towing advice please

[discomummy]

Hi,

someone at work has asked me to help them tow a car, do i need a static bar to do this, or can i just use a rope - one of my proper ones?

Regards

Ela

[beast5680]

static bar i believe is best as theres no danger of snapping the rope or the tow car running into you depends on how good at being towed the other guy is

[wing nut]

i use a rope ,some people use a bar, but it all depends on how much confidence you have in the person your towing , if they cant be towed for toffee,its gonna be crunch time ,and very expensive  :roll:

[Henry Webster]

Rope - tell them to keep the rope taught as much as possible.  Ideally they should do most of the breaking for you!

H

[Evilgoat]

Use a bat to save damaging the other end too.

If the person on the other end knows how to be towed a rope will do, if they havent a clue go with the bar :)

[Bush Tucker Man]

Bars are fine, but obviosuly there's no give.

I removed a Bedford camper that had broken down in front of our ambulance bays a few weeks ago.
Shackled a 5ton strap onto him, somewhere along the line he drove over it & all-but snapped it.
Not a word of apology either
Still the Trust paid fo a new one, as it was personal property damaged during the course of duty

It was a decent strap as it had once rescued a 25ton truck

[thumbs]

bar if person aint been towed before, rope if you no they can do, they should nearly do all the brakeing for you

end of the day, if you aint confident or sure to tow them, dont do it!

[PUX]

i have done many recovery courses etc etc and done this as work with with some serious heavy trucks and i would always go for a bar everytime that way there is more control they cant smack into the back of u etc etc also dont drive to fast this willl make the person in the tow vehicle nervous so nice and slow dont worrie about traffic thats there problem ur be fine  :D

[discomummy]

Hi,

Towed with a tree saver as a bridle attached to both front points on the car and a shackle to another tree saver which was then shackled to my tow hitch.

Worked well - did not get a car in the rear and earned undying devotion from three young lads at work, who were mightily impressed with

a) A lovely sounding V8 disco

b) my recovery equipment and

c) my ability to drag their poor car back to work for them :lol:

Regards

Ela

[hobbit]

As been said depending on the person being towed, any doubt I use a dolly where possible for a local run, and car trailer for distances.

Unless i take my own driver with me and know the condition of the vehicle being towed, also is it a manual or auto box, also 4wd will make a difference sometimes

[Hangover]

It's amazing how when some people are faced with being towed by a rope all their common sense flys out of the window,get one of those bars from your local accessorie shop,they are about 30 quid and worth every penny.
Kev

[hobbit]

:lol:

Yes know what you mean, went out last week to a recovery, all I was told was the throttle cable was broke, could have gone out in the disco and towed it back the guy was not happy being towed

So had to unload a dead car off the transporter to run out to the van, when I got there all that the problem was the plastic clip holding the throttle cable onto the injector pump had broke off, got a piece of elastic from an old seat cover and tied the thing back onto the spindle and he drove it bac, he hadn't even looked under the bonnet

Still had to reload the car on the wagon when I got back.

Bit annoying though, I live virtually half way between the garage one way and where the breakdown was the other way :roll:

[Hangover]

A friend of mine told me a story of how he towed another car useing a washing line,he had also rigged up a trailer board in the back window of the towed car, the washing line snapped and the trailer board(still attached) flew from the rear of the car nearly giving the poor driver a whack on the head.
Kev

[alaric]

If you need to use the motorway at all, you are no longer allowed to use a rope only tow - you must use a rigid bar.

Alaric.

[muddyjames]

I got towed once when my fanbelt snapped in my old S3 and the person towing me told me to do most of the breaking. Stopping a S3 and a disco with S3 breaks is challenging!


It was the most scariest things in my life as they flew round the roundabout bouncing the front end round as I couldnt get a good a steering lock as they could and on a bit of rope at 50mph wasnt pleasant.

Also my step mum towed me once and she did not know how to tow anyone. I needed to stop as I could see the rope slowly undoing off her car and so I was hooting my horn etc and she just waved back to me. Luckily when we got to a junction with me keeping the rope taught and foot on brake when she pulled away it undid the rest of the way so she had to stop!!

Only time I have felt happy being towed was behind an AA van on a bar. Still scary as you cant see where your going next or stopping!

But it was kind of everyone to tow me any way. I have only been towed those 3 times!!!

[waveydavey]

This is probably a bit late but nobody has mentioned that althougha  bar is better thana  rope it's only a bit better.
If in a dead straight line it will hold the second car back but the whole set up can still adopt a Z shape and run into each other.

As has been suggested the best way by far is a dolly or a trailer; two points ot one car and one to the other.

Ropes and bars work but you have to be very careful with both, some of the posts just seem to read that a bar removes all the worries.

[blackbob]

got towed from paris to calias down a motorway at 80mph to catch a ferry interesting time was had by all

[jjsaul]

have been towed and have towed people, using ropes everytime, but the furthest was about 2 miles back home.

i use a 12 ton rope with nice big shackles. only thing that was worrying once when towing a friend with a dead Audi A2....the towing eye which screws into the front of her car...got her back home and it had undone itself about 4 turns  :shock: