Towing a car ... Remove driveshaft?

[RoMad]

For that old of a car, I am pretty sure you need to remove the drive shaft. On most newer GM products you can tow them without removing it. As far as towing it backwards, I would highly recommend against it. when you use a tow dolly with a car on backward you are completly counting on the steering wheel lock to keep the front wheels straight so the vehicle will follow you. I tried it once with a ford ranger pickup behind my motorhome and it wandered all over the place. If my motorhome wasn't so heavy I think I would have had some serious issues. You might want to go to an RV forum and do a quick search. Those guys have a lot of towing experience.
On the other hand it is your ex SIL, so who cares.:laughing:

 

[Mace Canute]

Towing a car backwards on a dolly can also result in it whipping like a trailer that is loaded tail heavy unless you travel at quite a slow speed, even with the steering locked. BTDT. When a trailer starts to whip, you can at least apply the trailer brakes manually to try to straighten it out, with a dolly, you don't have that option.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Radartech: Why would you need to remove the battery and turn the key on to tow a car? If you needed to unlock the steering, just turn it to unlock, the key is still not in the ON position so no need to mess with the battery. Every dolly I have seen has swivel pads under the wheel chocks, but I suppose there are cheaper versions that just lock tight and the wheels would need to move to follow the dolly, still, just unlock the steering column lock and lock the doors after taking the door lock key off the key ring.

 

[RadarTech]

Radartech: Why would you need to remove the battery and turn the key on to tow a car? If you needed to unlock the steering, just turn it to unlock, the key is still not in the ON position so no need to mess with the battery. Every dolly I have seen has swivel pads under the wheel chocks, but I suppose there are cheaper versions that just lock tight and the wheels would need to move to follow the dolly, still, just unlock the steering column lock and lock the doors after taking the door lock key off the key ring.

That was what the owners manual said. Might have had something to do with the computer... I really have no clue. This car only had one key. Door and ignition was the same key.

The mercury merkur was a weird little car.. 4 cylinder with a turbo, and the parts were crazy hard to find in the 90's.

 

[aczlan]

Purchase a couple of heavy (1000# WLL) 1" ratchet straps (I have 2 sets of these) and use them to lock the wheel in place after you back the car on. I did that when we bought my 1997 Volvo V90 (RWD) and towed it from Bridgeport, CT to Rochester, NY. We were able to go 65+ MPH without any swaying.

I WOULD NOT tow a car backwards without strapping the steering wheel in place. I have heard of too many people who have had the steering wheel lock let go and allow the car to wander.

Aaron Z

 

[Skyco]

The manufacturer of the tow dolly my dad had for his motorhome advised NEVER to tow a car backwards on it. Some of the reasons have been stated here but I'm also sure it is to cover themselves against a lawsuit if something went wrong.
On an older rear drive car I would disconnect the driveshaft from the axle and wire it up. Some cars if you pull the front out of the transmission oil will spill out and dirt will get in.
Also mention was made manuals have no oil pump so they are safe to tow...well some do have oil pumps so anyone doing that should make certain about theirs.
My dad hated the tow dolly and went with a Honda Fit that can be flat towed.

 

[crazyal]

I know Saturns (at least some) had ball bearings and a way to lubricate them when being towed (stiff hitch) behind a motor home in their automatics. I would guess that Ford is an auto and would need the shaft pulled.

 

[sandman2234]

In the mid '90 era, one of the only cars available to be towed on the ground without the driveshaft removed was a Saturn(and the warranty remaining intact). My inlaws didn't want to have to "dolly" a vehicle or trailer it, so the Saturn was purchased because it didn't require removal of the driveshaft to tow. Since towing on a dolly didn't change the warranty issues with most companies, I would assume it to be because of their not wanting to cover extra wheel bearings and tranmisson repairs.
David from jax

 

[Bird]

In the early '90s, the Saturn was the only automatic transmission car that the manufacturer said you could tow with all 4 wheels on the ground with no modifications or restrictions. But with manual transmissions, there were plenty of others. We towed a manual transmission Isuzu pickup for awhile, then towed a new 1993 Ford Escort station wagon. The Ford manual recommended stopping and starting the engine for a couple of minutes every 200 miles.

As for towing backwards on a dolly, my brother & I towed his automatic transmission Suzuki Sidekick backwards on a dolly over 800 miles one day with no problems except a broken side view mirror (darn that little stretch of gravel). But we did tie off the steering wheel.

 

[slowzuki]

An automatic sidekick has a gm 3 spd in it, but I assume you unlocked the hubs and towed backwards, nothing was spinning.