Towing!

[RustyNuts]

Howdy!

 

Sorry if this has been asked before.. 

 

I had to tow someone the other day when their car went bang. I used a rope (short distance) however as many of you will probably know the towing car took the jolt when the car behind had hit the brakes and i was moving off etc.

 

So i'm looking for an upgrade - a towing pole!

 

What I don't understand is how they are used between cars that have their towing eye on the left while the other one has it on the right. This would mean the pole is being used diagonally and surely not suited to this?

 

Also I've been looking at the towing bars that are attached to the wishbones of the knackered dog being towed. How does the steering work with those?

 

Thanks

 

Rusty

[catsinthewelder]

I've been dragged around a fair bit on tow poles.  An ideal situation is bigger vehicle at the front and towing eyes on the same side.  I could have forgotten the Kangoo I towed with a LWB Boxer was there but the gaffer certainly knew I was behind when he towed the Boxer with a SWB Transit with the eye on the other side.  Every time I touched the brakes the back of the Transit would twich 6" sideways.

 

A decent pole is worth having,  mine has been snapped then shortened twice the first by an emergency stop putting a Mk1 Megane into the back of a 405 the second by reversing back down a steep hill to have another go at towing a 3.5t van,  on this occasion the knackered pole held together just long enough to get to the top before snapping when I slowed down.

 

I've had one go with an A frame and it was ace after the poles.  We hooked my old VW camper up to it in a slightly unconventional fashion and then drove around slowly for some time to check that everything was behaving before the new owner departed with it.

 

My last two tows have been on rope due to one PT Cruiser with a missing towing eye and one van with a missing crossmember and both were a little stressfull.

[colnerov]

 Hi, Using a pole with offset towing points both drivers need to be aware of their road positioning to keep the pole inline.  As regards 'A' framing some vehicles don't like it and can go straight to full lock as soon as you move off.

 

 Colin

[gordonbennet]

With practice co-ordination and understanding tow ropes are still effective.

 

Both drivers must trust each other, my mate and i towed hundreds of miles and we never held anyone up, we found it worked best if i towed and he was in the car behind, i'd keep the window open and use hand signals when i required him to brake us both, and an increased frequency of slowing down signal if i needed to brake heavily, then a wave on signal when to come off the brakes.

Done properly you almost never get a tow rope off tension so no snatching, Dougie was brilliant when towed you could absolutely rely on that rope never being slack.

 

Towing pole is all very well but unless you have some form of communication between the drivers they both understand, in the event of  heavy braking if the towee doesn't assist a jack knife is a distinct possibility, opposite side towing eyes its almost guaranteed if the shit hits the fan.

[beko1987]

I'm surprised no ones wheeled out Autoshite Towing/a framing stock photo number 3 yet...

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Probably spent too much time either being towed or towing with a bit of string and I'd agree with GB , as long as you both have the same mindset when it comes to junctions, roundabouts etc it can be quite rewarding getting it right.

Extra points for totally unsuitable unmatched vehicles and rope, things like only having a handbrake on the towed car or cutting a seatbelt out and being 2 feet from the back bumper of the tower all help to hone those skills.

 

The basic trick is for the towwer never to use his brakes, then the rope can never go slack.

I say 'his' advisedly , I once got Mrs N to tow me home 2 miles - I should have just left the car there, it caused more stress and long term fallout than when she discovered I'd been having a 2 year affair and went bankrupt on the same day.

[Dead_E23]

I avoid towing whenever possible, but when it's unavoidable I use a nylon tow strap with a bow shackle on either end which cost me something like a tenner years ago.  Using a 6 foot length of knotted blue rope is best left to experts with fighter pilot reaction times.

 

Instead of using hand signals to communicate between cars, I like to leave a mobile phone call open for the journey on the speaker setting for hands free.

[dollywobbler]

I've done so little towing with ropes that I ballsed it up last time. Discovered that rather than keeping tension in the rope, I was actually trying to stop a Mitsubishi Delica with 2CV brakes. They got very hot... The hills of Wales make it quite a struggle.

[Mally]

I've done a bit of towing, some good, some not, depends who you are with. Pole is better if you keep it straight.

Solo motor bikes are the worst, need a rope and much courage.  Melts the grease in the front brake. 

[mercrocker]

Towing stress can best be summarised by being on a short rope behind a blind-door LWB CF in a knackered Toyota Crown with no flippin' servo or PAS.  On the M3.    

It got a thousand times worse once we had left the motorway and actually needed to brake every few hunderd yards.   I can still feel how wet my arse was.   

 

I have only one experience of a bar, in my Farina with the AA.  It went fine, much better than a rope although I can't imagine the patrolman would have been keen if he knew how rotten the rest of my A60 was.

[Captain Furious]

Got one of those skinny bars from machine mart and it has always worked fine on the rare occasions I've used it.  Last time was to recover a dead transit tipper with another not-dead transit tipper, I did think there was a distinct possibility of snappage using the bar to reverse the dead one up a friends reasonably steep driveway, but it held up.

 

One that hooks onto the tow bar of the towing vehicle (assuming it has one) rather than between towing eyes would be preferable, but to be honest I've never known a problem even if towing eyes are on opposite sides.

[0ldCh0d]

As has been said, as well as the towing implement used, be that a rope or pole/bar, it does depend alot on the other person, some people do not have a clue on how to tow. I have a lot of experience with towing, but i usually only do it with my Dad, because he knows how it's done, & there is never any dramas.

 

I have been towed from Aberdeen To Livingston, In a smiley face Transit Van, with snapped timing belt, & totally flat battery, with the rope tied on to the back of an LDV Maxus van's rear spring hanger.....Because we went all the way up there to pick up the transit, got everything ready....then found that the LDV Maxus Van DOES NOT have a towing eye or hook at the rear.....Well the arnie shark hire one we had did not have anyway...

 

So......My Dad, tied the rope to the rear spring hanger of the LDV & off we went, I do not really want to repeat that again however.........This was about 8-9 year ago now.