Towing 109 advice needed

[Cutter]

Hi all,

I have to tow my sIII 109 up to Eliot Me to be worked on at Overland Engineering- its about a 2 hour drive on 95 from RI. I could drive it but as the main bearings are knocking I'd prefer to tow it to avoid any further damage. I was thinking of renting a Uhaul pickup or van and two wheeled towing trailer and pulling it up. Any thoughts on this? Its considerably cheaper than hiring a tow service and I'd prefer to spend that money on the overhaul, but I've never towed a vehicle in this manner.

Also, anything special I should do to the rover prior to the tow?

Thanks!

[morgant]

I've found that you can get pretty good estimates from providers on uShip (http://www.uship.com/). It's like eBay for shipping, so the same things you'd want to look from an eBay seller (like good history, rating, and fully insured) should also be looked for on uShip.

Just another option.

[LaneRover]

If you do it with the 2 wheel dolly I would pull the rear drive prop shaft as a just in case. That way you know that the transfer case won't slip into gear in the middle of the tow and cause more problems.

Remember that u-haul charges a per mile charge in addition to the rental charge - at least the last time I checked a few weeks ago they did. You would also have to pay that mileage charge both coming and going.

Most tow charges are per loaded mile.

[LC_rover]

If you do it with the 2 wheel dolly I would pull the rear drive prop shaft as a just in case. That way you know that the transfer case won't slip into gear in the middle of the tow and cause more problems.

.

This happened to me. Not good. If the wheels are on the ground, pull the the drive shafts. It only takes a few minutes and it will save you from a possible disaster.

[TJR]

This happened to me. Not good. If the wheels are on the ground, pull the the drive shafts. It only takes a few minutes and it will save you from a possible disaster.

... Or pull the two rear axle shafts and seal back up. Then the diff doesn't spin either.

[Nium]

Just get a U-haul car trailer. Driving a trailer wouldn't be much different then driving a 2 wheel dolly with vehicle attached. Tell U-haul that you can get a better price at a competitor and they'll give you a price break. If your AAA price break too. Plus with a trailer you don't need to disconnect anything: drive on, drive off done.

[Cutter]

Well uhaul is pretty expensive now as they require me to rent a 14' truck minimum, so I tried out the uship thing. I don't know anyone with a 1 ton truck here so I can't just rent a trailer.

good pointers on the axle, I think I'd go for a full trailer if I went that route.

[TCapelle]

I pulled my 109 on a uhaul trailer and pulled it with my semi tired 90 RRC.
The uhaul trailers have surge brakes so as long as you take it easy you would be just fine with a truck to pull it.

My uhaul trailer was $50 one way- Find a uhaul place at your drop off...

The next time I tried to drive my truck 4 hours across WI with an "issue" and ended up sleeping in a farmers filed broke down....The coyotes almost got me :)

[Cutter]

The uhaul place won't even rent me the trailer without an f350 or equivalent sized truck to tow the rover. They seemed fairly strict about it. I seem to be getting fairly good response to the uship site, though I wanted to arrive with the truck at overland to go over the issues. In the end not a big deal. The bigger concern is shippers tend to freak out when they see the 7' 4" height when the pick it up despite trying to make it clear that the truck is TALL on the phone or in writing...when I bought it they charged me extra after they had it on the truck...some would say it was a breach of contract but I just wanted the damn rover so I paid.

[daveb]

Diff doesn't care if it spins. that is what it is supposed to do. However a manual gearbox that is left in neutral and run from the wheels will wreck the mainshaft and everything that rides on it as it spins and the layshaft (that normally throws oil everywhere) is locked by the clutch and engine. which is why Land Rover tells you to leave the towed vehicle in 4th with the transfer in neutral.


... Or pull the two rear axle shafts and seal back up. Then the diff doesn't spin either.

[SafeAirOne]

Quite a few tool rental-type places rent tow dollies and sometimes car trailers as well. Most of the places I've rented them from don't really ask too many questions and don't have a whole lot of rules/restrictions for renting either. Of course, you usually have to return the stuff to the place you got it (no one-way trips).

[chester rides again]

towed my truck back from canada on a u-haul trailer. used brother-in-laws truck. went about 360 miles with it and dropped it off. ended up being a few hundred bucks.

ask to rent the truck for the weekend around town and drop it off at the same place. tell them you are using it to move stuff and a new toyota truck or something that will show up in their computer system. a 109" won't be in their system. it just fits on the flatbed and depending on the tires you have, you may need to let some air out to get the straps around the wheels.

they may be on to you at the one u-haul store so you might need to find another.

[scott]

i bough a tow bar from uhaul, $140. reinforced the mounts so that it was bolt not just to the bumber but to the frame horns too. put it 4th, tranfercase in nuteral and drug my 88 behind the wife's lr3 for over 800 miles. the only time my 88 has ever gone over 90 mph (passing a 18 wheeler). only damage was the rubber boot on the rear prop shaft slip joint sort of exploded.

[TJR]

Diff doesn't care if it spins. that is what it is supposed to do. .

Yes you are right, especially about the tranny lubrication concern.

My point was pulling the axle shafts makes the rear basically a trailer axle. Then there is no need to pull the rear prop shaft or worry about what gear it is in or not in.

You could also just pull one axle out on an open Diff and let the side gears spin , just like an early Jeep Cherokee (XJ) axle disconnect.

[Bostonian1976]

what are you driving? As long as it's adequate and won't be dangerous to pull the 109, just get a decent trailer from UHAUL by selecting your vehicle and a 60's Jeep as the vehicle being towed. Worked for me with my 'Yota.

I'll use my standard picture that I've posted many times before for this :)

http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/gallery/data/516/Blue3.JPG

[Cutter]

My other car is a subaru forester, not going to cut it though it does have enough power. I have a price cheaper than renting getting it shipped at this point, so I think I'm going to just go that route. I was thinking of asking my friend who has a decent sized truck but I don't want to bother anyone for 6 hours. Just need to make sure Matt is going to be at the shop to accept it.

[daveb]

well, let's see-

pull driveshaft - 4 bolts and a piece of wire to hold it up.

pull axles- 10 bolts, two cotter pins, two nuts, then reseal the whole thing. Your suggestion makes no sense unless the diff is broken and you don't want it to spin. BTDT 550 miles in front wheel drive with the halfshafts out.




Yes you are right, especially about the tranny lubrication concern.

My point was pulling the axle shafts makes the rear basically a trailer axle. Then there is no need to pull the rear prop shaft or worry about what gear it is in or not in.

You could also just pull one axle out on an open Diff and let the side gears spin , just like an early Jeep Cherokee (XJ) axle disconnect.

[rbonnett]

Using some other vehicle as an analog for your Rover works well so the rental place can size things accordingly. Make sure they know what you are actually hauling though. Working as a counter monkey for a rental place, I was deposed twice involving people who learned the expensive way that misleading on a contract left the open for full liability when something went terribly wrong. :eek: