Roadster90 Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I bought a 1988 "Buick Trailer Towing Guide" on ebay the other day....in perfect condition with only a three page fold out, but incorporating 5 full pages of informative towing text and specifications. It gives specs for the whole Buick line, but what was surprising was it gave a Maximum Gross Trailer Weight for the Reatta @ 1000 lbs..Confusing though is the Riviera v. Reatta ....It gives a 3.8 Reatta @ 1000lbs and has an LN3 listed below the 3.8 but nothing beside it???? On the Rivi is gives 1000lbs for the 3.8 and then a LN3 @ 2000lbs (has a final drive ratio of 2.73 thrown into the spec. mix for the Rivi LN#)???? Was there an LN3 engine in a Reatta in 1988 (or a Rivi for that matter)?Incidnetly, I think there has been another one put up for sale on ebay if anyone is interested..mine is very nice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-a-n-i-e-l Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Nic,The ln3 is the 3800 pre series II, at least that is how I understand it. Also I know there was a couple upgrades to the engie prior to the series II (amounting to a few horses). Like you said and from what I have heard (not read in a manual) the Riv was offered with a bit lower final drive, wich could account for the diffrence (the engines are the same). Also the air ride suspention may be a major factor in the diffrent towing rating (although the air ride should only affect tounge weight). I am going to be looking into using the air system from the Riv on my Reatta. Between that the SC engine and improved F body (98-02) brakes I see no reason to believe that the my Reatta could not tow a 2,500lb trailer. (as with factory ratings, this would be a trailor with it own independent braking system) Speaking of brake upgrades, that may be an other limitting factor in the towing capacity. I will try to do a bit of math and research to find out more about towing with the Reatta. I would love to be able to safely tow 3k lbs. At that point I could get rid of my Blazer and still have a decent ability to get some jobs done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CL_Reatta Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 back in the spring when I was considering pulling a boat with my Reatta I studied and found that there should be no reason why you could not pull 2000 lbs...if/when I do get another I more than likely will be pulling about 1500 lbs (I wont sell it this time lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadster90 Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 I have pulled my utility trailer with a 1/2 yard of top soil in it before and it was a breeze...also 1000 lbs of gravel with no trouble..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TommyH Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 From what I know, it will just tax your tranny, just like F14 experianced. I guess only if you had the additonal stress of a turbo or supercharger, and towed all the time. It should be ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Greg Ross Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Had geared mine up with a trailer to haul a Suzuki Cruising Bike on a purpose built trailer. Ran it to Florida and back and found that at higher speeds the car tracked really, really well. This was pre-S/C days.If you're going to tackle a ton or more then independent brakes are a "must have", the Reatta is too short coupled to haul that kind of weight and stop safely. That's proportionately a lot of weight to have pushing the rear end of the car around. Oh, and add a real tranny cooler too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 In the past I've towed two sport quads on a 6x10 trailer, about the most I've had behind mine. I wired up the lights myself with relays. The rear sat down a little bit with good Sensa Tracs and my Mustang 17''s. Rivi air struts would solve this . As Greg points out Reattas track really well and I felt perfectly safe with it.I'm running Mobil 1 ATF and a pretty large aux trans cooler. It's hard to gauge when I installed the hitch, how much I used it, the s/c, etc to figure how much it affected tranny life, but it was still good at 172k miles.You would want trailer brakes if you went above [some weight figure] but certainly the Aurora brake upgrade helps. I would also suggest using a 180f thermostat, coolant flush, maybe an EPROM burn from Ryan to have the fans keep the engine cooler, and a bottle of Water Wetter for luck. With a 190f stat and without the rest, air con on on the freeway in the summer, I was reading engine temps in excess of 240f...close to triggering the ECC warning message Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnt Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Is there any standard class II hitch that works or must a custom hitch be made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest F14CRAZY Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Uhaul seems to make one at least when I checked, but mine was custom built, from Estaver's plans. I think I still have them somewhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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