The 'grapevine' stretch between Bakersfield and Venture is not as dramatic mountain pass as some, it's just steep and historically there seem to be more grass fires than usual due to vehicles over heating and pulling off side roads to cool off. I have excluded using the 65 F100 for towing. Again, thanks to all for the input!!

 

What a WOOOSE, you need someone to hold your hand to cross the street. The photo above is 6,000lbs behind a F100, so yes I have. I can't help it that your nana keep you in a child safety seat til you were 18 so you'd be secure.

Sorry for the bad advice Dave but if you have Pikes Peak to cross 5 times maybe you had better find a guy with a F550 diesel rollback to bring it home for you.


Hey you guys keep it SAFE over there.


John

 

As noted earlier in the thread, U haul has no problem renting a car trailer using the 65 with the 390, the truck I am picking up, but not willing with the 65 that has the 302, never figured that out??? As this point believe I am going to focus on getting the truck running would be the best of the 3 options, if I can't then I will decide which truck to borrow and whether to dolly or trailer?

 

We all didn't used to wear seat belts, either. How many of us even feel comfortable without a seatbelt on these days?

I work in an industry you may not even think about much day to day. It's called Risk Management and Compliance.

Software, believe it or not, to manage risk and compliance. It probably sounds funny. We employ 10,000 people throughout Canada and the U.S. many of them lawyers but we rarely ever go to court.

So, I spend a lot of my time thinking about risk. Risk covers everything from laying in your bed late at night sleeping away to laying in bed late at night sleeping away when a large sinkhole opens up beneath your bed and swallows you and the bed whole in an instant, never to be seen again.

Now, you probably immediately ask "What could a fella possibly do to protect against that happening" and that would be exactly my point.

It's not when things go right that there is a concern. It's when things go terribly wrong. Maybe not quite bed swallowing wrong, but somewhere in between.

What could possibly go wrong when towing a trailer? Nothing. On a clear day on a flat road with light traffic and ideal conditions you can get that trailer rolling behind almost any vehicle. Let's say it is that F100 towing a dolly with another F100. It's when things go terribly wrong that it is best to stack the cards in your favor.

That fine clear day turns into a light rain shower. Traffic is diverted from your expected route to an alternate due to road construction ahead. You've never been on this other road before and it is steeper and has more curves than you expect so you are taking it slow. But, earlier in the day (when it was still clear out), unknown to you, a car hit a boulder that had rolled out into the road and punctured the oil pan, leaving 4 quarts of oil on the roadway. His brother-in-law had come right out and towed the vehicle away so it wasn't there.

You're running a little late due to the diversion and it's starting to get a little dark and hard to see. And the rain is still coming down. You think about how it's time to replace those wiper blades. As you round an inside curve in the road the truck and trailer hits this combination of water, lots of oil, oh, and that boulder is still partially in the road so you have to swerve for it (if only they'd moved that darn boulder, eh?).

You lose control of the vehicle and trailer just a little bit. You'd blame the driver that hit the boulder for the oil if you knew. That boulder. The rain. The dark. The diversion itself. You might even have some of those thoughts as you feel the trailer starting to over-steer the truck.

And there is a station wagon full of kids coming the other way around the curve on the outside. And it's a steep drop off beyond the shoulder into a river below and the DOT hadn't installed a proper guard rail there yet. Do you have enough vehicle and braking to bring it back under control? That's where the card stacking begins.

Electric brakes is about the first thing I'd put up on the white board. Separate battery on the trailer even better, so if the trailer breaks away the brakes would still activate. Dollies that I've seen don't have that feature. Then a heavier, more stable vehicle would be second on my list. What would be on your list?

If nothing then you may not be taking risk into consideration. Some call it planning for the worst case scenario. It's smart. And SAFE.

Oh, and right about now you recall you didn't mail that insurance premium in time and it lapsed at midnight the night before.

 

They don't use our software, but they do use software. Could be a couple of things. Their system may not list a 302 in a '65 as a possible option so they may get a rejection simply due to that. If it lists a '65 with a 390 as an option and it passes certain weight of tow vehicle to weight of items being towed then they might allow it. The extra cubic displacement might also be enough to satisfy some threshold they have set. You can always fool software with incorrect inputs, too.

 

California also seems to require trailer brakes on any trailer whose loaded weight is greater than 1,500 lbs.

Some might want to consider whether their advice given is even legal in the state where the activity is taking place.

 

I was of the impression that MOST tow dollies were limited to about 3000 lbs GVWR.......From top of the Grapevine most of the way North, mostly flat ground.
Parts of the Santa Cruz mountains are pretty rugged, and treacherous to drive......I seem to recall Ca state laws requiring trailer brakes as well for either 1500 or 3000 lbs, either way the pickup your gonna tow will weigh that much.....
As far as being a "woose" goes, your insurance carrier and the CHP prefer "wooses" to those who dont follow Ca's rules.
I just recently moved out of Ca, after 52 years so im REASONABLY familiar with the state

 

Per Uhaul website,"All its trailers have 4 wire, flat connectors" and that means either NO brakes or surge brakes on its car carrier trailers......Okay assuming they are well maintained and properly adjusted, while you will have trailer brakes, you wont have any means to manually actuate trailer brakes alone should you experience trailer sway......Parts of I-5 are known for wind, and YES plenty of Old Guys with cast iron *****, ice water in there veins and courage of Medal of Honor winners have towed massive trailers without brakes successfully.

 

sounds like the bad advice is coming straight from johnny boy . . . I would venture to say I have 10 times the towing experience johhny boy does and probably with a lot more weight too . .

People drive drunk all the time. Is that safe? You must be drunk when you drive towing 6000lbs with a F100 and drum brakes?

Many cars on road now can stop from 60mph around 100'. Your truck and trailer from 60mph stops in what, 500'? Sounds totally safe! LOL

 

In the event the F100, with the 3 wire hitch, should sneak past towing requirements I am certain with the gauntlet of HP one of them would be more than willing to write a ticket; what's more, should they deem it unsafe I may be face having to bail the rig out of police vehicle storage jail? Anyhow, as mentioned, first option is to get the truck running; if can't, then start looking at options 2-3-&4.

 

Not even in the question you should not pull a 6000lb trailer with a Drum Brake F100.

I have a ton of experience pulling more than I should have, It was not a power issue but braking issue.
Something happened once too many times where I had to hit the brakes. Not a pretty sight. The last time driving 50mph in a 50mph speed zone and a young family stepped out in front of me, Managed to not hit anyone but learned a valuable lesson.

Lives at stake if something should happen where the veh will not stop in time.
Why take the risk as you will be the one it will cost one way or other.

Borrow a veh to tow with. Or hire someone to tow it for you.

What all does truck you are buying need to make it run and drive? (and stop.. LOL)

 

Why all the hate on the DRUMS man?!?!
Properly maintained and adjusted drums will work just dandy, IN ADDITION TO trailer brakes!
I did tow a 66 F100 and a 77 VW Super Beetle Convertible up and over the Grapevine from OrCounty to my current town, Coarsegold/Oakhurst, with a 66 F250 with,,, get this, 4 drum brakes, AND electric trailer brakes. The AND electric trailer brakes being the emphasis added. Now I think most of us older than 40 have done some "not so smart" things, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and we have done that to get the job done. Let's not even get started on the 6 yrs in the Marines as a Vehicle Recovery Mechanic i.e. 25 1/4 ton Wrecker Operator MK48/15, towing a MK48/16 with an M870 Lowboy WITH a bazillion dollar Com-Box down from Big Bear after that earthquake in late 91 or early 92... it was a VERY long drive back to El Toro! Only got stopped twice by the CHPer's. I forget my total length,,, I think it was close to 108' or 110'. Weight,,,fuggeddaboutit,,,
TA455HO,,, I could not do what you do!! I know and practice the concept of be prepared, load for bear to go squirrel hunting, but worrying about a sinkhole while sleeping,,, Dude,,, I'm gonna have problems sleeping now!
Not really! All this just to say, back in the day, when things weren't so crazy and busy as they are now, some things were accepted and done. Would we do them now,,, Hell yes, SOME of them!!
If your 65's brakes are maintained and well adjusted, AND you keep your speed low, I wouldn't have a big issue using a tow dolly. Your going to have 4500-5000# towing 4500-5000#.
I think to much nowadays, people worry about the opinion or advice they give people will come back and bite them, because there are those idiots out there, that would post a question, never towed anything before, hookit up and go crash and then blame it on someone else's advice.
We live in a way to litigious society that keeps idiots from having to take personal responsibility for being an IDIOT! I mean really,,, the friggin coffee is HOT, electricity and water don't mix, guns are inanimate objects and can't do jack without a person, just like a spoon didn't make oprah fat.
Hope ya get it running! Plan A's are always better when your not dealing with live ammo!
And just some fun links for ya'll,,, wish I woulda taken pictures coming down from Big Bear, but I didn't have a cell phone yet!

MK48 Logistics Vehicle System (LVS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistics_Vehicle_SystemM870A1 40-ton Low Bed Semitrailer

 

In case you didn't get the reference there. From March of this year.

A loud crash, then nothing: Sinkhole swallows Florida man - CNN.com


What a way to go!!

 

And folks talk crap about Kalifornia and earthquakes!

 

Nobody is "Hating" on drums, DUDE........You yourself speak of towing on a trailer WITH Electric brakes, you used an F250 rather than an f100 to tow....Im just guessing but i suspect the F250 has at least 20% more brake surface area. A VW beetle weighs a lot less than an f100, and the Santa Cruz mountains arent exactly trailer friendly.....Ive owned a lot of Drum brake all around vehicles......Only one was a 1/2 ton, a 70 GMC Suburban which i used to drive over Mt Tamalpais to go to the beach all the time. after a series of pretty steep down hill grades, with stop signs at the bottom of each, brake fade had reduced my stopping power to a bare minimum. It had a 4 speed, and i used lower gears for compression braking, and i was alone or with a couple friends, the truck wasnt heavily loaded, and i wasnt towing. Drum brakes dont effectively cool, they retain way too much heat, and they fade badly as they get really hot. add in either no trailer brakes or surge brakes, uggg