Towing

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

Hiya

Has anyone towed a Hood on an "A" frame or towing dolly im going on holiday and want to take the Hood with me.. so i am bidding like mad on e bay but if they dont work i wont need one

 

Mick

[Guest Stephen Robertson]

Mick

 

I have an A frame as i have had to move my hood a few times . Works really well just avoid tight turns . I have double wishbones but i will have to repaint them when i stop towing it about. I have towed it for about 100 miles on the A frame with no problems .

 

 

Cheers Stephen

[Guest red7]

I have read the insurance companys are not too keen on them though, any thoughts?

[Guest Russler]

I was told that even with an A-frame the towing vehicle needs to be double the weight of the towed vehicle, whether that affects you I don't know, and whether that is a load of c**p I don't know

[Big Jim]

The law actually says that towing another car on an A frame or dolly can only be done for "Recovery", although mr Plod does turn a bind eye to those that look like they're being done "right"

I have an A frame (Same type as the AA use) a proper lighting board with the correct number plate (Not just written with felt tip) and a square no Plate with "ON TOW" that i can clip to the back. I've never been stopped with it yet.

I even towed Mutleys Jeep up from Guildford to lancashire on the back of an MR2 with it.

PS. You're limited to 50MPH with one.

 

I've also moved a sierra with a "Dolly" Bloody awfully dangerous things!

[ibrooks]

I towed the 2B (sliding pillock) to it's SVA re-test on my A-Frame and apart from the paint issue no probs but like the guys say you're not meant to do it except in an emergency and there are weight/speed restrictions.

 

Towing dollies are just fine if they're the right ones. Some have two small wheels very close together (suspect this is what Jim has used and I agree - don't touch them with a barge-pole). The proper ones have the wheels set far apart and a spectacle arrangement in between. The towed vehicle's wheels sit between the dolly's wheels and it isn't actually lifted much above 6 inches off the ground. I've seen several of these and the one I'd like is the Parrymore version as it is also braked which means you can tug heavier stuff (or use a smaller car to do the tugging).

 

Iain

[Guest captn Pugwash]

warning,

 

towing a wishbone car can have a problem, if the wishbones are tubular type, ie, not solid steel, do not use a "A" frame with the chains, they will crush the wishbone, this happened to me when I brought the westfield up from Heresford, had to fit a replacement for the good one as well as the bent wishbone.

 

Jim has one with webbing straps, no problem with that type but chains area a no go as far as Im concerned.

 

Captn

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

thanks all yoe have opend my eyes there.......ill go for the wide based dolly or trailor thanks

Mick.

[Guest madmax]

Mick

I have used big jims towing dolly and it was great. A word of caution though from our friend dave a nw hoodie who is an ex AA man. He has been stopped by plod for not having a special braking gadget fitted to activate the towed vehicles brakes. apparently this is an EEC requirement.

 

Colin King

[ibrooks]

This would be down to the weight limit. A trailer or towed vehicle must not be more than 75% of the weight of the towing vehicle. Someone must have worked out that most cars brakes are up to stopping 175% of their own weight. If the trailer is braked then the max weight can be higher. You can get modified versions of the A-Frame which will operate the brakes but so long as the weight is lower than 75% you're OK in the UK. Foreign parts are no-doubt different.

 

Iain

[Guest micky bigthumbs]

Discover...Hood...i think im ok with that...but just missed out on one..ill keep bidding

Thanks Mick.

[Guest 2bsprint]

There is an odd rule about Land Rovers that they can tow the same weight as the towing vehicle - i don't whether that applies to disco's

[ibrooks]

Odd - never heard that one and can't see how they'd do it in law as you can't show preference to a manufacturer. Having said that I could quite beleive that a Land-Rover is both strong enough and has the brakes to do it safely. My '69 airportable could quite easily lock all four wheels on dry tarmac (drums all round and same size front and rear) later ones had bigger brakes. I suspect you'd be testing the limits of the A-frame before you tested a pair of Land-Rovers.

 

Iain

[Guest Greg]

Dave it's no wonder you crushed the wishbone, wrapping the chain round it like that, its acting like a tourniquet ! The chain is supposed to drop underneath and just pull,(AFAIK) not hold the whole lot in place.

[Guest captn Pugwash]

Dave it's no wonder you crushed the wishbone, wrapping the chain round it like that, its acting like a tourniquet ! The chain is supposed to drop underneath and just pull,(AFAIK) not hold the whole lot in place.

If thats true my learnard friend, what stops teh towed car running up the back of the towing vehicle?

 

the chap that sold the car to us said that was the way he did it, Id never used one before, I didnt know

 

Captn