My dads 96 F150 had a fuel pump failure at work. We work about 30 miles from home and wanted to rent a tow bar to pull it home. I have never pulled anything but a trailer before and was wondering what precautions to take in using a tow bar, like towing speed, hookup, etc. Thanks for the info.

 

I towed a 2000 Jeep sahara from FL to Colorado a few years ago using
a bolt on tow-bar.

The "trick" is getting it mounted properly to the towed vehicle.
I removed the tow hooks and installed a big 90* steel bar with holes
drilled to attach the tow bar too.
Then had to buy safety chains and rig them up.

You leave the key in "acc" on the towed vehicle so the steering
wheel can turn while it's being towed.

The MOST important thing to realize...
you can *NOT* backup once connected!!!!!
I took great care to plan parking lot/gas station/motel/restaurant
stops to ensure I could park AND GET OUT again
without having to backup on that 5 day trip..

 

That's a long trip without backing up.

 

I've always wonderd how people tow 4X4's in the USA??? Over here most people put the complete car on a trailer, and my Dad uses a tow dolly behind his RV, but we only put a front wheel drive car on it, so the rears just roll..........................but he would like to tow his Range Rover behind, but the only way I could think of that 'shouldn't' hurt the drivetrain is to leave the engine running??

We have a trucking company, and if one of the tractor trucks break down and gets towed, we have to drop the prop/drive shaft to the rear drive axle otherwise even leaving in neutral it can damage the gearbox due to no oil circulation

 

Either leave the engine running or remove the driveshaft. If you tow with the drive wheels on the ground and no lube to the trans you'll need a new transmission when you arrive. If the engine were to stall while towing you'll need a new transmission.

There are some 4x4s with manual transfer cases that can be towed with the driveshafts connected. The transfer case can be left in neutral without damage. I don't have a list of which ones can and which ones cannot.

A trailer is a MUCH better way to tow than a tow bar.

 

Never had to backup - I did a drive-around a couple of hotels
to ensure I could get in and out.
- my dad was a driver and then trainer for the
NJ Transit Bus division - He won numerous "Bus rodeo" competitions..

The Jeep (Wrangler's at least) has a manual transfer case so it's
safe to put the transfer case into "n" (and I think I left the
auto-trans in either 'p' or 'n' too) and towed with all 4 wheels on the ground.

You will notice Wranglers and also Saturn vehicles behind large
RVs being towed - The Saturn transmission was also "designed"
to be towed on the ground (so I've been told and read).

My towing experience was the "ah ha" moment for the Diesel Excursion.
My '97 Tahoe was not up to that task. We had just built a barn on our
land in the San Juan Mountains and hauled out all kinds of stuff in the
truck and Jeep. Got 11MPG going West, which
equals 22 MPG when you factor in 2 vehicles/gallon.
I GPS recorded the entire trip (both ways) and was very surprised at
the constant rise in elevation from Orlando to Amarillo, and then
the passes on the way to Ouray, CO were interesting.

I had spent $4500 to replace worn front end steering components
and rebuild the rear limited slip diff on the Tahoe a few months
before the trip - hence spending $3k to install the BPD on my Ex was
an investment vs. repairs IMO.

 

Thanks for that, it's appreciated Just aswell we played safe and used the tow dolly with the front wheel drive car! And when we've been in the USA and seen the nice 4x4's being towed with all 4 wheels down, we didn't realise people did leave them running! (fuel here wroks out to about $8.50 per US gallon so we don't leave things running much!!)

I know his older Land Rover Discovery (TD5) had the small gear shift for the 4x4 function and diff lock, so we could have probably used that - but his newer Range Rover is electronic and only high or low, without neutral so it wouldn't work. (the camp sites here are small so not ideal for a trailer, but the dolly can go under the RV)..........one of the reasons I don't have an RV, and the reason I just bought my Excursion to haul the TT

 

Gonna end up putting it on a car hauler tomorrow. Its a 2wd automatic.