Tow rope`s outlawed,is this true?

[LaurasOtherHalf]

grumpy52 said:

Nearly as bad as all fire estingishers must be red !

Why is that a bad thing?

[StealthSteve]

matthias73 said:

Have you ever tried looking for a red fire extuingisher when the emergency/warning lighting is red?
They should be rainbow coloured to avoid general confusion.

True enough.

I always user solid bars, but once with a mate using an Auto-Corsa at 1am we had to improvise with a hoody; using it's sleeves round towing eyes with a 106 was scary stuff and being wet when the time came to undo the 'cuffs' of it they were solid.. but it was all I had in the boot at the time and was a 40quid hoody.. had to wait 4 days until I could prise it off. never again.

Not heard anything about ropes being 'not to use' tho.

[Marlin45]

I there an echo?

[Robb F]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

grumpy52 said:

Nearly as bad as all fire estingishers must be red !

Why is that a bad thing?

You used to be able to see at a glance from a distance what was in the extinguisher, and now you have to look at the little coloured bar on the label of it. Which could be obscured etc etc

There's pros and cons to both set ups.

[Rich_W]

grumpy52 said:

Prof recpvery or machanics must use solid bars.bloody lethal things.

Why? Means the car in front does all the braking. The person steering the rear car doesn't have to do anythng else or have a thigh like a power lifter once all the vac from the servo is gone. Much Much safer IMO

[MJK 24]

Rich_W said:

Why? Means the car in front does all the braking. The person steering the rear car doesn't have to do anythng else or have a thigh like a power lifter once all the vac from the servo is gone. Much Much safer IMO

Maximum weight you can tow unbraked in the UK is 750kgs. On that basis, you're on dodgy ground using a solid bar.

[Gafferjim]

MJK 24 said:

Maximum weight you can tow unbraked in the UK is 750kgs. On that basis, you're on dodgy ground using a solid bar.

But it's not un-braked, you have a driver in the towed vehicle. OK, if the servo has emptied, the pedal will be somewhat hard but it'll work, also you have the handbrake that can be used in an emergency.
I've towed both with a bar & with a rope many many times. A good bar is a million times better than a rope, but at the end of the day it's down to having someone in the towing car that anticipates conditions / man-overs etc well in advance, also having someone in the broken down vehicle that knows what they're doing, especially when towing with a rope, I personally would think twice about towing anyone with a rope that I didn't know if they were competent to be towed.

[Pontoneer]

The last point is most significant : I have towed with both ropes and bars over long distances with a mate who I trust to know what he is doing . Most recently , I towed a car I had just bought the 50 miles or so home without incident , just using a rope ; the car was insured in its own right , the engine was running so that all lights and brakes were working , and a new set of tyres had been fitted .

On other occasions where unsure about road worthiness of towed cars I have borrowed trailers or dollies ; I also still have a scaff pole with a tow hitch on one end and an eyelet plus D shackle on the other end which has come in handy . I have thought of getting one of those A frame self tow rigs but still a bit unsure of them .

[bimsb6]

N

Pontoneer said:

; the car was insured in its own right , the engine was running so that all lights and brakes were working , and a new set of tyres had been fitted .

.

So why did you tow it ?

[John D.]

swerni said:

Pah

Mid 80s the propshaft on my Capri came apart. I was in Stockton and needed to get back to Middlesbrough.

Easy solution.
Mate parks up behind me
Another mate steers the Capri
I sat on the bootlid with my feet on his bumper and he pushed it back.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

We did get some funny looks, but it worked

Good effort!

[sunbeam alpine]

Pontoneer said:

Most recently , I towed a car I had just bought the 50 miles or so home without incident , just using a rope ; the car was insured in its own right , the engine was running so that all lights and brakes were working , and a new set of tyres had been fitted .

I know this is going to turn out to be a stupid question, but why did you need to tow it then?

[Leptons]

Have you ever heard of loss of drive.

[iantek]

A good few years ago my mother towed my Rover 214 from Preston back to Bolton with a rope in her Pug 306 along the A6 at about 9 at night. Neither of us had ever towed a car before so we waited 'till night so the traffic would be minimal.

It was winter and was raining pretty hard and i had to have the windows down on the Rover to stop the windows steaming up! Its about 16 miles and was the most stressfull and exhausting thing ive done!

It took a long, long time too. Never again.

[StealthSteve]

Marlin45 said:

I there an echo?

I.