towing with a tow bar on a 68 dart?

[MyCreation68]

My dad bought a reese tow bar today while he was out at a local Princess Auto and came across this reese tow bar. I'm guessing it was on sale I've never used one before and to say the least I'm nervous. I'm sure my car is strong enough but I do have a pretty badly rusted torsion bar mount so I'm nervous about flat towing it. The rear end as far as I know leaked some gear oil so I don't know if it's empty but I'll check before I move it, The mounts I'm not certain on where they would go or how I would mount it everything is probably pretty rusted on the front bumper. the mounting holes on the bar are 24" apart and it suggests even drilling holes which I'm not willing to do to my darts front bumper, so I don't know. Personally it's worth the 60 bucks to phone uhaul and reserve a trailer for this weekend rather then using this honestly kind of ratty looking tow bar.

[fasttcars]

ya i'm not to sure about the one your talking about   but my dad had a home made one {well made of course }...that he has used often..and as far as 850 milles once.......the one he used  you had to take the bumper off then you just bolted it to the bolt holes on the front frame rail{where the bumper bolts}......and make sure you pull off the driveshaft as well  ...but   ya 60$  for a trailer is decnt   just make sure they don't give you one of those freakin crazy high ones that you can't even get the car on{happened to a friend}

[chryco]

Hi
Towbars on racecars were the norm back in the day , a lot of big name racers flat towed all over the country with them. Mostly brackets were fabbed so the bumper was not touched , check out the pics for an idea of how they can be built.  Personally I`d trailer incase something else is the matter with the car .  If you do flat tow and the car being towed is an automatic , make sure you remove the driveshaft so your not turning over the transmission (can burn up because the pump isn`t being driven ).  I saw all the hitches and receivers on sale at Princess Auto too , hard to keep your wallet in your pocket in that store !
    Chryco

[chryco]

Geez Fast , you`re sure up early !!!!!!!

[doug 371]

i used to have a reese towmaster? or something like that...towed my dart to calgary with it...took out the 2 lower carriage bolts out of the bumper main brackets and bolted the brackets on...cant remember if i drilled the hole bigger or not...it worked good...sometimes u need to tie the steering wheel with the wheels straight as when u turn 1 way if the front is too light the wheels will turn the wrong direction

[Adam]

My friend and I towed his Mercury Comet with one of those from Toronto to Ottawa. It worked ok until the bumper shock tore off the car (didn't look rusty/weak), the car swayed back and forth, pulled the Astro van around sideways and backwards, and into a ditch backwards at 80km/hr. The Astro had about $3500 in damage and the (uninsured, hence being towed) Comet was rolled and totaled. Lesson learned. He's out the price of a car, and my insurance went through the roof because it's an "at fault accident". This was in 2003, I'm still paying for it now.

Be careful, and make sure your car is up to it! Towing is not something you want to do half-assed.

.02

[doug 371]

My friend and I towed his Mercury Comet with one of those from Toronto to Ottawa. It worked ok until the bumper shock tore off the car (didn't look rusty/weak), the car swayed back and forth, pulled the Astro van around sideways and backwards, and into a ditch backwards at 80km/hr. The Astro had about $3500 in damage and the (uninsured, hence being towed) Comet was rolled and totaled. Lesson learned. He's out the price of a car, and my insurance went through the roof because it's an "at fault accident". This was in 2003, I'm still paying for it now.

Be careful, and make sure your car is up to it! Towing is not something you want to do half-assed.

.02

ha ha i remeber when that happened or u told the story before...happy b day too

[Alexandre_Garcia]

I built one myself some 20 years ago and have it till today. Works great, I welded some receptors for it below the front bumbper mounts, no big deal. Used it a lot, many times. Some obvious recomendations:
1-always the pulling car has to be bigger and heavier than the pulled one.
2-always drive slowly and carefully and never brake inside turns
3-trying to pull a engineless car will not work, the lack of weight in the front end will not steer the wheels
4-always use at least the very best bolt available for making it all togheter and always use safety chains all around
5-make sure there is no steering locks
Good luck.

[abodyjoe]

i use the bumper bolt holes to mount it..    towed alot of cars with a tow bar.. 

[fasttcars]

Geez Fast , you`re sure up early !!!!!!!

yaa  i was still  up from the night before.....you know the old.... .....

[MyCreation68]

I dunno I think it would work alright 'm only going maybe 10 blocks but I'm not sure how far I can make it with the rotted torsion bar mount.