Bobtailing with car in tow

All owners manuals will tell you how to tow vehicle. Some say not at all with shaft on. Others will say 50 miles at no more than xx mph. Some 4wd will say fine if transfer case in neutral and front hubs free wheeling.

 

why not hire a transport company and not have to worry about any of the headaches. I haul cars, pm me and ill hook you up cheaper then you can rig something together for

 

Yeah, but if its for a long distance he ought to check his wheel bearings to make sure they're good and greased...

 

if you're hooking him up that cheap i can't imagine you're making money.

 

seems with all this confusion,,,,,,,,its just cheaper to fly there and take a taxi to the truck and forget about all the dog gone towing lol

 

I agree 100% but.... there's always that "what if" he shows up at the truck dealership and don't like what he sees. The dealer would't buldge in price $$ , not what they advertised, looked better in picture, smells kind of funky inside, ya da ya da ya da. Maybe he has few trucks that he have his eyes on as back up and might have to hop around couple of times if the first one doesn't work out. Having your personal vehicle on hand might just give you that "I can just walk away anytime" personal feeling instead of that "stranded" feeling and wind up settling w/what is presented even if it's not 100% up to par. Both scenario is the same but when you're standing far away from home in unknown area without your own vehicle, your feels won't be the same. Of course if you have another person or persons going with you, it could turn out to be an eventful adventure (in a positive way) you'll always remember.

 

I tow my parts truck around all of the time. Whenever I have take my truck in to a shop for repair work, if I don't want to hang around (or if I have to leave it overnight), I drag my little pickup behind me. 20 miles I don't worry about pulling the drive shaft...just put it in neutral (manual shift). Heck, even if I burn up the transmission, I've got another one in the garage I can throw in it. If I were to drag it any real distance, I would pull the drive shaft. The only "problem" I've encountered is the power steering pump is starting to squeal...probably doesn't like the wheels turning (you flat tow with the steering column unlocked to allow the vehicle to follow the tow vehicle) that much without the engine running. If it goes, I'll get a manual steering gearbox for it...no biggie.

I removed the rear frame cross member and welded in a 2" receiver tube...reinforced it a little...and added some D-rings for safety chains. An 8" drop hitch isn't QUITE enough, but it was all I could find on the shelf and it gets the job done.

I wired up a 6-round trailer plug on the rear of the tractor and spliced in the tail, turn signals/brake, and ran a ground wire to the chassis.

On the parts truck, I mounted a 4-round plug in the grille and ran wires to a pair of lights I installed in the back bumper.

You can use whatever plugs will be most convenient for you.

In order to be legal, you have to have current plates on the towed vehicle, lights, and safety chains. You aren't carrying any freight-for-hire, so you don't need cargo insurance. As long as you've got bobtail, you're fine.

 

I move mobile homes do it all the time to pull back my private escort car no problem just make sure the lights work properly