- Joined
- Aug 7, 2007
- Messages
- 2,384
- Reaction score
- 39
- Points
- 48
- Location
- Michigan
- Vehicle Year
- 1984, 1997
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 302, 2.3
- Transmission
- Manual
- My credo
- If you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.
Hands down one of the scariest things I've ever towed, despite never exceeding 20MPH.
A very good friend of mine bought a 1979 Jeep J10 pickup a few towns over from me. Drove great for the test drive, drove great the way to my house, then after I showed him to the major highway by my house, it died maybe a mile down the road... It turned out all it was, was a wire fell off the alternator (diagnosed some while later). But the tow back to my house was hair raising.
This is a tow bar meant for back when vehicles had the real kind of bumpers, thick chunks of steel. Some relative gave it to my dad 35+ years ago, who knows how old it actually is.
The problem was, it didn't have ANY means of compensating for height between the 2 vehicles (I realized this once we tried hooking it up). It ONLY pivots on the towed vehicle. So since the J10 is alot larger then my little 2wd Ranger, it actually lifted the back end up making it even lighter.
We took the back roads home and I didn't think I was going to make it up some of the hills, they weren't even that steep. Also since I had no traction on the rear either, he basically had to steer (in the J-10) the rear end of my truck around the turns to keep it from jack-knifing. All the while pulling me everywhere from the bumps.
I think this thing is going to go right back on the shelf, kept around only for nostalgia.
A very good friend of mine bought a 1979 Jeep J10 pickup a few towns over from me. Drove great for the test drive, drove great the way to my house, then after I showed him to the major highway by my house, it died maybe a mile down the road... It turned out all it was, was a wire fell off the alternator (diagnosed some while later). But the tow back to my house was hair raising.
This is a tow bar meant for back when vehicles had the real kind of bumpers, thick chunks of steel. Some relative gave it to my dad 35+ years ago, who knows how old it actually is.
The problem was, it didn't have ANY means of compensating for height between the 2 vehicles (I realized this once we tried hooking it up). It ONLY pivots on the towed vehicle. So since the J10 is alot larger then my little 2wd Ranger, it actually lifted the back end up making it even lighter.
We took the back roads home and I didn't think I was going to make it up some of the hills, they weren't even that steep. Also since I had no traction on the rear either, he basically had to steer (in the J-10) the rear end of my truck around the turns to keep it from jack-knifing. All the while pulling me everywhere from the bumps.
I think this thing is going to go right back on the shelf, kept around only for nostalgia.
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