im seriously pondering making a removable front bumper on my 87 F150 and having a tow bar assembly that bolts on. the truck is a 2wd, manual tranny, so, if im correct, i could leave the thing in neutral and roll down the road. Obviously im going to have to wire for lights, but I've never honestly done this sort of thing before, i guess i'm looking to see if anyone else has, and if so, any advice you would care to share with me.

thanks,
Lee

 

You'll have to be able to rig the steering wheel to keep it straight. I've seen big rig tow truck drivers just wrap the seat belt around the wheel several times, and there are other methods as well.

 

I don't think I would tie the steering wheel down as your truck will have a hard time following the tow vehicle. Now, if you tow it backwards with the rear wheels off the ground you will need to lock the steering wheel.

 

My 93 F-250broke down on the AR/Ok stateline, and we ended up flat towing it all the way to Just west of Branson MO roughly about a 6+ hour tow, with the same set up you're talking about. I took the drive shaft out, left the key in the run position so the sterring wheel was unlocked and put on the flashers, nothing other than that. There was no problems.

 

to flat tow steering wheel must be able to turn freely so key must be in unlocked position and best to remove drive shaft if auto trans. use an old yoke to keep from loosing tranny. fluid.

 

So how do the wheels stay straight when you don't want them to turn?

 

They play follow the leader because of the bar.

 

yes wheels must be able to turn freely or towed vehicle will not let you make turns as cwpottenger says they play follow the leader .the less play in towbar the better they follow.farmers rvers ect do it all the time. check ebay many towbars available.

 

Unless youre traveling short distances, you still need to disconnect the drive shaft when towing.. Regardless of what trans is in the vehicle. There may not be enough oil flow with the engine not running. If you had a 4WD you could put the transfer case in neutral and it would be fine....

Im sure someone will argue with me about it cause its a touchy subject so do what you will. I have a long time friend who tows and I work on semi's, which also have manual transmissions. Wonder why we disconnect those.. Theyre the same principle.

 

One thing nobody ever says about flat towing is that there is no tongue weight on the tow vehicle. This could cause a big problem in an emergency maneuver on the road. I had this happen to me while me and my wife flat towed my 78 F150 with a buddy's short wheel base Dodge pickup. I had to move to the shoulder at speed to miss a retread setting on the middle of the highway. As I, as smoothly and slowly as possible, moved back into the line the F150 grabbed the edge and started to come around. Without any weight on the back of the truck it broke the rear tires lose and the whole rig started to jackknife. Luckily, by the grace of god, I was able to saw the wheel back and forth until we ran out of momentum.

I have to tell y'all, I'm not a god fearing man but I was thanking him that day.

The lesson learned from this was if you are going to flat tow use a vehicle a lot larger than what you're towing. The 4x4 longbox F150 had the shortbox reg cab Dodge by a good 1000 lbs. Without any weight on the tail end the weight of my truck bulldogged the Dodge all the way down the road and almost cost me and my wife our lives.

 

I dont know what your going to be towing it with, I do agree with Joker, always, always make sure the tow vehicle is heavier than the vehicle its towing, thats common sense, dont use a F150 to tow a F350 4 down on the highway, not a good idea. I have an 07 Class A motor home with a V10 Ford, I tow my wifes Jeep commander 4 down(4 wheels on the ground) whenever we go anywhere in the motor home. I have a tow bar, and I have a kit bolted to the frame of her jeep, I put her transfer case in Neutral and at that point I put the transmission selector in park because the transfer case is in neutral, leave the key in the on or in my case the accessory position, do not in any case put anything on the steering wheel, it needs to be free spinning so the tires can turn when you do, if you decide to try and back the vehicle up with the truck in tow, its going to take some practice, its not like backing a trailer. In answer to your original question, there are alot of mis conceptions about whether or not on a standard tranny if you can just leave it in neutral and go, I tend to agree with the guys who say to not to, just because its a standard tranny doesnt mean it doesnt need to get oiled going down the road. Your best bet is to call your local Ford Dealership and talk to a mechanic, tell him the type transmission you have and he will tell you whether it is recommended or not, I would be willing to bet that he will tell you no. I doubt it would do any damage once or twice, but the more you do it and the further you go with it the more likely you are going to be wishing you hadnt done it at all. No longer than it takes to take the drive shaft loose from the rear end and suspend it or remove it, I would go ahead and take the extra precaution.

 

After re-reading his original post, I guess I misunderstood.

I thought he was saying he just wanted to remove the front bumper and would only have a tow bar that hooked to the front bumper mounts- didn't realize it would be a full on tow bar.

 

ok, a few clarifications ....

i am going to build a mount that removes the bumper, ties the two frame rails together, and has two 2" recievers on the frame rails (lots of gussetting, etc.) the bumper will mount into the two "recievers" until I need to flat tow, which is when i will remove it and insert into the the "recievers" my fabricated tow bar ... which will be heavier than anything on the market. I have researched, and found that as long as i am flat towing it under 100 miles, the driveshaft should be fine, after that, i plan on yanking it out. The ONLY trucks that will be tow rigs for this truck is my 93 F350 big block 4 door dually, or one of my 95 F250's, both big block 4x4's. i plan on wiring the rear tails to serve as trailer lights, connected my by a cord that will disconnect from the truck when not in use. But thank you all for your ideas, facts, and suggestions, keep them coming!

 

We used to do it all the time with the seatbelts or a ratchet strap when I towed cars professionally for a living. Course we usually didnt do it for more than about 50 miles and this was with a wheel lift towing it backwards.

 

all these thoughts, running through my head!!!