Easy, it was during a run at a mud bog last year. I had broken a u-joint and shaft the week earlier, and I just replaced the broken parts. What I didn't realize is that when the joint broke, it mus have damaged the lower ball joint, so when I was making my 35" run, the torque to the ground was too much and finished the ball joint off, twisting the knuckle and driver side front tire right off with it. The only thing that kept my tire to the truck was the 1.5" rod ended tie rod I made. So Paul, just think about that if you have a problem with your 60 and how strong your new steering stuff is!!!

 

Matt:

We flat tow all of the time. Sometimes it is just convenient. Having to park a trailer, or leave a roll off behind is just a pain.
We have been flat towing for years, and been towing without any problems with a tow bar just like the bar you pictured. While tow points have to be secure, the idea of over building a mount is just more work than it is worth, and overkill.
Look at the fasteners that actually hold the bar together. That is grade 5 hardware, and a couple of bolts are less that 3/8" in diameter. Thats factory stuff.
Making the double 2" tube idea while cool, is way overkill. You are only towing, and towing offers little resistance, since everything is tight, there is little shock loading.
Keeping things simple is often a reasonable method.
Here are a couple of pics of a bronco that is similar to yours, and has been flat towed for many, many miles.
I outlined the factory hardware that is just mounted to the front of the frame that is slightly exposed.
broncoinsnow.jpg - Image - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

Thanks for the info 75F350.

Got some questions for you...
Thought the tow bar had to be as level as possible, the pics of the bronco looks like it'd have to drop a good bit to meet the tow trucks hitch.
Also, would you recommend putting the Transfer case in Neutral and tranny in Park or what?

Any other tips?

 

MBBFord:

The bar itself must be level. This prevents the coupler from trying to pop off of the ball while the front vehicle and rear vehicle are on surfaces that are not level, like a steep driveway or something. It also makes the bars as long as possible. Any angle here actually brings the vehicles a little closer together. That whole arch thing, lol.

Keeping the angle flat is as simple as figuring out how high the bar is after it is attached to the vehicle being towed. Then provided that the front vehicle is just as tall, you would need a straight slide in hitch.
A lower front vehicle might need a drop hitch that is turned upside down to achieve the roper heigth. The same is true for the opposite. If towing with a really tall truck, you may need a small drop hitch.
Real simple really, you just have to make sure you have a bunch of chain for youor tow vehicle. That bar is pretty long, and the chain has to attach to the vehicle.

Here is another big tip. Since the ignition is off, and all of the elecrical circuits are open, you can tap into the parking light / turn signal harness at the front of your bronco, and you will have lights without the need for a light bar, or any external wiring. This allows you to use all of the existing wiring, and still being able to be legal.
Now your front lights and rear lights will work at the same time, meaning that when you apply the brakes, the front light will illuminate bright also, but this is never a problem.
This method takes about 15 minutes to wire, and will use your exisiting wiring, and bulbs.
Kind of a cool trick.

As far as flat towing with a 205, and an automatic, this gets interesting, and I am not ashamed to say that I do not have enough knowledge of this to provide you with a 100% answer.
I do know that the 205 does not have an oil pump, so oiling the case is not an issue, but with an auto in front of it, I would imagine that the output shaft can still sping, even when the case is in neutral. I mean, just spin the output shaft while the case is on the bench, and see what happens to the others, even when the case is in neutral. They all spin. Now spin it real fast like it will be when the bronco is being towed, and i would imagine that the output shaft in the transmission is beginning to spin. Add some speed, and this thing could gather some momentum. While this may not be too bad, the pump is not turning, and the transmission could get damaged. I do not see this as such a big problem that I would be overly concerned about it, but the potential is there.
That is my theory anyway, but I have 'zero' data to support this.
For trips less than say 100 miles, I would not worry. This can be prevented by starting te bronco for a minute or two when you stop for gas, or a fresh bag of beef jerky.
As far as towing this way accross the country, probably not without just pulling the rear D-shaft, and not having a problem at all.
Full float rear axles, and locking hubs used to be real popular for this reason.
We tow with the transfer case in neutral, and the manual trans in the high gear.
Autos may take a little more to help them survive, and I am not entirely convinced that the trans does not start to spin a little. Will this small amount hurt anything???? your guess is as good as mine, because I just dont have any info to support this.
Hope this helps a little bud.

75

 

Thanks again.
I'll try putting tranny and t case in Neutral and see how it works. It'll get towed about 15 miles usually, but I've got a trip planned that's about 50 miles, with that being the farthest, I think I'll be ok.

As for keeping the tow bar level, this is why I want to make some kind of removeable drop down assembly.
The tow truck most of the time would be the 04 in my sig which has about a hitch about 18" from the ground.
I have a rapid adjustable hitch:

It can rise up to about 6"s


The bottom of my frame on my Bronco is 30" tall, so with the full 6" rise on the 04 that'd put the ball around 24"....still a 6" difference with the hitchs maximum rise.

I'd like to drop the assembly about 8"s. That'd mean I could use the rapid hitch, but wouldn't have to have it at max rise, so If it was on a different (lower) vehical I could still use the hitch to keep the tow bar level.




Another question.... since the assembly would drop, I'd like to put some kind of support to stop the assembly from moving forwards and backwards while being towed.
A easy place to mount this would be on the passenger side of my axle (front shock mount I'm not using), but would that be ok to do?

 

You rapid hitch idea is a great one because it gives you quite a bit of adjustability.
However, if it does not have enough adjustment, then it just wont work well.
By the time you fab up anything that will make up the difference, you might as well just run a different drop hitch, and run it upside down.
This would be a low cost, and no time solution. It does not let you show off that fancy hitch, but when you tow your bronco, they eyes will be on the bronco and probably not on the hitch.
As far as trying to attack anything to the shock mounts, I am a little confused. Do you intend to attach the tow bar to the axle only? This will require a very long tow bar, and you will have to make something.
If you are going to make some sort of removable bracket that will attach to the frame and use the axle to support it, it will not work because the axle will still have to continue through nermal suspension cycles, and connecting to the frame and the axle will create a terrible problem, but I am sure I am just misunderstanding this.
You last sentance has me a bit confused.

Now I just wanted to also add that the solution to your problem is really found in the 04 truck. Sounds to me like the entire truck is too low, lol.
"Old blue" the bronco in the pics is rolling on 42" tires and still gets flat towed, but it gets towed by a super duty that is also rolling large rubber. The super duty also in my photobucket pulls the bronco (most of the time), and it does not need much of a drop hitch at all.
Matt; maybe you just need to lift the 04????? Lets see, you are 6 inches away, so maybe a 4 inch kit, and some larger rubber? You could keep your rapid hitch then. Just a thought.

 

X2
You could buy an 8" drop hitch or whatever length you need for your case and flip it, instead of a detachable drop mount. And then you can mount it straight to the bronco.

 

A lift on the 04 would solve the problem, but that's just not going to happen lol
Got to stay a DD and get decent gas mileage.


Now that I think about it, forget about the support arm going to the axle (haha, that was a dumb idea) just don't know of a good,easy way to mount one.

Already got the rapid hitch, so don't feel like buying one of those dump looking 8" drop hitches. (8" drop is closer to 7" rise...that would only bring it up to 25" not 30).

I'm going to have to sit and stare at the front of the frame for a while to come up with something else.

I need some kind of a drop which will be easy, but where to mount the support arm is really getting me.... can't have one on the driverside because of the steering box/pitman arm.