Go to an equipment rental yard, the kind of place where you can rent a Bobcat, etc, and ask to rent one of their flatbed trailers for the day. That is the easiest and most cost effective and safest way to tow your friend's truck.
I recently looked at renting a U-Haul trailer to haul a car. IIRC their website said the max weight of the car could be 4000#. That could be why they won't let him use it with his truck.
Also, if it is a 4x4 and has the electronic transfer case it can be towed four down. You just need to put the transfer case in neutral.
Kevin and my...
Wife, three daughters, a son
and two dogs(brittany and english setter)
2005 Suburban (295HP/335#-ft, 3.42 axle)
1994 Caprice LT1 (260HP/330#-ft, 2.93 axle)
2003 Trail Cruiser C22
SoCalDesertRider wrote: Go to an equipment rental yard, the kind of place where you can rent a Bobcat, etc, and ask to rent one of their flatbed trailers for the day. That is the easiest and most cost effective and safest way to tow your friend's truck.
This is probably the best idea thrown out there. I rented a car trailer from Ryder when I made my last move. I did tow it with one of their moving trucks though.
Steve and Gayle
2004.5 Dodge 3500 4X4, SRW, QC, SLT, LB, NV-5600, 3.73 AS, 325/600 Cummins
I used to redneck a dead truck down the freeway- when I was 17 and didn't have any money. Now I'm grown up and have a real job, so for a 30 mile tow I can afford the $125 or so it would cost to have a tow truck do the job for me. Seriously, unless you have a buddy with a truck and trailer, why would you not want to just call a tow truck?
1998 Gulfstream Ultra B/H Ford E450 V10
2005 Chevy 2500HD 6.0 w/ Maxidump insert
6x12 Interstate enclosed trailer
7x16 Bulldog flatbed hauling a 2006 Kioti CK20 TLB
2003 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer
1998 Saturn SL2 toad
The other plan fell through and my buddy starts a new job on Tuesday, so he needed to get the truck in. Luckily, thanks in part to the feedback I got here, we did it successfully.
We had to go about 30-35 miles (mostly four-lane highway with good shoulders, but a few stretches of two-lane highway and only about 3 miles on an Interstate). We decided to do it last night after 10:00 pm so that we wouldn't fight traffic, and with his flashers on and my flashers going (the arrows in the mirrors really gave us visibility to approaching traffic).
*The tow strap he got was about 6' long and rated at a working load of 6,400 lbs. and a breaking strength of over 15,000 lbs.
The game plan:
- We removed his drive train for safe 4-down towing
- We hooked the loops of the yellow tow strap to the tow hooks on the front of his pickup
- I put the hitch receiver mounted towing eye in my hitch receiver
- I put the loop of the tow rope through the tow eye and ran the rope through the rope's loop (essentially mimicking a larks head knot)
- I wrapped the tow rope around the middle of the yellow tow strap and used the hook to secure the rope to itself
- We made sure his battery was charged
- We got my two-way radios
- We put tension in the line
- We went
The method we used was that the towed vehicle always used its brakes for both vehicles, and my truck accelerated for both. This way, there was always tension in the line. Going down a hill, I'd have to be sure to accelerate (we were going well under the speed limit, hugging the shoulder, and had both sets of flashers going) until he could use his brakes to keep our pace constant.
We had one harrowing experience that would've happened regardless of the towing situation, where on the 2-lane road, an oncoming car was passing some traffic and didn't get over in time. We made it to the shoulder safely. No other cars ever even got with 100 feet of us (they'd pass us easily with plenty of room on the other side since most of the way was 4-lane).
We had to stop about 10 miles from our destination to recharge his battery off of my truck because he had lost his flashers, but that only took about twenty minutes.
We left it right outside the service gate, informed the local PD and the state police (they had an office across the street from where we left it), and figured that even if we had to go back out this morning and tow it the last 50 feet through the gate, at least we got it there without being in the heavy traffic we would've faced this morning.
All-in-all, I think we were very organized and got it there in a very safe manner. The write-up is for the benefit of anybody who might try something similar in the future. Without the right equipment (especially the hitch receiver mounted tow eye), we would've been a world of trouble.
Thanks again for those that actually contributed with valuable input to this thread.
2005 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Crew Cab SB LS 6.0L 4x4 4.10
DW, DD (May, 2007), DS (October, 2008), and me
Wow, you guys are my heroes. Spent $150 on stuff you probably will never need again to save the $100 or so it would have cost to have the truck towed. Seriously, I'm glad the trip went safely, but I really don't follow the logic involved- you didn't save any money, time, or hassle, so what was the point? For about $50 your buddy could have enrolled in AAA+ and had the truck towed for no additional cost.
I spent $0. His dad covered it. . . the tow to the dealership he needed to get to was over $250. U-Haul refused to rent a tow dolly because of the weight of his truck.
He had a "shade tree mechanic" willing to do it at his house, but the mechanic admitted that once they got started, if they encountered a few unexpected variables, he could get in over his head really quick - especially without the proper tools. Seems like sometimes you have to lift the engine to get to the specific part they needed access to.
AAA, Good Sams. . . they tow you to the nearest place, not the one you want to get towed to, or they uplift the cost greatly. He saved around $700 on the repair by taking it to this dealership (turned out just to be an o-ring, not the oil pump). GM covered part of the cost out of goodwill (he's not in warranty, but his family has purchased many vehicles from this dealership and his grandfather is retired GM). Beyond that, this shop is notorious for honesty. . . a lot of shops around here would've just replaced the whole oil pump and charged him for it anyway.
It's insulting that you are assuming we didn't do our due diligence, but trust me, I counseled him to pursue every single alternative we could think of and we kept hitting dead ends. We looked into everything. I even have a second cousin with a flatbed that would've worked, but I would've had to drive two counties over and borrow his truck because the trailer is a gooseneck and I don't have a hitch for one. . . then come back to my friend's house (two streets over from where I live). . . tow him to Decatur. . . then return the truck two counties over. At $3.50/gallon for fuel. . . that would've added up fast, too.
At the end of the day, it's his truck and his decision. . . but I try to be loyal friend. Once I was convinced we could do it safely, I was just trying to help out a friend in need.
It's fixed and drivable - and you never know when that rope will come in handy again. It's like insurance, jumper cables, a spare tire, or a firearm. . . you hope you never have to use any of them, but it's better to be prepared just in case.
Well Im a little late to this thread, but 'round here we use a chain run through a piece of pipe to connect the vehicles.......assuming all better options have fallen through.
fickman wrote: I spent $0. His dad covered it. . . the tow to the dealership he needed to get to was over $250. U-Haul refused to rent a tow dolly because of the weight of his truck.
He had a "shade tree mechanic" willing to do it at his house, but the mechanic admitted that once they got started, if they encountered a few unexpected variables, he could get in over his head really quick - especially without the proper tools. Seems like sometimes you have to lift the engine to get to the specific part they needed access to.
AAA, Good Sams. . . they tow you to the nearest place, not the one you want to get towed to, or they uplift the cost greatly. He saved around $700 on the repair by taking it to this dealership (turned out just to be an o-ring, not the oil pump). GM covered part of the cost out of goodwill (he's not in warranty, but his family has purchased many vehicles from this dealership and his grandfather is retired GM). Beyond that, this shop is notorious for honesty. . . a lot of shops around here would've just replaced the whole oil pump and charged him for it anyway.
It's insulting that you are assuming we didn't do our due diligence, but trust me, I counseled him to pursue every single alternative we could think of and we kept hitting dead ends. We looked into everything. I even have a second cousin with a flatbed that would've worked, but I would've had to drive two counties over and borrow his truck because the trailer is a gooseneck and I don't have a hitch for one. . . then come back to my friend's house (two streets over from where I live). . . tow him to Decatur. . . then return the truck two counties over. At $3.50/gallon for fuel. . . that would've added up fast, too.
At the end of the day, it's his truck and his decision. . . but I try to be loyal friend. Once I was convinced we could do it safely, I was just trying to help out a friend in need.
It's fixed and drivable - and you never know when that rope will come in handy again. It's like insurance, jumper cables, a spare tire, or a firearm. . . you hope you never have to use any of them, but it's better to be prepared just in case.
Don't worry about what some of the others say fickman. Sounds like you helped a buddy out. I have towed a few cars that way myself, though not in many years. The hardest part I remember was keeping the slack out of the tow strap. The towed vehicle had to do much braking to keep the tension on the strap. Nowadays, I have access to a couple flatbed trailers, one mine and one a relative's, so that's what I use to haul cars on. Just hauled a Corvette for my FIL behind my old Dodge and flatbed trailer just the other day in fact.
2005 Surveyor SV-291 Tows smooth as silk!
1995 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie SLT 4x4 5.9L V8 low miles, It ain't pretty, but it's paid for!
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Spent $150 on stuff you probably will never need again to save the $100 or so it would have cost to have the truck towed. Seriously, I'm glad the trip went safely, but I really don't follow the logic involved- you didn't save any money, time, or hassle, so what was the point? For about $50 your buddy could have enrolled in AAA+ and had the truck towed for no additional cost.
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