Towing our cars

[PeterH]

Having recently suffered the iniquity in my modern of being towed off the motorway by  the RAC (fuel pump failure). I wondered how they would tow my Spitifire (heaven forbid it ever needs to). My modern was towed by a rigid bar conected to the screw in eye passing through the front bumper. My Spit doesn't even have the eyes originally attached to the anti-roll bar 'U' bolts.

[dannyb]

My breakdown cover is with my insurance "RH"   When I broke down they sent low loader.

[PeterH]

They wanted to get me off the motorway before putting me on the recovery trailer.

[dougbgt6]

Peter,

My GT6 blew a head gasket just off the M4. Phoned for recovery and a small AA van turned up. The back doors opened and a metal frame folded out the back, then folded out sideways, then out backwards again. AA man pulled GT6 front wheels onto the frame and off we went. 

This apparently is not good. The rear wheels turn, the prop shaft turns, the fly wheel and clutch turn and bits in the gear box turn without the benefit of oil spray. (Pete Lewis will be along shortly to tell you specifically what is in danger.) I guess for a short journey needs must, but for a long journey a low loader. 

Doug

[Pete Lewis]

  Hi yes  the dangers of long towing is you just rotate the mainshaft inside stationary gear sets  so there  is no lubrication  when the oil is  spun out and  gone dry you sieze the shaft to the gears   ...wonderful.

 

short tows are fine like a few miles but not 10 or more  very risky

Pete

[ShaunW]

3 hours ago, dougbgt6 said:

AA man pulled GT6 front wheels onto the frame and off we went. 

This apparently is not good. 

Couldn't the rear wheels be put on the dolly to avoid this? Or is that a stupidly nieve idea that would fail because of the caster and end in a horrific case of wobbly trolley wheel syndrome? 

When you've finished laughing or shaking your head dispair maybe you can let me know. 

[KevinR]

6 minutes ago, ShaunW said:

Couldn't the rear wheels be put on the dolly to avoid this? Or is that a stupidly nieve idea that would fail because of the caster and end in a horrific case of wobbly trolley wheel syndrome? 

Rear wheel suspended tow is possible, but you need to convince the truck operator to do it.

I had a gearbox problem on a very rare RWD Japanese sports car I used to own, and I knew that it would be further damaged by a front wheel suspended tow.

Replacement gearboxes were unobtainable at the time, and parts were going to be expensive, so I really didn't want the box damaging any more than it already was.

It took a lot of effort to convince the tow truck driver (AA) that I would hold them liable for any further damage, and eventually he accepted that it would be towed with the rear wheels suspended.  Ignition key in the lock to disengage the steering lock, and away we went.

I was vindicated when I eventually managed to find a gearbox reconditioner that could handle the repair - had it been front wheel suspended tow the 70 miles home the gearbox would have been a write off.

[Anglefire]

Interesting the ignition key was left in. My initial logic was to lock the wheel so the wheels wouldn’t steer. But then thinking for another couple of seconds, I guess a bump in the road could break the column lock. 

 

[KevinR]

The steering lock  very rarely locks the wheels straight ahead.

[NonMember]

When I had a total coolant loss on the M25 in my PI (actually a burst hose but it was 11:30pm in December so the Green Flag man didn't look too closely) the chap turned up in a flat-bed and loaded the car up on the hard shoulder.

When my Toledo died on the A10 (actually a dodgy carb float valve but I didn't find that out until that year's RBRR) the Green Flag man decided that even the ten miles home was too much for a front lift tow, precisely for the reason Pete gave, and called out a flat-bed.

The one time I have had a Triumph recovered on a spectacle lift was many years back, when the Herald suffered vertical link failure. We only needed to move it about half a mile, though.