History Stories relating to towing incidents (What was i thinking)

Fun thread
I have quite a few to add. For some reason towing tasks get pushed off on me.
About the time I got my license my brother was sneaking my folks motorhome out to go to a concert a hundred miles away. It overheated about 10 miles from home and he called and asked me to get dad's pickup and drag him home. We had a chain about 8 feet long-- I was designated to pilot the motorhome. That 8' chain left me about 5' between the bumpers of these vehicles. So I kept at the ready with the brakes. He decided I was slowing too much so pedal to the metal. Flat moving, 75-80 on a 50 mph 2 lane hiway as we passed my grandpas place. He didn't recognize the vehicles but I heard him tell the story more than once about the 2****holes racing a pickup against a motorhome! (He thought I was trying to pass the pickup)

And, here's a two-fer.
My buddy in hi school showed me a pic of his cousins 56 Chevy pickup that he wanted to buy but didn't have the scratch. I liked it and had been washing dishes and saving my money so I decided to get it. We set out Friday night with a car trailer he swiped from the gas station he worked at in the same pickup from the above story. Drove all night (central Wa to Sacramento) and got the truck, loaded up and headed north. Had to be back for school on Monday. Sometime in the middle of the night in Oregon my buddy screams SHEEEEP!!!! I woke up, truck and trailer crossed up, tires smoking and mowing down a flock of sheep that had wandered onto the road.

Part two- same buddy finally traded me out of the same pickup. It was super low, with a camaro stub and torched springs. Had to be careful as it would bottom out if you let off the throttle to fast. Nose would drop and sparks fly.
He decided he'd make some money and flip it at the Portland swap meet so he payed a guy to paint it. Beautiful metal flake blue. We were getting ready to head out and had to load it onto the trailer. Lots of planks etc to get it up the ramps. Front end on and then the rear tires couldn't get over the peak onto the flat. Spinning tires, 427 revving and his Dad yelling at everyone. Truck drifted sideways and the cab corner snagged the sheet metal fender on the trailer and knocked the giant glob of bondo that the painter had sculpted in the absence of dry metal. Too cheap to weld in corner patch panels.. Off to the swap with a freshly painted truck with fraud fully exposed-- didn't exactly bring as much as he had been hoping for.

I could keep going but I think I'll go mess around in the shop--


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Not my story but a good one. Some guys towing a trailer full of Harleys to Sturgis. 70 mph down the highway, slowed to 35 in a little town when they felt the trailer come loose. The tongue broke off and the trailer full of Harleys dodged oncoming traffic and parked itself neatly on the left hand shoulder.

 

LOL ^^^

 

One of mine: My daily driver was a 1960 Ford F-100 4x4. I was probably 21-22 years old. My friend Shaun bought 12 flathead Fords from a guy who lived up on a big hill and asked if we could use my truck to move them...said they were already on a trailer the guys letting him use. Sure thing. We get there, and sure enough 12 junk locked up flathead Fords (700 lbs x 12 =8400 lbs) on a double axle equipment trailer (probably a 5,000 lb trailer). Hook the trailer to my 60, 2" ball mounted on a bumper, no lights or trailer brakes, no problem. We were only going back roads a couple miles anyways. Truck was stock with drum brakes all around. No seat belts or any of that garbage. Start heading down steep hill, I step on the brakes and the truck just keeps picking up speed. I told Shaun hang on we can't stop and we just sail down this hill. I jam the truck in second thinking the engine would slow it down. Yeah right! Hill was probably 1/2 mile long and luckily strait. Get to the flat at the bottom and luckily it too was long, level and strait. Nothing happened but I still think back to what would have happened if we had to stop!

 

most of my towing stories involve renting a 3/4 ton truck and a proper trailer from U- Haul. guess I am not as "adventurous" as the rest of you.

one time when I was 18 0r 19 a buddy bought a VW "notchback" that had a back wheel locked up for some reason. no problem I have a rope and a 69 GTO with plenty of torque. he got in and steered and off we go towed it about 5 miles across town leaving a black skid mark from the tire that was not spinning, along with an incredible screeching sound from the skidding. people were coming out of their houses with WTF looks on their faces. the tire popped just as we reached his house.

my other towing adventure was when the crank broke in two in my slant six 61 Dart in Oakland. called my buddy, who picked me up in his Honda, we went and got my 62 Cadillac and some rope and flat towed it down east 14th/mission blvd all the way to Fremont, about 25 miles with no problems as I was the "brakes" in the Dart to keep the rope from going slack. not really a hair raising sphincter puckering adventure like some of you guys, but it must have been a sight to behold.

 

not me or anyone I know but I actually saw a late model minivan on a trailer where rather than strapping it down by the wheels or chassis he had giant straps running over the top of the car like it was just a big box and not a vehicle with springs and what not. passed him quick and got the F out of his way. this was on a busy freeway.

 

Well, I'll be the first to admit we towed anything we could for beer and gas money. Three of us, Pete driving, Tommy in the towed car a '60 VW with no front window. I'm the look-out , eyes all 'round especially on the towed vehicle which has no lights and suspect brakes (we have no idea if it can stop). The only thing we know is that the desire for beer has surpassed our judgement and the damn thing is rolling. We're off in good fashion and me also easy with a laugh, am gagging because the towed VW, Tommy at the wheel has no windshield and Tommy is wiping away tears from the open car doing 45mph and me the tears of laughter. We're a few miles into what we hope is at least a couple six-packs when the German car starts weaving about like it's dodging potholes. I watch a front wheel come off and roll towards the median as the two inch rope is now pulling a dead soldier scarring up the four lane. Pete pulls over to the side of the road and advises younger brother Tommy to hurry and untie the 2" rope as it's borrowed from a friend's father (to do some tree work). Off we go before the law comes to deter us in our quest to get some refreshment.

 

JEEEZ! REmind me to be OFF THE ROAD when any of you guys tow something!!!

 

The story above about the Harleys made me think of one I saw (not my tow incident). I was running down the freeway and saw something ahead throwing a bunch of sparks. Got closer and it was a motorhome pulling a trailer with a couple of dirt bikes. One of the bikes had came loose and was dragging about 6' behind the trailer by one of the tie downs, the whole time bouncing and flipping over. I followed for quite some time, decided they couldn't see it so got up the balls to pass. Pulled along side the motorhome frantically honking and pointing back. The driver waves, gives me a thumbs up and motors on. I finally gave up and took the next exit, last I saw they were just truckin down the road dragging that poor bike behind. I always wondered what that bike looked like after that.
Kinda related to that, a friend of my brothers pulled up to the entry gate to a national park pulling their restored vintage Shasta trailer. As they pull up the ranger jumps out of the shack, takes a quick look at the trailer then starts yelling for everyone to get out of the car. Seems the ranger saw something sparking under the trailer as they came up, turned out to be the propane bottle that had fallen out of the holder and was being dragged under the trailer held by the hose. Can you imagine what would of happened if it had ground all the way thru and started leaking while throwing sparks?

 

We are not allowed to tow here, everything has to go on or behind a truck. So we decide to tow a friends 64 Pontiac to the workshop, behind another car with a rope (illegally).
No worries, we'll go real early before rush hour, there will be no-one around. We set off, Pontiac convert with no doors, hood, roof, motor,lights, nothing much at all. But we did have brakes and steering. As we get close to the first traffic lights, I can see them flashing orange (not working), with a cop in the middle of the road directing traffic. He directs the tow car around the corner, then sees what is behind it, his eyes widen, I go past (sitting on a beer crate) and smile and wave, the cop is still spinning around watching us. He could'nt go anywhere, and there was no plate on the pontiac, so we just kept going. When we stopped we got out and could not beleive our luck! (The Pontiac went back on a tilt-tray!)

 

Well not too scary but kind of funny. A friend and I were towing my 1939 Ford Coupe to my high school shop, probably 1963 or 64. The teacher was going to weld in the trans mount. We were towing with a chain with me driving the 1939 Ford. We were stopped by a police officer about 3 blocks from school. He of course gave 2 high school kids some grief. Eventually, he had us tow, he had told us how UNSAFE it was to tow with a chain, to the police station, about 3 miles or so. That was instead of the 3 blocks to school. He made me go get the****le. A reasonable request.

My uncle was a police officer in the same town so I stopped to talk to him. I told him the story. He said yes it was illegal. I went and got the****le and brought it to the police station. When I showed it to the desk officer he was somewhat apologetic and said take the car to school. My uncle NEVER admitted to calling the police but he MUST have.

I sure wish I had that car today.

 

Happens to the best of them.
Gary, you remember Hillsboros Mark Coletti and the "Riddler" series cars I'm sure.
Mark lost one off his trailer many years ago near the tunnel on the Sunset Highway.

 

LOL Yeah, but I'm pretty sure they weren't using a rope and had brakes! I have my own story, but that's another......matter.

 

No where near the sphincter tightening escapades of earlier posts but about the worst luck for a single day that I had ever heard of. About ten years ago my buddy's brother had asked him if he could borrow his boat but had no way of towing it to the ramp. Being a good brother he not only lent him the boat but used his brand new Toyota 4x4 to tow it. On the way to the ramp going down a big hill the trailer came loose and smashed into the side of the truck. The boat came free of the trailer on impact and slid into the woods. The boat was a complete loss and the truck wasn't looking too great either. The kicker is.......that same weekend he lent his Harley to another friend of mine. The way he tells it "I'm sitting on the front porch doing shots trying to blot out the F' ed up day when Bill came up the driveway with what's left of my Road King." Bill had went down on it along Skyline Drive.

 

Damn good reading on this thread...Here's my story.

Back in mid 80s had a REALLY bad****ed 69 Plymouth Roadrunner 440 6bbl 4 speed car that lowered with N series Hoosiers tucked inside the rear fender wells. This car looked like a prostocker and ran like stink...Cruisin around Clovis one day and broke the clutch linkage rod. Way to far to try to drive home with no clutch so I called a tow service and warned him to bring a bed rig as I wouldn't allow them to put it on a hook. The old man gets there, had to be 80yo, and manages to get the car loaded on the ramp. Hop in the cab for the ride home and he looks at me and says "you not gonna like the ride home son". I ask why and he says "you'll see". Off we go and I swear, we don't go 3 blocks and 2 guys in a nasty sounding 69 El Camino zip by, starin at my car. Their brake lights come on and we slowly catch up and pull along side them when the passenger rolls his window down and yells, as loud as he can, "shoulda bought a Chevy! Bwahahahahaha!" then on the throttle and they were gone, at which point my driver looks over, grins, and says, matter of factly, "told ya so". I could only laugh...

 

This was in 2003. After a 4 year chase I finally , with the help of a good friend becand the proud owner of my 59 el camino. The next day i went to get it. I went to pick up a friend who volunteered to help. His friend who showed up the night before to help him empty beer cans all night was voluntered also. So with no further ado, my two drunk companions and I head 23 miles up into the hills, down into the river canyon and over, and back up, to the head of the guys road in the rain. Now we are on a muddy road, and down we go into the river canyon. I was too good of a driver too have a need for such unnecessary luxuries as trailer brakes at the time. Up the hill to the gate we go. GET Caught here, get shot here spray was painted on the fence, but there, pushed over a bank so no one could see it was the famous 59 that no one had been able to buy, miraculosly , now mine. So after 2 hours, a dead battery, and a burned out winch, with the help of his suzuki samurai, the 4000 pound non rolling beauty is on the trailer. We jump start the truck, and off we go. Nope. Spinning all 4 tires in the mud. So with a 50 foot chain, and help from the samurai again I'm on gravel and ready to go. Nope. Flat on the trailer,no spare. Pull the wheel and block the shackle. Now i am ready to go with 3 wheels on the trailer. Shake hands, and down the muddy hill we go. No prob I'm in 4 low, and its a 4 speed, so we crawl the 8 miles to the pavement. Now it is snowing. Back to the pavement, I hit the brakes to stop and down to the floor it goes. Ripped a metal brake line somehow. We are 23 miles from home, no way to call for help, and it is snowing and getting dark. So i put it into 4 high, and using gears and the weak front brakes only, off we go. Amazingly, things go perfect, and an hour later, we are home with no further incident. I will never do that again.

 

Post 65 reminds me of a similar. I helped a friend drag a 37 Dodge home. No front wheels and both rears were locked up. I come-a-longed the front up on the back of the full length headache rack on my 66 C10 and dragged it about a mile to his house. The rear tires didnt leave any black streaks, they left a trail of ground up dry powder and by the time we got there the tires had ground away, the tubes had ground away and the rims were just beginning to grind on the pavement. When we pulled in his wife came out and immediately began screeching, Get That Thing outa Here!!
I paid him $50 for it and got my trailer

 

Haha. My story is Rocky similar. Later model, very cherry, lifted black paint Jeep Cherokee 4.0 liter tow vehicle. One free 65 Galaxy 427 body no drivetrain, no quarter panels, and a homemade unregistered car trailer. I was talked into this****ignment very reluctantly. Didn't like it one bit, but $500, and free gas helped the decision.

Drove one state over, and hooked up. So underpowered, we had to get going, in lower gears, and reach a comfortable cruising speed. Brakes didn't work so well, either.

Going into Texas, a stalled vehicle car crash unfolded directly in front of us. Sharp left to avoid impact, and immediately hit the entrance to the oncoming highway overpass. The direction change, and overpass rise, torqued the homemade tongue from the trailer, broke the welds, sending the whole getup into the adjoining lane, down the other side of the overpass, and onto the lower highway, turning over into the median. Complete yard sale ! Total annihilation.

Full tank of gas .... yes, I kept driving.

May have a picture of the tow hasp still attached to my tow ball somewhere ..... man I laughed so hard when I saw that still hanging. Thank Gawd' we didn't get pulled over. (What trailer sir? No trailer here. ) Better, glad we didn't kill anyone.

 

kidcampbell, you win one internet!

 

My first classic was a $400 '57 Chevy shortbed stepside. Wish I wouldve kept it. I found it less than a mile from my newly aquired first house around 2001. I was about 23. My dad had a late 90's Ford Ranger and we elected to go pick it up and drag it home. (as many on here have shared . . . using a chain) Now, my dad is a seasoned veteran and when we were hooking it up, he pulled out a 6' length of 2" pipe and said "run the chain through this". I was confused, but in a hurry. So, as you can guess the trip home was a 1 mile trip downhill. When we started down the hill, the ol pickup rapidly closed the distance between my new truck and the ranger, but the pipe saved the Ranger from getting crushed. However, the truck shoved that little pickup down the hill. Regardless, we made it home!

 

I had a late friend tell me a story when he was in the Navy in California.
It was in the late 50's, he and his wife went to pick up a non-running motorcycle. He had the idea of riding the cycle while being pulled by a rope; tied from the bumper of the car to the center of the handle bar. He left enough slack so if the wife made a sudden stop, he could react in time and stop before hitting the back end of the car. He sat on the cycle and told his wife he was ready. She literally took off. He hung on, concentrating keeping the cycle steady. She never looked back to see how he was doing...just kept looking forward. He said he had some control until she turned a corner without slowing down. The cycle flung out wide and the momentum broke the rope sending him careening out of control on the road tumbling into somebody's yard. When he got up, noticed that she had just drove on.
Not until she got home and out of the car, noticed he was missing. All that was left, a rope tied to the bumper with one broken end hanging.

 

D

Darn near experienced the exact same thing.

 

That Burb must not have had a motor in it. I've hauled many Burbs with motors using a 16' trailer and no problem. Then took them to the scrap yard after removing the BBC. The only time I had sway was when the rear of the Burb was loaded with a bunch of scrap., then only needed to keep it around 45-50 for a no sway tow. Heck I started out towing that 16 footer with a V6 stick Ford Ranger and made a couple of 1500-2000 mi trips with that combo.

 

Dave Adams of Adams Automotive Racing Engines had a similar story. He always slept on the ride from Menomonie to Cameron. One night he wakes up and all he sees is corn stalks as the truck is going through a corn field then finally gets back on the road.

Punky Manor told about waking up in the center of the one ton 50s vintage truck they hauled their stock car with. There was an arm in front of his face. Mike Lentz was sitting on his right with his right arm out the right window and the left on the steering wheel. Mike Vold was on his left, sound asleep with his right foot holding the accelerator down. Punky said he had trouble getting back to sleep after that.

There was a guy who borrowed his dads new 71 Dodge pickup to tow his stock car to the Eau Claire dirt track with a tow bar. They didn't have anything connected to center the steering. He changed lanes too fast and the steering turned to right lock taking them off the road and rolling the truck.

My own experience was bringing a car home that had been hit in the rear using an F150 and a tow dolly. Couldn't load the front end because the rear would hit the ground so we put the rear wheels on the dolly and headed out from Big Lake Minnesota. It towed fine on hwy 25 running about 60. Got it onto I94 and up to 65. It started to wander and got worse as I slowed down. We were lucky it was early Saturday morning and there was no traffic so I was able to chase it across lanes and stay in front of it until I got it slowed and under control. It was the wildest ride I ever had trying to correct enough to not over correct and roll the truck. We pulled over and tried tying the steering wheel with the seat belt as the steering lock allowed some play. Headed out again and got up to 45 to try it. A semi went by and the truck started to sway again causing the car to sway. We stopped again and I turned the steering wheel slightly so the car wasn't towing straight and would have some wind resistance on one side. It was better but would still sway at times until the air resistance on the side stabilized it. We had to go through the Twin Cities in the center lane of 3 lanes where if you're going less than 65, you get run over. I was happy to make it through.

 

An F150 is not a good tow rig unless it has a towing package. The camber on the I-beam front suspension changes on bumps and causes the vehicle to wander. They need a heavy sway bar front and rear as well as some weight in the box.

 

Oh the suburban definitely had a motor in it. I broke the serpentine belt less than 2 miles from my house, and decided to load it up instead of nursing it home. Between 45-50 mph going down a slight grade it went into full traler sway mode, and shoved me over the bank

 

Stupid phone...anyway, the suburban ('95 model) and the trailer wagged the f150 (longbed) around like a toy. Both vehicles landed upside down, and bounced back on their wheels. I turned a fixed steering column into a tilt version with my head, and looked like Frankenstein for a couple weeks. Here's the suburban.

 

Damn! 95? Looks to be the same color combo I had on my pick up.

 

1959, just out of school and went to work at a junk yard driving a '40's vintage International truck made into a tow truck. Had a Chevy 6 cyl and trans with the driveshaft joined at about the middle and vibrated like crazy. Towing one of the usual junkers in L.A., probably a '40's vintage Buick or Packard. Tow truck*****s out in the middle of the highway and won't start. Decided to see if the towed vehicle would possibly run (yeah, you bet). Well, the thing actually did start. I tied the truck steering wheel, hopped in the junker and pushed the truck off the road with it. One of the FEW lucky breaks I ever got with that truck.

 

My friend wanted to take his backhoe to the farm 70 miles away and yeah,I'll go. Big backhoe, maybe 10,000 pounds, tow truck 1977 F150, trailer 16 foot car hauler that really really was too small. We learned pretty quick that 25 miles an hour was max speed, 30 was insane but sometimes the speed crept up. It did and things got crazy. The trailer was weaving so bad that it was jerking the back of the truck left and right. Too much weight was on the back of the trailer so each jerk lifted the back of the truck off the ground. I told him to accelerate every time the truck was straight (to pull things back in line) but he was too scared. Finally it slowed and calmed down. There was a family following us in their car and they called the State Police who only said, Slow Down. I'm sure we were violating lots of laws