Hot Rods Tow bars & flat towing

Searched the subject and didn't turn up anything. HAMBers who have flat towed vehicles with a tow bar, please post up advice and helpful experiences. The '57 now has tow tabs and I successfully towed it to the paint shop with my SUV. I tied the steering wheel "straight ahead'' because there is no engine in the car right now, and an old racer friend said to do it that way. Didn't want the car to try to steer me if the wheels failed to follow in a turn. That's all I know about it. Ultimately, there's going to be a 4 pin trailer plug in the car and a multi-pole switch in the Chevy's taillight harness so the tow vehicles' electrical system runs the taillights on the towed car.
Thanks everyone!
*Edit - Thanks all for the replies. I bought a trailer!

 

I flat towed for years with lots of cars and only did it because that was all we had and all we could afford, but when trailers came out things got so much better. Yes, the car needs weight on the front to be able to track correctly, and even at that, when you get on a dirt or gravel road the tires can cock one way of the other. Had to stop lots of times when making a turn to correct the position of the tires because they had flopped over.

Aside from nostalgia reasons, I can't see any good reason to flat tow these days. A short trip to maybe a muffler shop, but certainly not on a continual basis. Trailers and dollies have gotten so cheap that they just make so much more sense. (My Son just bought a great dolly for $600)

I know someone will say they flat tow all the time and love it, but not me.

Don

 

Some darn good advice there. Same from me - we did it too cause that's all we could afford too. Not any more - far too many nitwits on the roads these days.

 

Lot of stories from the old days of using a tow bar. Some good some not. Maybe think of it this way. Would you pull a trailer without brakes that weighed that much all over? Much more maneuverability with a trailer also.

 

Whenever possible, I had someone in the car that was being towed. We used to borrow or rent tow bard to get in-op cars home.

I eventually made one to tow my Nova stock car to Islip Speedway, which was within hearing range of home. Sometimes I could get a driver but have towed alone many times after the races and never tied the steering wheel. I had a light bar made up that worked off the tow car trailer hookup. Still I had to be on the lookout for drunks running up on me.

Due to the whacked out camber, toe and stagger, I had to avoid tight turns as the steering wouldn't always come back to center.

BTW... I'd never do it again.

Bob

 

I have a tow bar for the roadster in my avatar and it's handy when I have to take a car in for service. No one needs to follow me or take me to the shop. All of my cars have receiver hitches and the roadster profile is such that the tail lights on the tow car are easily seen. I don't tie the sterring wheel!

 

Flat towing, yes or no? here is a good size thread.

 

Flat towed the Crosley for many miles - plus flat tow a Mini Cooper many,many miles behind my motorhome. No problems - first couple of times I bungied the wheel on the Crosley just in case, but really didn't need it. Hopefully your tow vehicle is a bunch heavier than the towed vehicle , other than that - go for it...

 

Helpful advice. Don't. There are better options. Oh, and I never tied the steering wheel, and would nver tow without the engine in place.

 

Horrible freight sells a kit with magnets on the lights that works OK for what you're doing, no need to modify the wiring on the TOAD vehicle. Stick it on there and then remove it when you're done.
I dont tie the steering wheel, if you do you're dragging the wheels around the corners. But , I have never towed one with no motor in front. The positive castor should make it track going forward..backing up, not so much.
I do agree the trailer is a much better idea...my towbar is really rusty nowdays. Good Luck.

 

The thing to remember is that if the vehicle that you are flat towing is very heavy or heavier than the tow vehicle it is going to try and push you in the corners or when you are trying to stop. The worse situation is a clover leaf, type of on and off ramp situation. ASround town is no big deal but at highway speeds you need to remember to stop or slow down way in advance of a situation. it is not at all like towing with trailer brakes.

 

In most states, if not all, if the vehicle has a (any) wheels-on-the-ground, it has to be registered and insured.

Your mileage may vary in what you can "get away with", but don't expect that you will get away with anything. In a lot of cases, this will be up to the discretion of the officer, if you get pulled over, as will whether or not the towed vehicle (in the absence of reg and/or insurance) is impounded, until registration and/or insurance can be proven, if it can be.

Don't lose a car over this. Don't lose enough money to buy a trailer over this, either.

Check your local laws, and then make your own decisions on how to proceed.

 

Here's a pic of my gasser and tow pkp at York last year. It towed and cornered just fine but you did have to anticipate stopping a bit sooner. It went up there in a trailer but created all kinds of grins while flat towing around town and at the host hotel and at the fairgrounds.

 

I once broke down with my '65 Belair on the way to work, so I had some 1/2" nylon rope and got my wife to give me a tow (off a parkway no less...) when she got home. Of course it was dark out.

Some moth-eating pig-fornicating moron tries to get between us while we waited for a light on Newbridge Road and we were pretty close together. She was a basket case when all was said and done. I never asked her to do anything like that again.

A tow bar would have been nice at the time.

Bob

 

Never heard the registered and insured thing before. Guess it doesn't apply to Texas. My regular car insurance covers anything being towed behind or hauled in it.
I have moved cars in just about every way. I pulled a Volvo from South Texas to western California once with a tow bar. I still have that stored someplace. Never tied the steering wheel using the tow bar. Then I got a car dolly. Worked a little better... But backing up is a no-no. Only tied the steering wheel once using the car dolly because I had the rear wheels on the dolly. Now I have a trailer and life is so much better....problem with the trailer though is it requires registration and takes up a lot of space but it has brakes which is definitely a plus.

 

flat towing is a great idea. people do it all the time without problems. people even tie the steering wheel straight and flat tow without the motor is the car and don't crash. flat towing is a good idea... what could possibly go wrong?

 

The backbreaker on flat towing is most states require towing-vehicle-activated brakes on whatever is being towed if it's over a certain weight, usually 1500-1800lbs. This is possible to add to a towed vehicle (check at a RV supply) but isn't particularly cheap.

And if the towing vehicle isn't substantially heavier (at least 25% more) than the towed vehicle, expect a white-knuckle trip...

 

I've seen plenty of trailers do that too. Just like anything else if it's set up correctly and you don't drive it over your head it can work fine. I flat towed my A coupe a few times, several hundred miles each way with no problems at all. Tow vehicle needs to be heavy enough and I made sure the tow bar was as horizontal as possible when hooked up so that under hard braking it's not trying to lift the ass end of the tow vehicle.

 

We flat towed race cars for years...before freeways. Top speed used to be 40 MPH, we learned fast what would happen if one had to 'panic stop' with Tebash's '32 Five window on a bar. (darned near jack-knifed the Deuce, and put a big wrinkle in Al's near-new F100 rear bumper!)

When I brought my F-1 home, (nice F-1, black, behind my '55 F100, black primer) I used a 4 foot tow bar I fabbed here in the shop. Secure hookup, into a heavy receiver.
Tracked perfectly, but the idiots coming alongside gawking, and 2 even taking pictures alarmed me...mainly when their driver would wander into my lane, close enough for me to slap the 'photog'. It was tempting.
That was my last 'bar-tow'.
F-1 was gifted to me, I pulled it 8 miles home. Seemed easy before I left... (grimace)

We used to 'chain-tow', too. Never again...

 

We also flat towed for years,using mostly radius rods. Even used a chain within a piece of pipe if we were towing something with no brakes. What could go wrong? Got a kick out the the magazine guys who had a shop install their towing rig for a story a few years ago...just like the old days. We always went to a shop too...no wait, maybe not.

 

Ugh... chain towing. I still see people doing it. Me and my brother devised a system to get disabled cars home. We'd push rather than tow. Best done with a pickup truck or a car you don't care if it gets a few wrinkles in. I've only done it with cars that had steel bumpers.

All we'd do is strap a junk tire on the front of the push vehicle. Once we got some speed up and it took little force to keep the pushed car going. We used hand signals for when to back off and brake and resume the push. Way better than towing with a rope or chain.

Bob

 

This thread brings back a fond memory of my only cross country trip. I started to play hop scotch with a 49-51 Ford woodie wagon flat towing a 65 Mustang in 1968. Yeah the flat motor was flat towing the 3 year old Mustang across country on rte 66. Woodie wagons were not that valuable back then but it sure looked odd on the highway.

 

I have flat towed when I was younger, again because that's all I could afford. Always had someone steering the car being towed. Nowadays any rental equipment shop will rent them out for $30-$50 a day, can't really beat that.

 

70 bucks for 1 day rental of a auto carrier from u -haul with insurance , after having my O/t car come unhooked flat towing , never again , and I was lucky as it wandered into the ditch after I let it bump against my pickups bumper trying to slow it down , but it messed up the front end of the car when the extension bar dug in the soft shoulder . I was more worried about that digging in on the concrete and expansion joints .

 

Wow! Ok, experience speaks loud and clear! FYI - the tow was about 5 miles, and the wife followed in another vehicle. Guess the tow bar can be a backup for a trailer. Anyone got a vintage drag trailer for sale?

 

117harv - Thanks for the link to the other thread . Also thanks to everyone who chimed in. Just thought it would be cool pulling the 57 behind my El Camino, kind of a package. Muttley posted once something about looking cool vs. safety that made me laugh once, gotta find that one.

 

here we are not allowed to tow with a chain or rope, and no one is allowed in the in the vehicle being towed use to do 5-6 hr tows to the tracks our tow bars were 5' to 6' long with a safety chain from the tow car to the one being towed i've had more trouble with badly balanced trailers even jack-knifed

 

I flat towed quite a bit in the 60's never tied the wheel and never had anyone steering. I never had any trouble but knew or talked with a lot of guys who did. Scariest thing I had happen was waking up and realizing I couldn't remember the last 5-6 miles I'd driven. I was towing my 40 cpe with my 56 sedan about 2 a.m. after a late night at the drags

 

I towed on the ground for several years in the "olden dayz" including 3 trips of 1000 miles each way to Bonneville, BUT, I had a surge brake built on my tow bar. It connected to the car brakes with a standard tractor hydraulic quick disconnect.
It had the required 2 safety chains also. I never tied the steering wheel but my steering would self center.

 

Getting ready to flat tow the '51Hudson for quite a distance. I made the two bar for my previous '51 and it worked great on it. I am going on a couple test runs before I make the trip. I never disconnected the driveshaft before because it was a manual tranny and not a long distance. Should I disconnect the driveshaft as this trip is almost 500 miles? Trans on current '51 Hudson is manual also.