Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 23:36:35 :
In Reply to: towing question posted by Gil H. Ingram [139.55.23.45] on Monday, June 23, 2014 at 22:59:06 :
Those are the three most consistently contentious subjects here. I see no problem with flat-towing provided the steering wheel is tied in place so it doesn't "cramp" when you hit a chuck hole or go around a tight turn, the towing vehicle outweighs the towed vehicle, and you do it on dry roads (preferably back roads) in good weather. Others will say that anyone doing that is an unconscionable menace to life and limb of everyone on the road.
I flat-towed my M37 400 miles, over two passes, using a '67 Chevy 1/2 ton as the tow vehicle and had no problems. The diciest parts were downhill curves coming off of Stevens Pass, but I just took it slow and easy and nothing scary happened. Left about 9:00 at night so as to encounter minimal traffic. And I loaded up the Chevy with machinery to where it was just under 6000 lbs. Also towed two M35s on the same route, using an M35 as a tow vehicle. In every case I used a rigid tow bar, and a 3/8" binder chain rigged twice between the frames as a safety chain. The thing to keep in mind is "go slow and get there quicker". If anything gets weird, stop and fix it immediately.
I would not try to flat-tow anything using just a rope or chain. I tried that once for a neighbor lady as a favor and try as I might I couldn't get her to ride the brakes of her Pinto gently to keep the slack out of the chain. Eventually the inevitable happened, and she saw she was gaining on me, hit the brakes too hard, the chain yanked the towing hook off the bottom of the pinto and flew up and put a crease in the cab of my truck.
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