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Flat towing

Squamch

Squamch

Canadian
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
93
Messages
1,653
Loc
republic of Vancouver island
I've got a moose hunting trip this fall, and I'd like to flat tow a basically stock 2 door tracker up there. Gonna be about 1100km of shitty highways heading north. Tow rig is an 01 f350 diesel, flatdeck, weighs about 8800lbs loaded if I'm remembering right.
We've got a Reese towbar to bolt to the front of the tracker. I've never flat towed before, and the internet wants me to be 65 years old minimum, in an A class pusher, and spend $1500 on a brake set up.

My thought is a 2200lb tracker, with the tow bar nice and flat, a couple boat trailer lights zap strapped to the back of it, and rock on. No need for brakes on it.

Pull the rear driveshaft, unlock the steering, and get to towing.

Anything more to it?
 
In for the tech and first hand experience posters.

I always wondered the same thing. People make it sound like you will die without brakes on the flat towed vehicle. Is it true or just neurotic old people. :flipoff2:
 
06h3 said:
In for the tech and first hand experience posters.

I always wondered the same thing. People make it sound like you will die without brakes on the flat towed vehicle. Is it true or just neurotic old people. :flipoff2:
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It's not a hemtt behind a bronco, with the tow bar sloping up in order to lift the tow rig under hard braking, so....:confused:
 
06h3 said:
People make it sound like you will die without brakes on the flat towed vehicle. Is it true or just neurotic old people. :flipoff2:
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Those people are fucking retards.

If you're that idiot who's braking hard mid corner or banging a tire's squealing right lest you miss your turn that's what's gonna bite you. Even then it's not too bad. You really gotta be a monumental idiot to have problems. And I say that as someone who's never flat towed shit where the tow rig has a weight advantage.

Anyone who starts clutching their pearls over a tracker behind a F350 should fuck off to Reddit. Well actually they should be lined up and shot, but fucking off to Reddit where the other idiots live is a nice compromise.

total newb said:
Try to position yourself when stoping so you dont have to back up.
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Normally backing up sucks but with the 8k F350 and the 3k Tracker the tow rig can just force the front of the Tracker to go places. :laughing:
 
I can say that I have seen (for almost a decade now) Hispanic dudes flat towing Toyota tacomas with Toyota tacomas and the towed Tacoma usually is filled with shit. It usually weighs more than the towing vehicle.

Anyways, I’ve seen this probably 50+ times. One day I finally ran into them at a gas station and they flat tow them from TX, CA, AZ, NV and the PNW to Guatemala.

They definitely don’t use brakes on the vehicle in tow and haven’t died yet.

Anyways, I’d say you’re fine.

IMG_1406.png

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Unwanted US Junk Cars Sustain A Microeconomy In Guatemala

Old cars that have little resale value in the U.S. are being towed in caravans that begin in California, Arizona and Texas and end up in Guatemala. The vehicles are fixed up there and sold across Central America. The process represents a small but sustainable economy in one particularly...
www.kjzz.org www.kjzz.org
 
Never used brakes for flat towing, it's a waste if money.

Pretty sure the tracker doesn't need drives haft pulled. Our old 2 door said put tcase in neutral and run for 5 minutes every few hundred miles, for a second gen. Check your owners manual!!

I've backed up with the flat tow hooked up before. Yup, just shove the front end around. Granted, I try to avoid it. If you are more cautious, you can do it without forcing the front end too bad, but it doesn't hurt anything
 
A key factor so the towed truck does not dive or lift is that the tow bar is level not angled up or down.
 
Jeep does not get put on the trailer for any kind of camping that doesn't involve real wheeling. We do at least a half dozen trips a year like this. We sometimes camp in unimproved campgrounds up crappy forest roads and I have never felt the need for brakes. Jeep weighs in at just under 4000# and truck is between 12 and 13 depending on how the camper is loaded.

You hit the high points, flat tow bar, taillight and unlocked steering. I just put the t-case in neutral, however that is per Jeep's spec. I'm pretty sure Suzuki allows it as well though.

Keep in mind that it is nearly impossible to back up when picking parking spots.


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At 18 I towed my '75 K5 behind my '95 F250.
Never had any trouble but one time on a gravel road I got really close to Jack knifing in a turn.

DIY tow bar and front bumper, no brakes but did have OEM lights.

For a tracker, id send it.
 
Put in neutral instead of removing driveshaft, send it and bring back some pics for us "wheelers" :flipoff2:
 
It's an auto and I've heard horror stories of vehicles getting bumped into gear by some bizarre fluke, so just to be safe I think I'll pull the driveshaft.

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Only pic I have of the tracker in question:flipoff2:
 
Squamch said:
It's an auto and I've heard horror stories of vehicles getting bumped into gear by some bizarre fluke, so just to be safe I think I'll pull the driveshaft.

1000007871.jpg


Only pic I have of the tracker in question:flipoff2:
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My jeep is an auto as well. I leave the trans in park, not going to lie though I have considered a hub kit or some other form of disco for the rear. It's nice not having to deal with the trailer, especially in smaller campgrounds but flat towing drives my anxiety through the roof. Probably have 20 or 30k towing the jeep now though and so far no problem...
 
Been flat towing since I had a learners permit. Your towing vehicle is made for pulling, and the Tracker is light. You won't need supplemental brakes. I have a Brake Buddy system because it's required in most states. The towing vehicle does 90% of braking.
 
Provience said:
"Brakes on any towed vehicle or trailer are a legal requirement " blah blah blah
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It always amazes me how much time, money and resources people spend kicking themselves in the dick for no good reason all because a law that is never enforced and nobody cares about says to.
 
Squamch said:
It's an auto and I've heard horror stories of vehicles getting bumped into gear by some bizarre fluke, so just to be safe I think I'll pull the driveshaft.
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Explain to the class how an auto is gonna get in gear without the engine running. :laughing:
 
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I wouldn't think twice about pulling a tracker with no aux brake system. We used to flat tow CJ's all the time back in the day behind shit with half the brakes of the truck you are using. Those aux brake systems are stupid expensive. My dad and I homemade our own for his grand cherokee that he pulls behind his class A. We literally used a bathroom scale on the brake pedal, shut the jeep off going downhill, and got an estimate of the force required to push the pedal. Sized an air cylinder, made a couple brackets, and ran some harbor freight air line from under dash to front of Jeep. He has used this same set up on 3 GC's now behind two class A's for less than $100.
 
I have flat towed for years, trucks, SUV's and motorhomes.
I honestly I hated it until I got a motorhome.
Even a 2500lbs flat fender would push a pick up truck around, the added weight on from the SUV stuff made that feel better.
When I got a cabover it made the truck feel better as well, so anything your planning on taking, stack some weight in the bed.
I just bungee the steering wheel, T case in N and trans in 3rd gear, that's what the jeep manuals always said.
 
welndmn said:
I just bungee the steering wheel
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I do this when I flat tow my samurai too. Started doing it when I had a Baja bug and flat towed it, that thing would have violent right to left back and forth jerking when coming out of a tight corner and the bungee helped a lot.
 
Squamch said:
I've got a moose hunting trip this fall, and I'd like to flat tow a basically stock 2 door tracker up there. Gonna be about 1100km of shitty highways heading north. Tow rig is an 01 f350 diesel, flatdeck, weighs about 8800lbs loaded if I'm remembering right.
We've got a Reese towbar to bolt to the front of the tracker. I've never flat towed before, and the internet wants me to be 65 years old minimum, in an A class pusher, and spend $1500 on a brake set up.

My thought is a 2200lb tracker, with the tow bar nice and flat, a couple boat trailer lights zap strapped to the back of it, and rock on. No need for brakes on it.

Pull the rear driveshaft, unlock the steering, and get to towing.

Anything more to it?
Click to expand...
BC doesn't want us flat-towing anything without brakes anymore unless tow vehicle is a motorhome.


My Dad flat-towed a heavy Landrover (109 IIA) behind a '79 Chevy crew with 11' camper for a good portion of my youth. Nobody died. Driveshaft stayed in because there was a prescriptive method for towing (whatever the tcase had to be in). Steering left to free-wheel.
 
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This page cracks me up. It’s called overloaded. You post when you (or others) are doing sketchy shit.

When it’s not sketchy, people comment that it’s not overloaded or sketchy…..when it is sketchy the comments are yelling that they could kill someone. I’m pretty convinced 95% of the people on that page are miserable fucks who just complain.

Anyways, I thought of this thread. He said he ended up getting someone to steer in the towed vehicle to lessen sketchiness
 
arse_sidewards said:
It always amazes me how much time, money and resources people spend kicking themselves in the dick for no good reason all because a law that is never enforced and nobody cares about says to.
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Its because when the bored small town cop in Valentine Nebraska decides to fuck you at 3am because he sees out of state plates and he likely gets a kickback from the tow truck guy then everything you saved by skipping the legal requirements gets canceled out by a multi day mid trip interruption.
 
06h3 said:
IMG_2434.png


This page cracks me up. It’s called overloaded. You post when you (or others) are doing sketchy shit.

When it’s not sketchy, people comment that it’s not overloaded or sketchy…..when it is sketchy the comments are yelling that they could kill someone. I’m pretty convinced 95% of the people on that page are miserable fucks who just complain.

Anyways, I thought of this thread. He said he ended up getting someone to steer in the towed vehicle to lessen sketchiness
Click to expand...
That's way more sketchy with somebody in the towed vehicle :eek:

Unlock the steering wheel and send it. Sure, a rise hitch would be better than that style, but it really isn't like the pickup could stop that bucket truck quick enough to launch anything :flipoff2:
 
Provience said:
That's way more sketchy with somebody in the towed vehicle :eek:

Unlock the steering wheel and send it. Sure, a rise hitch would be better than that style, but it really isn't like the pickup could stop that bucket truck quick enough to launch anything :flipoff2:
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I’d be ok with somebody in the bucket truck to push the brake pedal, but steering is asking to end up in the ditch.
 
Ranchtruck said:
Its because when the bored small town cop in Valentine Nebraska decides to fuck you at 3am because he sees out of state plates and he likely gets a kickback from the tow truck guy then everything you saved by skipping the legal requirements gets canceled out by a multi day mid trip interruption.
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I'll take my chances. If the cop doesn't like your look you're fucked no matter how legal your shit is.
 
5k lb truck v 20/25K boom truck would guess.

Would not call that safe at any speed.


Provience said:
That's way more sketchy with somebody in the towed vehicle :eek:

Unlock the steering wheel and send it. Sure, a rise hitch would be better than that style, but it really isn't like the pickup could stop that bucket truck quick enough to launch anything :flipoff2:
Click to expand...
 
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