It looks like I'm going to have to relocate and I want to take the Miata with me. I'm currently seeing what is the better way to do it due that I have to transport a few items with me and probably won't have enough space in the car. Has anyone here done a long distance drive with a small trailer? or am I just going to kill my transmission trying?

 

We just trailered my Miata from New Orleans to St. Louis. I work for a Penske dealer, so we 'hiked' a full car trailer to another location up here. You can't rent a trailer from Penske without a truck, but U-Haul will rent you one.
We pulled the trailer with a Chevy 2500HD V8 Gasoline, and got from 9-12 MPG the whole trip, at about 70mph. The trailer has a sticker that says not to tow past 55mph, but we ignored it....
Since the Miata is RWD, you'll really want to have all four wheels up as opposed to a dolly, so as not to burn up your drive train.

 

I've pulled mine to tracks all over the southeast US for years with a tow dolly and am putting ~250whp through the 5-speed without any complaints from the drivetrain yet. I wouldn't be concerned with that being an issue.

Hard Dog makes hitches for the Miata.
Miata Hard Dog Hitches

 

Thanks I'll look at U-Haul and see

Haha wth!!! Diesel swapped miata???

I think I saw somewhere that you could use a dolly if you disconnect the driveshaft. Any idea on towing capacity of the miata? (dumb question I know) Any issues from those that haul tires back and forth from trackdays?

 

The Class I hitch from Hard Dog is rated at 2000lbs but the car is technically rated to tow zero.

You can use a dolly without disconnecting the driveshaft. When you saw me at the Homestead race track, the car was towed 4+ hours there and then back home with everything connected and on a tow dolly. Back wheels on the ground and everything.

 

You disconnect the driveshaft on an automatic car. That I know of, every automatic transmission has the oil pump driven by the torque converter which means if the engine is not running then you have no oil circulating in the trans and having the driveshaft still in will force the internals to turn without lubrication. Hence damaged auto trans.

No such issue with manual trans. Having the rear tires on the ground just means you are getting wear on your tires, bearings, etc. That doesn't mean you are damaging anything.

BTW, they sell kits to tow auto trans cars so you don't have to disconnect the driveshaft. Specifically for people who tow the car behind an RV with all four wheels on the ground and FWD cars. Its an electric pump that connects to the trans cooler

 

I have the FM hidden hitch and I love it. I tow my tire trailer with 4 275's, and also a big plastic box for tools and wet weather storage. Total weight is less than 500lbs. I believe GVW is 3000lbs? So I'm close to that with a few other things in the car plus my co-driver.

No issues other than brakes don't work as well, really sucks leaving lights with AC on, and 20-22mpg!

 

Some people came to my house once and had an MR2 in the back of a penske truck, that was towing another MR2. I was impressed. Maybe try putting it IN a penske truck. lol

 

Thanks to all for the input. Alright, at this point it looks like I dont have much that is worth going through the trouble of buying a tow hitch and renting a something from uhaul. So Im just going to pack the car and drive it like that. I think at most I could get a luggage rack in case I don't have enough space.

I also just found out about the Auto Train and I can put my car into the Amtrak from Orlando and travel to Lorton Virginia and drive to Michigan from there.

 

You can always pack a box and ship some stuff UPS, if you know exactly where you are going.