Towing Disaster

[Garbage1]

An indictment on the failure of the world's educational and cultural system. I say world because we do not know where this pair of idiots were hatched.

 

[TugboatEng]

The person in the car getting towed is probably getting some serious motion sickness.

 

[JStephen]

Houston.

Loop 610 exit 14

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[Garbage1]

Man in car being towed arrested for outstanding wsrrant in Ga. It is hard to imagine how SUV driver did not get arrested too with both cars towed and impounded.

https://www.motor1.com/news/759703/bad-towing-incident-on-houston-highway/

 

[waross]

Begs the question:
Did he go to jail for the tow or for the outstanding warrant?

When officers finally caught up to the two cars, they ran the plates on the Saab and discovered its occupant, identified as 32-year-old Dante Brown, had a warrant out for his arrest in DeKalb County, Georgia.

 

[MintJulep]

Exactly zero other drivers thought it might be a good idea to pull over and stop, or even to move to the farthest away lane to avoid this.

 

[TugboatEng]

To bring this back to an actual engineering discussion, I'm very impressed by the performance of the rope. I buy Vectran rope for all of my tight clearance rigging problems. We use Samson Saturn 12 for our towing applications.

 

[IRstuff]

Looks like they were towing with the parking brakes engaged. Amazing that the tires didn't blow and the car didn't hit the guard rail

 

[waross]

I am amazed at how stable the towing vehicle is. At first I thought that the video was faked because of that.

 

[GregLocock]

It may have TSA

 

[LittleInch]

The "driver" of the towed car is over compensating each time and also braking by the look of it which is making it a lot worse.

He would have been better off just fixing the wheel at dead straight and maybe changing it marginally, like a few mm to get the car travelling properly in a straight line.

But the towing person must somehow have been oblivious to this?

This needed a little dolly to lift the back wheels and replace them with a fixed axle. I think they allow the front wheels to turn when locked to the dolly.

 

[tdmidget]

The Saab is front wheel drive and unless a manual gearbox should not be towed flat. Why tow backwards ?

 

[waross]

I think they allow the front wheels to turn when locked to the dolly.

The wheels don't turn (as in steer).
The assembly on the dolly which supports both wheels is pivoted to allow for turns.

 

[TugboatEng]

The Saab is front wheel drive and unless a manual gearbox should not be towed flat. Why tow backwards ?

Maybe they combined their two brain cells and thought the wheels would caster if towed backwards.

 

[LittleInch]

The wheels don't turn (as in steer).
The assembly on the dolly which supports both wheels is pivoted to allow for turns.

I thought it did but couldn't see it on the photos I found but makes more sense to do that

 

[Garbage1]

My son and I rented the U-haul dolly to tow his FWD Toyota behind the U-Haul truck to move him from Texas to Ga. If it had been RWD, U-Haul recommends removing rear drive shaft, But load front wheels on dolly.

Worked great and only pivot point was at hitch ball.

How to load your car on a U-Haul car dolly | U-Haul

Watch this short video on how to load your car on a U-Haul car dolly. Read further for more information on U-Haul towing.

www.uhaul.com

 

[waross]

Well according to U-Haul instructions, the steering must be locked.
Even if you did not notice the pivot, without a pivot, something would have bent or broken when you went around a corner. Failing that the front wheels of the towed vehicle would be dragged sideways every time that you turned a corner.
The next time you see a dolly, look closer for the pivot.

 

[Garbage1]

Ok this image shows I did not look close enough. Range must be very limited on pivoting top plate.

 

[TugboatEng]

I have towed a car 100 miles on one of those. It was terrible driving to the car because it made a lot of noise. Once the car was on it was hardly noticeable that I even had the car.

 

[waross]

Range must be very limited on pivoting top plate

Thank you for double checking.

Yes. The ultimate limit is when the dolly fenders hit the side of the car.
Some may have limit stops to prevent damaging the car.
Some dollies have steerable wheels.
Personally I would go with the pivoting plate dolly.
Less possible points of failure.

There is some talk about fixed, non-steering. non-pivoting dollies.
That talk generally also includes some statements that contradict basic geometry.

Consider the tow car at 30 degrees to the towed car;
With a Steerable Dolly, the tongue will steer the dolly wheels to follow the tow ca in the appropriate arc. The car will follow just as if its own wheels were steering it around the corner.
With a pivoting the dolly will follow the tow car similar to a utility trailer. The car will pivot on the dolly and follow as would a second utility trailer.

With a fixed, non-steering. non-pivoting dolly, the tongue will be in a straight line with the centerline of the car. The tow car will be pulling sideways at a 30 degree angle and the front tire will be straining to break free of their tie down slings, one in the forward direction, one to the rear. The resulting force may well exceed the design strength of the tie downs.