits. Also, it appears to me (although I have no information to back this up) that the European 'Caravans' (travel trailers to us peoples in the U.S.) are much lighter that the ones we have over here. Most of them are narrower as well.

CJ
I have a Hidden Hitch on my 2010 LT and it works fine. The hitch sould be the same for yours. It would also fit my wife's 2009*.
Ron

The other day I towed my trike to the shop ( About 1/2 mile away) with no issues. I need to take it on the interstate to see how it does probably this weekend.

Attachment 25401

If you are exceeding the rated tongue weight of the hitch, please don't tow that anywhere like that. A Hidden Hitch is only rated at a 200lb tongue weight, and with that long wheelbase I bet you are exceeding that by a huge margin.

I have no facts to back my Opinion up but here is my stance on towing with the HHR.....don't do it.....its a front wheel drive,4 cyl, car that already has a few braking issues that people have had to deal with it....I could go on and on about Towing cap. center of gravity, weight and balance (I used to be a Loadmaster)...and simply said I don't think the HHR was designed for towing at all.....maybe a 4X8 harbor freight trailer used to haul home a playset or a grill but that is it...

Got the front of the bike weight at a truck weight station and its at 200 lbs.
All of the weight is on the rear. The only time I will tow if the bike brakes down in town.