The message to which you are about to reply is shown first. GO TO REPLY FORM



 VIEW    REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE    PRINT   SAVE 

Hitch for my 940 900

That small UHaul cargo trailer would seemingly work well for your needs. I'd have no hesitation towing it behind my 940 wagon on longer trips, except on snow or ice. I frequently use a utility trailer behind my 940 B230FT wagon, including highway travel with a load of people, dogs and a full load of gear in the back of the wagon. I believe your 1997 940 has a B200FT, so at 155HP it's got only slightly less power than my turbo. Load wise on the engine, around town you'll likely barely know it's there unless it's heavily loaded. For braking, you'll soon learn to leave yourself a bit of extra space depending on the total load weight. You'll need to give a bit wider berth on tight turns. Trickiest is learning to back up a trailer, which takes a fair bit of practice, and a short box like that with a narrower wheelbase than the car is all the trickier to keep straight when backing up. A person flagging you from behind is advisable for beginners. Be prepared to unhitch and move it back by hand if needed.

Now on the highway, things get a bit different. With a box cargo trailer there will be some noticeable air drag at higher speeds, but that small box is a similar profile to the car and you've got a wagon, not a sedan, so it shouldn't be too bad. You'll likely want to kick down a gear or lockout overdrive from time to time when going up hill or coasting downhill. You'll likely also notice side wind buffetting from passing transport trucks on the highway, but you'll soon learn to prepare for a slight wiggle from the rear and not to overcorrect your steering.

Note that with a trailer you need lighting. With our Volvos, you will need a lighting connector and a special lighting converter (also called a converter adapter). These converters take 3-way vehicle lighting (brake, L&R turn) to 2-way trailer lighting (combined L&R brake/turn). These are also called 4-way to 3-way and 5-way to 4-way converters (when counting the extre terminals for park lights and/or backup lights, which don't require converting). These tap into the rear lighting wiring behind the left taillight in our Volvos (tuck the converter behind the taillight panel wrapped in foam so it doesn't rattle). The main UHaul centres may have these for sale, if not then an RV dealer or good auto supplier. There are two types of adapters, unpowered (the trailer lighting gets added to the existing lighting circuits, which can noticeably lower both taillight and trailer bulb brightness) and powered converters (a separate 12V supply to the converter to power the trailer lighting). With modern trailers and all their required marker lights, even when all LEDs, I always recommend a powered converter for frequent or extended use, plus trailer lighting won't affect the flasher interval. Curt is a common brand (https://www.curtmfg.com/part/59187), also Hopkins/Hoppy.

These converters don't get along with our bulb out sensors. You will need to run two wires up the left of the car to the dash, one to attach to the brake light switch ahead of the bulb sensor, and one to a lightly loaded 12V source (fused or unfused). Preferably this should be unswitched battery power so the trailer brake lights will always work along with the car brake lights. I chose to use a switched source by tapping into the infrequently used power seat 12V wire under the front seat, also saving me a few feet of wire and extra work under the dash. You can tap into either a fused or unfused source as a fuse should always be put back at the converter (often included in the kit). It takes a bit of effort to remove the trim and all the panels up the left side of the car, but perfectly doable if you're careful and don't break plastic studs.

If you were to use a bike rack, 300+ lbs of e-bikes hanging way out off the back in addition to a loaded wagon of stuff will change the level ride. You will want to be careful of your headlights starting to blind oncoming cars, also your nose not hugging the road quite as well when hydroplaning. Trailer tongue weights on the other hand will be in the order of 45-75 lbs. Because I trailer a fair bit, first thing I did when I got the car was put in IPD overload rear coil springs and heavier duty IPD sport front and rear sway bars. Had done the same thing before on our 240 wagon so knew it would help.
--
Dave -still with 940's, prev 740/240/140/120 You'd think I'd have learned by now






USERNAME
Use "claim to be" below if you don't want to log in.
PASSWORD
I don't have an account. Sign me up.
CLAIM TO BE
Use only if you don't want to login (post anonymously).
ENTER CAPTCHA CODE
This is required for posting anonymously.
OPTIONS notify by email
Available only to user accounts.
SUBJECT
MODEL/YEAR
MESSAGE

DICTIONARY
LABEL(S) +
IMAGE URL *
[IMAGE LIBRARY (UPLOAD/SELECT)]

* = Field is optional.

+ = Enter space delimited labels for this post. An example entry: 240 muffler


©Jarrod Stenberg 1997-2022. All material except where indicated.


All participants agree to these terms.

Brickboard.com is not affiliated with nor sponsored by AB Volvo, Volvo Car Corporation, Volvo Cars of North America, Inc. or Ford Motor Company. Brickboard.com is a Volvo owner/enthusiast site, similar to a club, and does not intend to pose as an official Volvo site. The official Volvo site can be found here.