I need to tow my dad's old CCLB out to my family's ranch from my house which is about 30 miles away. - and then back at some point. AAA only gives me 7 miles free then charges per mile. I dropped insurance coverage on the truck 6 months ago when it went out of commission so no free tow with them either. I only have access to a 16 footer (and the tires are sketchy last time I was out there) so that won't work either. How opposed would you gentlemen be to a tow bar bolted to a stock front bumper to tow about 30 miles? (see pics below)

Truck blew a head gasket. Confirmed a month ago with a compression test just been in denial. Would like to get it out of my driveway for now until I have more time to address it but don't know how I am going to get it there.

These guys were towing a dually with a 1/2 ton with a similar set-up on some random chevy forum I found. Think I will make it 30 miles towing it with my F-150 daily (in the sig)? or I can borrow a work associates cummins 1 ton if need be.

 

The sketchy part is the truck probably weighs 6000+ lbs and these tow bars I am looking at are only rated for 5K and I am thinking/hoping to just bolt to an extra bumper I have and not the frame.

 

A tow dolly is also an option. If it's 4x4 put the transfer case in neutral, and you're good to go. Disconnect the rear drive shaft if 2wd. Flat towing can also be done doing the same with the transfer case, or driveshaft.

As long as the trailer is rated for the gross weight the truck will fit on it. I'd get the tires looked at of course.

 

The tow dolly was only rated for 3900 pounds from Uhaul. The tow bar (edit: accidentally put dolly) is rated for 5K so was thinking the flat tow was the better option especially with how long the truck is.

So mrollings53 just to be clear. If I flat tow a truck I don't need to remove a driveshaft(s)? So if I was to flat tow my bronco I can just drop transfer case and truck in neutral and good to go? Same with my f350 just neutral and go?

Seems to me that the flat tow would be a better option? I don't want to buy a tow dolly and I don't know where I can rent one local besides uhaul.

Also the reason I ask is they have a cool smittybuilt tow bar I think will work on my bronco. Might kill two birds with one stone and tow the F350 out to the ranch and still have the detachable tow bar I can hook into my D-ring mounts on my bronco and pull it to the trail in case it breaks I can tow it back.

 

I am sorry. I am re-reading what you put. So I do still need to drop the driveshaft on a 2wd (the f350 is 2wd) to flat tow?

 

Okay I found this. It seems really dependent on transmission type.

So I am still leaning towards flat tow but now just thinking of buying cheapest tow bar I can that is rated for 5K (since price jump is ridiculous to get to just 6500lb rating) mounting it on the stock bumper I have laying around as close as I can to the bumper frame mounts. I can disconnect the drive shaft since mine is an auto.

I have an equalizing hitch to use with that 16 foot trailer but its still sketchy to me with the weight distribution and the fact the truck will be hanging off both ends of the trailer. Am I wrong for thinking this?

 

A big part of it to me, is what are the roads like. Can you go 30mph without being a hazard to others? Maybe do it very early morning. Around here, on the state highways, you'd likely be just fine. Get up at 4am and get it done, probably wouldn't see more than 1 other truck.

Edit: I would pull the rear driveshaft on the 2wd. A 4x4, if it has a BW13-56 has an oil pump in transfer case that is driven by the output shaft. So neutral in a BW13-56 is a safe way to tow.

I do not like your idea of mounting the tow bar to the stock front bumper. Maybe a brick nose is stronger but the OBS bumpers are just barely hanging on.. why not frame mount the thing?

 

Lucky for me they just redid all the highway heading that way. First 20 miles will be straight highway. 5 miles of curvy highway (probably will be sketchiest part). About a mile down a gravel road that they just completely redid as well and is now 2 car wide when it was only one car wide before. I agree on early morning (it's Dallas so it can get bad fast)

So no one thinks I should have any issue towing this big ole truck with a 5k tow bar? It sure seems based of my google search it's been done before.

I think it will be the most cost effective way with tow bar. Worse case as long as it get's it the majority of the way there I can call AAA and have them tow the last stretch and the sketchiest stretch of the tow cheap or free.

I guess next step is order a tow bar and get it mounted to this stock bumper I have and swap it for the ranch hand so it's ready tow.

 

I would go slow. If you can't, it's not worth it. What's the tow bill? That f350 will have it's way with your little f150 especially at speed. Your brakes are inadequate, the sheer weight differences will be at play too. Over loading the tow bar in a city (Dallas, TX) may be a very bad idea. Insurance will be useless in a wreck if they figure out how over loaded the truck and tow system was. It's one thing to drive on the shoulder with your flashers on in the middle of nowhere but Dallas is a metropolitan area. I'd explore other options.

 

If I do tow it myself. I planned on going super slow and was probably going to borrow my office mates 1 ton cummins since its already beat to hell and would tow no issues (he owes me a favor for fixing his computers). I need to borrow it to haul some gravel out there anyways so kill two birds with one stone. Well in a way three birds since I was hoping to move that free gravel with my F350.

All this said I am going to call AAA tomorrow to see how much to bump my membership up to something that will go 30 miles or close to vs the 7 miles free membership I have now.

If its under $100 more a year then it will be worth it in my book. Tow bar is $75 shipped at minimum for a reputable branded one. I am going to have to tow it back (or get it towed) at some point. I am pretty bummed about the head gasket but maybe a blessing in disguise. Now I can yank the engine and bring it back to the garage and take my time regasketing it. I was fighting a losing battle with leaks anyways. First it was the rear main seal, then oil pan gasket, and a valve cover gasket now a blown head gasket.

My dad ran it rich for a year before it was passed on to me. When I had the upper intake off it was caked in carbon. I should have yanked the engine when I got the truck instead wasted time and money trying to patch things.

 

Just be very careful taking any turns, and take the straightest roads possible. Used a tow bar a few years ago to bring a truck home and I'll never do it again. I had to sit in the truck being towed so it wouldn't jackknife around turns.

 

now that's a comment I was looking for.

if it's gonna be that much of a pain I'll probably pay for a tow. It's just going to be easier for me to get the truck out of the way and bring the motor back to the house. I can drop it back in at the farm once I get her tire down and regasketed.

 

Only $130 a year for 2 people on AAA with 4 100 mile tows for each adult.

I should have just called them first before starting a thread. We were already paying $80 a year for two people so $50 more for 4 100 mile tows seems like a deal.

 

You said in the first post that the truck has no insurance so I'm assuming the registration may be expired as well? Just be aware that AAA only covers cars with current registration, since it is towing insurance intended for breakdowns. Sometimes you may get lucky if the wrecker operator doesn't care, but when he shows up he can refuse the tow if the plates are expired.

 

Sounds like you've got a good, safe option, but here are some thoughts I have about flat towing (having done a lot of it with CJ5 and my '71 Bronco).

Steering on the towed vehicle is no problem if the alignment isn't screwed up. It's a HUGE problem (steering going to opposite lock on corners) if the camber is off. (edit: I meant to say if the caster is off)

That said, steering the combination can be very difficult with an empty F-250 towing a CJ5 (the towed vehicle wants to go straight, taking the back end of the truck with it on turns). I'd hate to think about towing a 1 ton crew cab with a half ton. You could do it if you went really slow, but it could go south on you in a hurry too.

Braking is pretty "interesting" towing a CJ5 with an F-250. You can't stop very quickly and if you try it tends to lock the trucks back tires and jackknife. Again I wouldn't recommend doing it with the towed vehicle greatly outweighing the towing truck. (And now I have my Bronco set up with "towed" brakes to keep it legal and safe).

Towing 30 miles at low speed is very unlikely to cause a problem with a transfer case or manual trans, and probably not even an automatic. However, for longer, higher speed tows, I'd always drop the driveshaft with anything:

• Automatics are lubed by the pump on the input shaft, so they are the worst to tow with the driveshaft in place.
• Manual trans are splash-lubed, but the countershaft is the only thing really down in the gear lube, and it doesn't turn when you tow with the trans in neutral, so I sure wouldn't risk that either.
• Ford transfer cases of this vintage are lubed by a pump that's driven from the output shaft, so they should be able to be towed with the driveshaft in place (and the transfer case in neutral to protect the trans). But dropping the driveshaft is cheap insurance, so I'd still do it.

I wouldn't worry too much about towing a 6500 lb truck with a 5000 lb rated tow bar. It might get you in trouble with your insurance company if there was an accident, but there's usually plenty of safety factor in designs for that much overloading.

Like GoinBoarding said, I'd be leery about towing a truck that heavy with the towbar bolted to the bumper. There are some serious forces involved in horsing a flat-towed truck through corners. I don't see a stock bumper holding up well to that.

When I've tried to rent a tow dolly from U-Haul they wanted to know what I was towing on it and what I was towing it with. They pretty much said "no" to anything involving a full-size truck on the dolly. They MIGHT rent it to you if you told them you were towing a 2WD F-150 with an F-350 dually, but I'm not even sure of that. And standard size tow dollies probably wouldn't fit a full size truck. There are oversize dollies that will, but I'm not sure how available they are to rent.