I have one more question about using a tow dolly to haul a 51 Merc with a standard shift trans. Is it possible, or even feasible, to put the rear wheels on the dolly and pull thye car backwards? Obviously, there would be no issues concerning the transmission. You would have to tie down the steering wheel. I used to do this all the time when I drove a wrecker back in the 60s. Thanks
My advice is to raise the fronts, put the trans in neutral and lock the wheel. What I used to lock the wheel was two small ratchet tie-downs, each looped around the wheel, one tied to the brake pedal and other to the clutch. I used a tow dolly when I went to Viva a few months ago, like so:
Kinda lame first post but I figured being a tow truck driver my $0.02 might actually be worth something. Older manual transmissions have (afaik) their oil sling on the output shaft so theoretically you could tow it from the front. Regardless my boss, AAA, etc won't let us tow any vehicle like that, we have to raise the drive wheels of the ground. For short in town tows I wouldn't foresee any issues. For extended driving at highway speeds I wouldn't dare dragging the drive wheels, especially when it concerns vehicles that the owner (you) spend countless hours of elbow grease, sweet, tears and dollars on. Just pick it up from the rear and tie the steering wheel. And never tie the steering wheel to the pedals, their assembly is ment to withstand pushing force not pulling, and if you raise the steering axle there's no need to tie the steering wheel.
Depending on how far I go, short distance's I don't drop the driveshaft when using a towbar. If I'm going quite a ways I diconnect the drive shaft. And left the steering wheel alone do that it'll follow the pulling vehicle. I've towbared 2800 once, Vegas to North Carolina.Just use common sense and be careful.
Towed my O/T car from Liverpool, UK to Rome, Italy on an A frame that keeps all wheels on the ground, flat towing style. It attaches to the front suspension arms or front cross member using heavy duty ratchet straps. Steering had to be unlocked and gearbox in neutral. No problems towing at 100mph plus - hardly knew it was there. Did the journey in 27 hours non-stop through UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. The only issue was that it wasn't possible to reverse with it attached - but because it was on the ground we just unhitched and pushed it around then re-hitched.
The car we were towing weighed only 295 kilos and we were towing with Peugeot 807 - that combo is legal everywhere else in the EU. Passed by plenty of German police cars but never stopped.
We told you before that for the 20 or so miles you're going to go, you'll be fine to just load it up the way it's supposed to be loaded and go.
I use to use a Kar Kaddy just like the one fsaeo607 uses regularly until I had to make sharp turns with my just painted 48 Ford on it on the way to have the exhaust done. By the time I got home I had to repair both front fenders from the Kar Kaddys fenders hitting the rear portion of my cars fenders. That was the last time I used a car caddy on a old car.
Doesn't one of those things adjust so you can make it wider so you're not hitting your fenders on it making turns?
...a friend of mine just towed a 64 Corvair Greenbriar panel truck from south Carolina to Illinois with the rear end on the dolly, fronts on the ground....he only drove 50 miles per hour all the way, but was towing with a lil Dodge Rampage truck...did just fine.
I built a dolly about about 10 years ago to tow my OT '73 Dodge Dart with. I raised the fronts, pulled the driveshaft and went 2600 miles round trip from SD to TN and back with no problems. Doing the speed limit plus a few most of the time. Just don't get in a tight spot where you need to back up. At least with mine it was near impossible. I've never used a store bought one.
I had a '62 Tempest with an automatic transmission. It had the engine in front and the transmission in the rear so there was no way to disconnect the wheels from the transmission. I didn't know if you could pull it backwards on a cardolly or not. So I filled the gas tank, started the engine and let it idle in neutral while I pulled it from Missouri to Dallas with the rear wheels on the ground. It seemed to do ok. Drove it for a lot of years with no trouble.
On an old Merc that is stock you may tow with the drive axle down, it is no different than driving the car normally...with a tow dolly you don't need to lock the steering...newer stuff with front drive often won't lubricate the moving parts less the engine is running. Just use common sense and check for clearances... Have fun and good luck!
I like my dolly for a long haul because I remove the tongue and load it in the pickup bed for the return trip.
On a standard transmission only the cluster gear is in the oil. If will not be turning to through oil on the main shaft bearings.
Greetings! Used to own a tow dolly, I swear every time I dared used that infernal contraption it ended in epic disaster. On my mother's grave, I swear I will never use one again, my advice is do whatever it takes to get a two-axle trailer, you'll never regret the decision.
Possible..Yes. Feasible NO.Don't do it.I tried it once and the car swayed back & forth.I ended up switching it around in a rest area.
I may be wrong, but when using a car dolly with the front wheels on the dolly,don't you leave the stering wheel off of the lock? The dollys that I have used have a swilvel deck plate .
I towed a 52 chevy backward on car dolly, but uneven ground better go down to 45 mph.When the road looks good 60mph is ok.I was unable to get trailer and had to move 350 miles.I used a uhaul dolly.
I tried towing a '50 buick backward on a dolly with a 1/2 ton chevy pick-up; that didn't work at all. Had the steering wheel tried off but when I went to get up to speed the the front of the buick would whip back and forth across the road, had to unhook the buick and put the dolly under the front wheels. Well NEVER put the dolly under the rear wheels again.
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