What's the rules on flat towing

[Neal Zimmerman]

Well my truck is big enough 3/4 ton, but I think it might not be new enough (2001) to satisfy them for renting their trailers. Just a guess.
So I asked can I rent one of your pickups and pull one of your trailers? They said no.
They said I could rent one of their trailers and pull it with one of their box vans. I am way too neurotic to drive 400 miles with a trailer and the limited visibility of a box van. Nope, been there done that, never again.Plus that about doubles the bill.
And telling them the car was about 750-850 pounds lighter than their little computer machine showed because it has no engine or tranny, made no difference.
That's why I am flat towing from now on. I own the bar and the brake lights, and as long as I go slow , stay in the right lane ( yes, lots of people passing and giving me the bird), and don't drive it in the rain, I've had no problems. I also keep way back from the car in front of me ( which produces more birds). I have just always brought home rollers, not ones with power trains.

 

[Neal Zimmerman]

Well my truck is big enough 3/4 ton, but I think it might not be new enough (2001) to satisfy them for renting their trailers. Just a guess.
So I asked can I rent one of your pickups and pull one of your trailers? They said no.
They said I could rent one of their trailers and pull it with one of their box vans. I am way too neurotic to drive 400 miles with a trailer and the limited visibility of a box van. Nope, been there done that, never again.Plus that about doubles the bill.
And telling them the car was about 750-850 pounds lighter than their little computer machine showed because it has no engine or tranny, made no difference.
That's why I am flat towing from now on. I own the bar and the brake lights, and as long as I go slow , stay in the right lane ( yes, lots of people passing and giving me the bird), and don't drive it in the rain, I've had no problems. I also keep way back from the car in front of me ( which produces more birds). I have just always brought home rollers, not ones with power trains.

And Ive always taken wheels with sound tires and swap wheels before hitting the road.

 

[33 IMP]

I'm about to do EXACTLY that. Tomorrow morning, gonna tow my trailer with my box truck to Arizona. (California does not approve of my az registered box, even In my backyard, behind my locked gate)
I'm confident cause I've done it before, I've got a rear view camera I installed, and I never get into a situation that I have to back up the trailer.
Just remember when flat towing to do the same. Never get in a spot where you have to back up, if you can help it. Been there, done that, won't do it again.

 

[radical rob]

I think the trailer people’s biggest concern after the weight is that these cars are just so long and hang out the back so far. Wheelbase wise they barely fit on the trailer. When I moved from Ohio to Florida I had a 26 foot box truck with the car on a trailer. Turns out that was only about 3-4 feet shorter than a semi.
I understand why nobody likes to back up but it happens. A trick someone told me is put one hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want trailer to go to the right, move your hand To the right. I was surprised how much easier it made the whole process.

 

[Lefty71]

Seems I recall that early torqueflites ( what years exactly I cant recall) had a rear pump and you could actually push-start them, so I would imagine this would be a death knell for one of those years.

This almost seems off topic to discuss at this point......since you already know a trailer would be best but.....
I gotta check the service manual....65 and earlier had the rear pumps.....so, no fool is gonna put the trans in gear and tow, but i seem to remember reading that those trannies flat towed in neutral would simply lubricate and cool themselves..... actually better for them than 66 and later????

 

[33 IMP]

I think the trailer people’s biggest concern after the weight is that these cars are just so long and hang out the back so far. Wheelbase wise they barely fit on the trailer. When I moved from Ohio to Florida I had a 26 foot box truck with the car on a trailer. Turns out that was only about 3-4 feet shorter than a semi.
I understand why nobody likes to back up but it happens. A trick someone told me is put one hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want trailer to go to the right, move your hand To the right. I was surprised how much easier it made the whole process.

I measured my crew cab shortbed to make sure the wheelbase would fit on my 14ft trailer. It would have, barely. It would have hung a goodly amount of truck off of the back of the trailer, too. So, i decided not to be stupid and overload the tires, gonna take my daily to drive back.
Backing up a flat tow, in my experience causes the front wheels to flop the wrong way
Then again, what we were flat towing didn't have a steering column lock.

 

[Mackman]

I think the trailer people’s biggest concern after the weight is that these cars are just so long and hang out the back so far. Wheelbase wise they barely fit on the trailer. When I moved from Ohio to Florida I had a 26 foot box truck with the car on a trailer. Turns out that was only about 3-4 feet shorter than a semi.
I understand why nobody likes to back up but it happens. A trick someone told me is put one hand on the bottom of the steering wheel. If you want trailer to go to the right, move your hand To the right. I was surprised how much easier it made the whole process.

When backing remember to ‘Steer toward trouble’.

 

[mrhemi]

U-Haul told me my B-body was too large/heavy for their trailers.

I'd say U-Haul is BS'in you on that one. I hauled a '94 Ford F150 1200 miles on one a couple of years ago. My load and combination was plugged into their online calculator with no issues.

 

[mrhemi]

I just rented a U-Haul trailer pulling it with a Jeep Liberty with a TR6 on the trailer. They had no problem with that. That was a nearly 3000 mile trip, across the continental divide even.
About 3 weeks before Jasper burned.

 

[zslacker]

I just rented a U-Haul trailer pulling it with a Jeep Liberty with a TR6 on the trailer. They had no problem with that. That was a nearly 3000 mile trip, across the continental divide even.
About 3 weeks before Jasper burned.View attachment 1719708

It must depend on whos running the U Haul store. No issues renting this outfit, hauled it just over 800 miles.

 

[Dibbons]

When we were flat towing our Duster to the race track, we pulled the slicks off, and used stock wheels and tires with homemade tow hubs.
AMC hubs, welded to a half inch plate, with the bolt pattern drilled in it.

That's how I towed my bracket racer 80 miles one way to Fremont Raceway for a couple of years.

 

[ynst]

Add something to tie drive shaft up to and leave in place
Also tape cups

Been there, done that, works just fine.

 

[67 R/T CORONET]

What are the rules for flat towing MOPARS equipped with automatics?
If I go get this car and drop the driveshaft to flat tow it, wont tranny fluid pour out all over the peoples driveway from the tail shaft? Not sure how happy they will be.
If I stick it in neutral and flat tow it with driveshaft in place, wont that hurt the tranny anyway?
Seems I recall that early torqueflites ( what years exactly I cant recall) had a rear pump and you could actually push-start them, so I would imagine this would be a death knell for one of those years. But I am dealing with 1965 and newer Mopars.
Yeah, yeah I know ,trailer would be best but I don't have one nor the 800 dollars to pay someone to do it, so I am stuck with my little Flat tow setup which I have used successfully twice towing long (400 miles) distances without incident. Those cars though had no tranny's in them.

We went to a local parts store in FL bought a plug for the tailshaft taped it in with duck tape towed the 69 coronet convertible to Ft.Collins ,Co put the driveshaft back in added a quarter of fluid and drive it away

 

[flyingfeathers]

I flat towed my bird to capital raceway for for 9 years I used free wheeling TOW HUBS if you can still find them worked great!