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Look what I bought!!!


nigel bickle

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Marvellous -better use than i pit mine too. it was 'gone within the week -too rough to sit on the drive for long. Momnets hilarity when it fell apart -whilst being lifted FROM BENEATH. Ended up in 3 distinct lumps on the back of the lorry.Did all I needed though -parts mid refurb prior to fitment.

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Momnets hilarity when it fell apart -whilst being lifted FROM BENEATH. Ended up in 3 distinct lumps on the back of the lorry.

:shock: Sounds like you were pretty lucky to get it home in one piece then. Would have been slightly less amusing (for you at least) if it had ended up in three distinct lumps on the A27...
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Momnets hilarity when it fell apart -whilst being lifted FROM BENEATH. Ended up in 3 distinct lumps on the back of the lorry.

:shock: Sounds like you were pretty lucky to get it home in one piece then. Would have been slightly less amusing (for you at least) if it had ended up in three distinct lumps on the A27...
Quite. Imagine the 'worst case' scenario. Rampantly rotten old crate breaks up at 60mph whilst on A-frame, anyone travelling behind/alongside is going to be pretty much up shit creek. Upshot: One very serious accident, one big bollocking for you, and doubtless questions being raised at high levels as to the safety of the equipment (rather than the judgement of the operator). Ultimate upshot would be either a total ban on the use of A-frames, or plod/vosa pulling anyone using one and being a pain in the ass. For those of us who use this type of equipment regularly and with common sense of what is and what isn't a good idea to tow finish up having our lives made more difficult. Mr Bickle, while I admire your shite-gathering skills greatly and envy your collection, I do find your cavalier attitude towards towing very unsettling. :?
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A couple of days ago I got held up in a queue of traffic approaching a normally quiet local roundabout. Initially I assumed it to be an accident causing it but when I finally got there, I discovered that some bafoon's vehicle had come adrift from his A-frame and was then left stranded in the middle of the road. As if having the car fall off the A-frame wasn't bad enough, the combination in use was nothing short of astonishing. The vehicle on tow was a somewhat beefy looking artic converted Bedford CF with twin rear wheels, a 5th wheel and stacks, 70's Convoy style. The tow vehicle? A Felicia pickup :roll::shock:

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Yep -understand all that you say -but it wasnt quite like that.I had cut large lumps out of the chassis around steering, pedla box's etc. I had removed the roof, half the sides (windows etc) the doors were off and i had taken a large lump out of the floor. Plus a whole load more.So -in that condition it wobbled like a fish -and no -i wouldnt tow it!As it was -it was safe. Chassis was solid -panels were tatty but attached (or roped on). Tyres/wheels were mine, brakes were removed. 4 hrs was spent extracting it -making it safe for a gentle 30 mile trip.So -all in all, I'd do it again -and justify it to anyone.having said that -when it fell to bits it was damn funny!No camera to hand -unfortunately

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Balls of tractor tyreZ. Nice!Ta for the restecp. It does get easier with practise, and those towing devices really are a marvel. I'd urge you to invest in one R.Welf, makes tat-scraping much less painful. That said I'm still a bit "brown trousers" when using it.... esp when the "tail starts wagging the dog" as happened to me the other week: towing a Hillman up t'A1 it pulled so smoothly I didn't realise the speed had crept up to match the rest of the traffic, only when I hit a bump & some dodgy camber did I realise as the whole lot started snaking. SITTING ON POO MOUNTAIN.

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I sold my trailer recently as it was getting on a bit and to tide me over until the purchase of a new one I bought an A frame. So far I've only used it twice. First was my E30 back from Norwich to Louth which is a fair old distance. It was pretty dreadful on that job as the E30 had some wanky fat alloys on it which of course altered the steering geometry a bit so on tighter turns the wheels would just suddenly flop the wrong way. Luckily towing with a grunty 4x4 means you can just drag the protesting car when necessary until it sorts itself out. Second trip was a very rusty, mouldy Datsun 910 from Hull back to Louth. That towed absolutely faultlessly. You couldn't even tell it was there. Personally, I think A frames are top notch but to be safe they really need to be pulled by something that can also stop it. My truck as vented discs all round and is about 1800kg so it hauls up a car on the A frame with no drama at all but not so sure i'd be happy using a car to tow it, especially if it was wet.

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Point duly taken Ratdat. I've only towed relatively lightwieght stuff with mine... SuperMinxes several time, Kadett, Chevette, Mini and whatnot. The only car which was a ballache was a Mk5 escort that pulled and tugged all over the shop. It was only 10 mile tops down country back-roads but it was a nightmare. Don't know if it was the bald tyres, the wanky fat alloys or the sellers' DIY suspension bodgery that caused the grief but it was a chore. The Mini was orsums on the frame, I thought that would be grief due to clearance but even tugging it from the wilds of nowhere down bumpy roads was nay bother. As for what to use... well when I first used the frame it was behind my land rover which was of course immense. But 45mph is pretty tedious. I've used it behind our focus TD wagon many times and that's OK.... the brakes are fierce anyway and the 1800 DI lump has enough grunt on it too. Also used it with the Volvo 240, which had the added advantage of an Auto gearbox, which made towing a delight. That said it did struggle on hills and motorway slip-roads alot more that the focus even when using the "tow" function, which surprised me as on paper the Volvo has waaaay more powerz & torquez. Anything that's proper heavy or if there's serious distance involved and it's just less hassle to call the pro's in IMO. I got my new E30 wagon brought up on a truck from Southampton for £130. Even if I'd fetched it on the frame with the Focus it would have been £50 in fuel and pretty much a whole days faffing about, so not bad at all. I'd like to keep a 'dedicated towmobile', but the costs of doing so are prohibitive. I really wanted to keep my dad's old 760 turbo as that would have been an ace tool. But the horrendous petrol consumption, top whack tax and cracked (bastid to replace) windscreen was the deal-breaker. In the end he gave it away to arch-dat-tatter & Mr_Bo11ox-audi-fixer JonCedric. :cry:

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Glad we all seem to be in agreement -used sensibly, fine, do something stupid -and pay the consequences.If I'm in any doubt I have a heavy duty dolly (which I loathe), a lightweight trailer (also horrid), access to a heavyweight trailer (hard work on the car).I've been looking for a Beavertail in reasonable nick at a sensible price for ages- bottled out of a 1972 Unic in northern France about 6 months back and regretted it ever since.

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Balls of tractor tyreZ. Nice!

 

Ta for the restecp. It does get easier with practise, and those towing devices really are a marvel. I'd urge you to invest in one R.Welf, makes tat-scraping much less painful. That said I'm still a bit "brown trousers" when using it.... esp when the "tail starts wagging the dog" as happened to me the other week: towing a Hillman up t'A1 it pulled so smoothly I didn't realise the speed had crept up to match the rest of the traffic, only when I hit a bump & some dodgy camber did I realise as the whole lot started snaking. SITTING ON POO MOUNTAIN.

Heh. I don't purchase enuff tat to justify buying one TBH, although I am outfitting my fleet with towbars so that if I do need to tow anything I can (father-in-law has a small trailer for tip duties) and 'touch parking' ease (joke). Managed to snag one for the Rover for 99p from a breaker on the Bay - piece of cake to fit although I need to wire up the electrics and also managed to scratch the rear wing a little putting the bumper back on - should T Cut out though (like I'm worried about concours with that thing!). Can't tow anything with it until I replace the clutch mind.

 

The Pug towbar was more expensive (£50), proper brand-noo Witter job, but that will have to wait until I drill out the Torx bolts that are holding the rear bumper on, as they have rusted (more Peugeot rusting shock horrorz). Neither is really up to towing anything heavy though, I suspect the Omega would have been great...

 

I just don't have the balls to do a 'rescue run' in anything sans MOT and tax really. Suggest this is a topic of discussion at our forthcoming pintfest...if you can clear it with The Boss this time :lol:

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