dolly towing

[ken ct]

Can i safely tow a 36 on a dolly approx 900 mi. Front or rear wheels on tow dolly??? ken ct.

[flatheadernie]

Ken, you should be fine on a front wheel tow, make shure every thing is lubed. Tranny should sling enough oil to keep things safe, hope all works well for your relocation. ernie n tx

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by flatheadernie

Ken, you should be fine on a front wheel tow, make shure every thing is lubed. Tranny should sling enough oil to keep things safe, hope all works well for your relocation. ernie n tx

The CLUSTER is not being turned to "sling" anything in NEUTRAL. DD

[Karl Wolf]

It would work, think about a tandem axle trailer with brakes... I you could check the toe-in for the backwords tow, it's easier on the trans... The only part in the trans I would consider is the bearing in the main drive, don't feel that there is a whole lot of oil getting slung up there- countershaft doesn't move in that arrangement... Karl

[Marvin/TN]

When you rent a tow dolly it states in the agreement Not to Tow from the rear. Something about front alignment at stability.

[PeteVS]

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Originally Posted by Marvin/TN

When you rent a tow dolly it states in the agreement Not to Tow from the rear. Something about front alignment at stability.

I can see that the caster that all front ends have is what causes steering to return to straight ahead when you're going forwards and release the steering wheel. It also causes steering to go to one side or the other when you're backing, and "backing" at 50 MPH or so would be putting a lot of pressure on the steering gear, and if something were to let loose, cause a lot of problems.

[41ford1]

I agree the best way to dolly tow is rear wheels down. V8COOPMAN is right the cluster does not turn when in neutral being towed. If you can drive it. Run it around a rest area every 200 miles.

[jimTN]

I pulled one of my 37's from Chicago to Knoxville with rear wheels down with no problems. Have pulled other Fords long distances back in the days of towbars and never had a problem.

[Mart]

If you tow with the rear wheels on the road, select neutral, but hold the clutch pedal down with a length of wood. I did this with a stick ,notched to sit on the pedal and the steering wheel spoke.
By allowing the input shaft and gearset to slowly rotate, oil circulation is maintained and there should not be any problems.

Before setting off, double check the trans is in neutral. If it is accidentally left in first or reverse, there could be a problem with spinning the clutch disc too fast.

Mart.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by Mart

If you tow with the rear wheels on the road, select neutral, but hold the clutch pedal down with a length of wood. I did this with a stick ,notched to sit on the pedal and the steering wheel spoke.
By allowing the input shaft and gearset to slowly rotate, oil circulation is maintained and there should not be any problems.

Before setting off, double check the trans is in neutral. If it is accidentally left in first or reverse, there could be a problem with spinning the clutch disc too fast.

Mart.

Mart good idea,i guess also i could overfill the tranny and then drain excess when i get there???? ken ct. Also would a good bump in the road cause the tranny to pop into gear on the road?? ken ct. Thanks all for the info.

[Old Redneck]

I had a friend that towed his 36 all over the country on a dolly. Every 200 miles he start the car so the oil would do the front bearing in the tranny, It worked for him.If you want I could give you his phone number so you could talk to him about that. Frank Flower 724 872 5699 talk to Frank on this.

[Reds34]

I thought I heard something about putting extra oil in the transmission if you were going to be towing the car with rear wheels down?

Red

[JM 35 Sedan]

Ken, I think you would be better off renting a trailer to take your car down to GA. Your camper should be able to pull a light weight dual axle trailer. If you dolly with rear wheels down, you may want to disconnect your speedometer cable.

[alanwoodieman]

everyone has commented on the mechanics of dolly towing now for the real problem--stability-imagine a 53' trailer towed by a long wheelbase tractor passing you at 80 mph and the wind push created by it-plus the ability to stop the the load you are now towing-get a trailer with load bars, sway controll and brakes, you will be glad you did!

[George/Maine]

I would tow with the rear wheels on ground,trans full maybe some extra,the low rev slideing gear with keep the oil moveing around.Uhaul trailer maybe better if you can get one.

[blucar]

I have towed more cars than I can count on tow bars, and flat trailers.. I only towed one car on a tow dolly and did not like the way it towed, will never do it again.
My suggestion would be to rent a car trailer from U-Haul.. Sometimes it is cheaper to rent a trailer for a couple of days, returning it to the point of rental in lieu of one way.
If you tow on a dolly make sure you unlock the steering lock so the front wheels are free to tract with the dolly..
Towing an early Ford on a tow bar with all four wheels on the ground is not a big deal. There are a few cautions: Put the trans in nuetral, unlock the steering lock, loosely tie a cord around the steering wheel to a door handle, etc., so the wheel can only make about a quarter turn. *SOMETIMES THE STEERING WILL NOT CENTER UP FOLLOWING A TURN, WHICH WILL CAUSE THE STEERING TO WHIP BACK AND FORTH..
I still have a tow bracket I made up about forty years ago to fit '40 and earlier frames. The bumper and brackets were unbolted from the frame, the tow bracket was bolted to the frame and the tow bar was attached to same.. No chance of bending a bumper with something poorly bolted to the bumper.
When we were all young and poor the method of choice to get our race cars to the week-end drags was on a tow bar which was pulled by car or light pickup. Now we need a $50,000 truck and a $15,000 trailer to pull our rod/custom to a car show 75 miles away.
All the hype about over filling the trans, putting a stick on the clutch, etc. is just unnecessary foolishness, towing for distances over 1,000 miles with all four wheels on the ground, if the car has a manual trans is not a problem, however, as I have stated earlier, a car carrier trailer is much better...
A WORD OF CAUTION!!! WHICH EVER MEANS TO TOW YOU USE, COVER THE FRONT OF THE CAR, INCLUDING THE WINDSHIELD.. THE TOW VEHICLE WILL THROW ALL KINDS OF ROAD TRASH AT THE TOWED VEHICLE.

[flatheadernie]

bLUCAR, HAS THE BEST ANSWER. tho the trailer is best ins wise. enjoy the adventure Ken. ernie n tx

[Cecil/WV]

In 1980, I towed a '41 Ford pickup from San Diego to Martinsburg, WV with a tow bar behind a '70 Ford F 100 with a 302 cu in engine and never missed a beat and no harm done.

[Shadetree]

Originally Posted by ken ct

Can i safely tow a 36 on a dolly approx 900 mi. Front or rear wheels on tow dolly??? ken ct.

Ken,
Don't make the mistake I did. I loaded up the `37 Ford coupe with 35,900 miles on the odometer and towed it about 90 miles on Interstate. When we got home the speedometer hand was broken. It takes two minutes to disconnect the speedometer cable. Now I don't tow anything without disconnecting the speedometer cable first.

One more thing, make sure your tow dolly swivels or you will have flat spots on your tires.

Shadetree

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by Shadetree

Ken,
Don't make the mistake I did. I loaded up the `37 Ford coupe with 35,900 miles on the odometer and towed it about 90 miles on Interstate. When we got home the speedometer hand was broken. It takes two minutes to disconnect the speedometer cable. Now I don't tow anything without disconnecting the speedometer cable first.

One more thing, make sure your tow dolly swivels or you will have flat spots on your tires.

Shadetree

Shadetree,where would the tow dolly swivil,at the draw bar or the wheels?? Why would the tires flat spot and good tip on the speedo cable. thanks evreybody for their input. ken ct.