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And that's why I think the days of towing in the traditional sense are numbered. It's a pity though, because the cost of vehicle recovery is eye-watering.
Towing Fiesta - No brakes? IDK!?
- Thread starter Ollyfp
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As far as I'm aware, it's not illegal to tow a broken-down vehicle on a rope. I think it's more a societal thing where we're just more risk-averse and less self-reliant than we used to be? Plus, of course, more complex vehicles that are harder to tow (and heavier). I've had some pretty hair-raising tows in the past, but lived to tell the tale!
I thought with a rigid tow bar it was the towee who had to do most of the braking?
Yep. My mate did most of the braking.
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It's a difficult one, really. If the bar (or rope) is at a steep angle, you need to be quite gentle on the brakes as a "towee" or you risk pulling the back end of the towing vehicle (depending on its weight) sideways. Certainly the towee should always keep the rope taut, and if it' all in a reasonably straight line, then the towee doing as much of the braking as possible was what I was taught...
Your mate was the tower - you were the "towee"
So with a rigid tow bar I always thought it was the person being towed who did most of the braking, as a bar can't go slack.
Ditto with the front of the vehicle being towed on a bar.
Ideally, with a rope, once breaking starts the towed vehicle should close slightly on the one towing, and each should be responsible for their own breaking, keeping the rope slack. Then when moving off again the tow vehicle very carefully takes up the slack before moving off in earnest.
I've never had a problem that way round, because the front of the vehicle being towed has almost always been heavier than the back of the vehicle doing the towing.
Gosh no! That just wastes so much time - especially if the towing vehicle is trying to pull out of a side road into traffic. It's hard enough to find a gap big enough for both cars, without having to slowly ease out of the junction to take up the slack first! And then, if the situation changes, you've got the towing vehicle sat in the middle of the main road when another car comes int view.
Mind you, funny story from many years ago in Liverpool...
My dad was being towed in a broken-down car by my mum. She had stopped at some lights and he'd kept the towrope tight as he came to a stop. At the lights, there was an old lady who was trying to cross the road. Being the chivalrous sort of chap that he was, my dad hopped out to help her over the tow rope - which she was struggling with. She thanked him and went on her way, but as my dad turned round, the lights changed and my mum (who hadn't been looking in her mirror and was oblivious to all this), set off, with him running up the road after the vehicle that was on the end of the tow rope, and then hopping alongside it, frantically trying to get in!
I've been towed a few times on ropes, probably towed an equal number of times using one. I was only once towed by the AA with a bar. The latter, was a month old car, where the ECU had died, in lane 3 of the M62, at speed. I was lucky to have enough speed to be able to drift it across to the hard shoulder. I must say, I found the (solid) bar inspired more confidence, as I was dragged off the motorway, but I found I had fewer clues as to whether I needed to be trying to brake, or not, I was so very close to the AA van. The rope at least, you can see it going slack, and have a little more warning.
Not just the elderly....
Towing the caravan, through a busy city centre one evening, the lights changed and I was about to move off. Lucky I glanced in my RV mirror, to spot a youth, attempting the clamber over the A-frame.
Not just the elderly....
Towing the caravan, through a busy city centre one evening, the lights changed and I was about to move off. Lucky I glanced in my RV mirror, to spot a youth, attempting the clamber over the A-frame.
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Lol. Funny afterwards, but at the time... no.
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Foot down? Lol
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My awful experience with towing was asking my Ma to tow me to the garage. Problem was the towing car was an 87 Micra and the towed car was an Opel Rekord.
No worries on the flat. But we were going through Stockport TC, where you cross the M63 (as it was then) and then up the hill over Wellington Bridge.
I was hoping the lights would be in our favour, but they were red and there was a big queue of traffic. When moving off, it was stop start and the Micra's clutch went...
So there we were, stuck on Wellington Bridge in heavy traffic with two immobilised cars on a fairly steep incline. People behind us were well-chuffed!
A lesser towing experience was when my mate asked me to sit in an Avenger that he was towing. We tried to bump start it, but it wouldn't go when I was pushing it, so B-i-L got out, I got in and he pushed. It still wouldn't start, so he had the great idea of linking it up to his new Sierra's tow bar with a short piece of strapping.The idea was that I would turn the ign on, drop the clutch, put the box in third and lift up the clutch when we got up some speed.
Two problems:
A. I picked 1st instead of 3rd.
B. The strap was too short.
If I'd picked third or the strap was longer, I think we'd have been alright, but as it was, the car lurched into life (in first, of course) and sailed into the back of this new Sierra. Luckily, it hit the tow bar and there was no damage. We checked underneath and the floorpan was straight and true.
No worries on the flat. But we were going through Stockport TC, where you cross the M63 (as it was then) and then up the hill over Wellington Bridge.
I was hoping the lights would be in our favour, but they were red and there was a big queue of traffic. When moving off, it was stop start and the Micra's clutch went...
So there we were, stuck on Wellington Bridge in heavy traffic with two immobilised cars on a fairly steep incline. People behind us were well-chuffed!
A lesser towing experience was when my mate asked me to sit in an Avenger that he was towing. We tried to bump start it, but it wouldn't go when I was pushing it, so B-i-L got out, I got in and he pushed. It still wouldn't start, so he had the great idea of linking it up to his new Sierra's tow bar with a short piece of strapping.The idea was that I would turn the ign on, drop the clutch, put the box in third and lift up the clutch when we got up some speed.
Two problems:
A. I picked 1st instead of 3rd.
B. The strap was too short.
If I'd picked third or the strap was longer, I think we'd have been alright, but as it was, the car lurched into life (in first, of course) and sailed into the back of this new Sierra. Luckily, it hit the tow bar and there was no damage. We checked underneath and the floorpan was straight and true.
As a teenager, a mate of mine inherited a 1950 Riley RMA from his dad - unfortunately, in pieces in a shed...
We thought it would be fun to try and put it back together and get it running, so he could use it (we were students at the time, and he was studying in Manchester)! Although not fully back together, we'd got the major mechanical bits in place. Just a few floor plates to go back in, and some trim and other bits and pieces. Although equipped with electric start, the starter motor had come off, ripping a piece of the bellhousing off with it. We had no money, but the car did have a starting handle...
...how hard could it be?
Well, it soon tuned out, really quite a bit harder than we anticipated! As the three of us sat down, exhausted, I had the brilliant idea of giving it a tow-start... with my Reliant that I had at the time...
Fortunately, he lived out in the country, so we spent a while trying to tow start it up and down a quiet single track lane. Absolutely no luck at all! Once again, we stopped for a rest and to ponder the problem. It was only then that I noticed the rotor arm, sat on top of the engine, in between the rocker covers...
"Right lads! That'll be it! It'll go now"! (I said).
We set off again. At the appropriate signal, Ged, sat in the Riley, let the clutch out...
We learned a lot of lessons that day. Not least of which, was just how much unburned fuel you could get into an exhaust system by trying to tow start a car with no rotor arm for half a morning! There was an almighty bang and a flash in my mirror. Next thing, I saw the suicide door open, and my mate Ged, bail out on to the verge, trousers smouldering. Worse than that, the bloody Riley, (now missing the rear half of its exhaust system), was in gear and running, driverless, up the road after my little Reliant! Fortunately, before we got to the T junction, it veered off into some long grass and stalled.
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Inexperienced people always bump start incorrectly, missing out the most vital part of the step; pushing the clutch back down to the floor more or less immediately after it has been raised
You're using the lifting of your foot and the brief engagement of the clutch to turn the engine over, and a car that is rolling at a reasonable pace and in a low gear is going to spin the engine a lot quicker than the starter motor does, which is gonna be good enough for the few revolutions the engine needs to fire unhindered by an engaged clutch
Nothing wrong with bumping in any gear if you can get enough speed, but if you aren't going to immediately push the clutch down you need to be pushing/dragging the car at at least the speed it would be driving at if the engine were on tick-over in the gear you have chosen to bump in, and that's a big ask for your mate pushing. As such if you select too high a gear (third is too high in my opinion) then, absent any downhill, your poor mate is never going to be able to get the car to 20 mph or whatever it's "tickover in third" speed is, so if you have raised the clutch and not pushed it back to the floor the poor engine is going to be slugging away at (far) less than it's comfortable idling speed, hampered by having to push a heavy car along in an inappropriate gear, juddering, banging and risking a stall again
In summary, clutch up, then back down immediately. If it doesn't go, clutch up then back down again after a slight delay. Never clutch up and leave up
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I may not have mentioned it, but I did know to drop the clutch again.
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