First-time flat towing questions

[Mister]

I need to move a non-running, '81 X in a couple days and am looking for advice. I want to flat tow it, and am trying to get a sense of the steps I need to take, and the difficulty involved, for someone who is not that car-skilled, yet. From what I have been reading, I'd need to remove the front bumper, then find a way to attach the tow bar to one of a few options behind the bumper? I read in a comment about eyes under bumper posts? Does anyone have pics of these spots? What would involve the least fabrication of adaptors?

A couple of the threads I've been reading:

Removing bumpers and the black plastic trim pieces

I need to remove the bumpers from my '79 X1/9 - both front and rear - along with the trim pieces that sit between the body and the bumper. What's the magical way to do this? I can see someone tried to do this before (possibly they were successful) as the 2 outer bolt tabs are torn away from...

xwebforums.com

Towbar setup for an X

Hey guys, I am looking at flat towing my X a few thousand miles. Wondering if anyone has any pics about tow bar setups. I have an adjustable tow bar, but havent yet begun to look at attaching it to the X. Thoughts ? Pics ? I am not 100% confident in attaching to the tie down points...

xwebforums.com

This is the tow barI should get?

5000 lb. Capacity Adjustable Tow Bar

Amazing deals on this 5000Lb Capacity Adjustable Tow Bar at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[JimD]

How far are you towing the car? If it is just across town, add up the time and effort to execute the flat tow, then get a quote on hiring a tow tow truck. This will allow you to decide which approach makes more sense.

 

[ng_randolph]

I need to move a non-running, '81 X in a couple days and am looking for advice. I want to flat tow it, and am trying to get a sense of the steps I need to take, and the difficulty involved, for someone who is not that car-skilled, yet. From what I have been reading, I'd need to remove the front bumper, then find a way to attach the tow bar to one of a few options behind the bumper? I read in a comment about eyes under bumper posts? Does anyone have pics of these spots? What would involve the least fabrication of adaptors?

A couple of the threads I've been reading:

Removing bumpers and the black plastic trim pieces

I need to remove the bumpers from my '79 X1/9 - both front and rear - along with the trim pieces that sit between the body and the bumper. What's the magical way to do this? I can see someone tried to do this before (possibly they were successful) as the 2 outer bolt tabs are torn away from...

xwebforums.com

Towbar setup for an X

Hey guys, I am looking at flat towing my X a few thousand miles. Wondering if anyone has any pics about tow bar setups. I have an adjustable tow bar, but havent yet begun to look at attaching it to the X. Thoughts ? Pics ? I am not 100% confident in attaching to the tie down points...

xwebforums.com

This is the tow barI should get?

5000 lb. Capacity Adjustable Tow Bar

Amazing deals on this 5000Lb Capacity Adjustable Tow Bar at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[JKIDD]

You could also look at renting a tow dolly. UHAUL is under 50 bucks last time I rented 1. I own 1 now & just towed an X an hour home.

 

[Mister]

How far are you towing the car? If it is just across town, add up the time and effort to execute the flat tow, then get a quote on hiring a tow tow truck. This will allow you to decide which approach makes more sense.

It actually is across town, and that's an interesting option I hadn't thought of. I wanted to flat tow it because I just moved a different X last week, from my house into storage, renting a Uhaul tow dolly. I'd wanted to move both Exxes that day, but between being inexperienced and some snafus, it took us all day for the one. I'd planned on tow dollying the '81 this Sunday, but I'm working on renting a garage space last-minute, and if it takes longer than expected to secure it, I could see myself needing to rent the dolly Sunday for the pick-up, and then another time to move into a garage. I was thinking flat towing might end up cheaper or comparable to multiple $60 Uhaul rentals, and would give me more flexibility with moving logistics now and in the future. I postponed picking up the '81 last week because of the time it took the '83, and I know the seller wants to get the '81 off his property, so I don't want to postpone any more. I think the seller would be OK with me coming tomorrow to take the bumper of ahead of a Sunday move.

 

[Mister]

View attachment 80595

Thanks!

 

[Mister]

You could also look at renting a tow dolly. UHAUL is under 50 bucks last time I rented 1. I own 1 now & just towed an X an hour home.

Thank you, I just may do that. In my reply to JimD I wrote why I was thinking of flat towing over a dolly--mostly because I'd have more leeway to move the car when I want. If I can't immediately get the car into a garage Sunday, I would want to try to flat tow it, so that I'm not renting the tow dolly many times..

 

[Mister]

What would I need to do to connect the Harbor freight tow bar to those hooks under the bumper?

 

[Mark_Toro]

Looks like you could just use some good heavy washers, but you won't really know until you get there. Quite possibly, you may not need to remove the bumper. The tie down eyes are designed for vertical loads and will work OK for pulling. However, they don't take side to side loads all that well. With the triangulation of the towbar you might be OK.

There is always the flat tow with a rope option. (I've done it before but I recommend against it in all seriousness)

Peter Egan did a piece on flat towing a project car. A couple of highlights:

• Always use the shortest and most rotten piece of rope to connect the cars. Best if found in the project car
• Project car brakes and steering should be dodgy at best to add to the adventure
• Functional brake lights on the tow vehicle detract from the anticipation
• When stopped by the police, you are always just towing from two blocks away and my house is right up the block. Have fun explaining to the little old lady why you pulled this garbage onto her driveway.

Best bit of advice:

• Never remove the wheels from the project car once it is towed to your yard. Makes it easier for the next dreamer to move it on. Oh, and throw the rope in the car.

Peter, of course, said it much more eloquently.

 

[autox19]

I did the harbor freight. Took off the front bumper and bumper shocks. Used pipe the same diameter as the shocks to Make a mount to hold the hf tow bar. Now I have a smaller bumper that actually bolts to that when I am not towing it.

Odie

 

[JimD]

I use the tie down eyes when I trailer my Xs. Like @Mark_Toro mentioned, the eye are a little flexible under side stress. Since you are not going too far, you could probably use that tow bar attached to the eyes. The usual cautions: go slow, avoid the highway, stop and check the connections after a 1/4 or 1/2 mile. If it feels wrong at any time, stop and evaluate, don't wing it.

After several years of renting trailers and dollies, I finally bought my own in 2013. I also got a small HF winch for the several in-op Xs I have had to move for myself and friends.

 

[Mister]

Thanks so much everybody. I just found out I can go straight to the garage Sunday, so don't have to worry about moving multiple times. I might and maybe should just rent the dolly to make it easier but I going to still give the tow bar option some thought tonight; I like the idea of having a little rig I can use whenever I want, until I'm able to get a real trailer.

 

[MikeHynes]

I towed one car from San Francisco to Peoria, IL with a tow bar. On that car I simply removed the front bumper and bolted a homemade "spreader bar" to existing bumper mount holes in the bumper shocks . Then I attached the HF towbar to the spreader bar. The safety chains were hooked to to the tie down hooks. I've towed multiple cars like this and have never had an issue.
BTW, the HF magnetic towing lights work well too.

 

[Mister]

Thanks, that's all great to know. I decided to book the Uhaul dolly last night, out of concern of a first-time towbar process taking too long, in the seller's driveway. But I am going to get the HF towbar and lights when I move the '83 out of storage, then I'll be able to take the bumper off and figure out the spreader bar on my own time, and I'll be referring back to this thread. I may have one bumper removal experience by then, too, if I end up taking the '81 apart.