Make sure vehicle is in neutral before towing!

[Jay H 237]

Since we've been into car problems lately,

I attached an image from another forum I belong to with the description of what happened.

"This picture and text was posted to a message board 11-28-05 by a dealer in Reno, NV.

A customer had his SportTrack towed into our shop this morning. He was towing his SportTrack behind his Motorhome "Coach" for about 50 miles before he noticed a problem. There appeared to be a lot of sparks coming from his SportTrack. There was only one small problem, when he got his SportTrack all setup behind the motorhome he forgot to take the trans out of park. Yep he had been towing it for the last 50 miles in park. The tires were gone and the rims were half gone,must of also wore down part of the axle housing to because it was leaking. Don't know how the trans is yet"


So make sure you're vehicle is in neutral and the parking brake is released before towing it!

[sanddrag]

What an idiot! People stupid enough to do something like that shouldn't be behind the wheel of a large vehicle (I would argue any vehicle) like a motorhome anyway.

Having the integrity of the beautiul sheet metal of my truck put in jeopardy twice today, and now seeing this, I'd say we defnitely need better driver education programs.

This guy deserves to pay every cent it takes to repair his truck, and maybe thensome for wrecking and littering 50 miles of road.

[Bcahn836]

Stupidity at its finest.

[kpugh]

I am surprised that nobody tried to get him to pull over. You would think that after driving 50 miles he would have shared the road with at least one other vehicle. I know that if I came up behind somebody in a situation like that I would do my best to safely get the drivers attention and alert him to the problem.

[Elgin Clock]

So how many people (without giving away the answer yet) can identify all 3 loose parts on the ground in front of the vehcle.

I can..

And as for the story and picture.. w0w.. just.. w0w.

In a front wheel drive I don't think leaving it in park would of made a difference.. Am I right? Or Am I wrong?

Seriously. I want to know.

Instinct says to put all vehicles in neutral before towing, but can you leave a front wheel drive car in park as long as the front wheels are elevated?

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

So how many people (without giving away the answer yet) can identify all 3 loose parts on the ground in front of the vehcle.

I can..

I'm pretty sure I know what all three are.

[Jay H 237]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

So how many people (without giving away the answer yet) can identify all 3 loose parts on the ground in front of the vehcle.

I can..

You have to wonder how many parts/debris is scattered down the road.

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

And as for the story and picture.. w0w.. just.. w0w.

In a front wheel drive I don't think leaving it in park would of made a difference.. Am I right? Or Am I wrong?

Seriously. I want to know.

Instinct says to put all vehicles in neutral before towing, but can you leave a front wheel drive car in park as long as the front wheels are elevated?

Keeping the elevated wheels in park won't hurt the vehicle at all.

Originally Posted by Bcahn836

Stupidity at its finest.

As Bill Engvall would say to that guy, "Here's your sign!"

You know how much noise a vehicle makes when it skids and that must have been some racket going down the road.

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by Jay H 237

...As Jeff Foxworthy would say to that guy, "Here's your sign!" ...

[off-topic] actually, thats bill engvall's tag line [/off-topic]

[KenWittlief]

hm.... story sounds fishy

if you towed a pickup like that, with the back wheels locked and skidding both tires, I could see you maybe getting up to 10 or 20 mph, but would a motor home have enough pulling power to drag a truck with locked wheels up to 50 or 60mph, and keep going for 50 miles?

smells like fish!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I can't believe that the driver didn't look into his rearview mirror just once or twice and see smoke from the tires. I am leaning towards Ken's assessment. There is no burn marks on the rest of the wheel, the friction would have produced some incredible heat and flaming debris.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

I can't believe that the driver didn't look into his rearview mirror just once or twice and see smoke from the tires. I am leaning towards Ken's assessment. There is no burn marks on the rest of the wheel, the friction would have produced some incredible heat and flaming debris.

Agreed. If you drove far enough to wear down a hub to that level, you should have a lot of debris thrown up onto the vehicle behind it. The only debris on the vehicle is mud from someone off-road. More likely they busted an axle doing something stupid in their 4 wheeler, and a mischevious mechanic decided to have some fun.

Someone's looking to catch a few trout.

[sanddrag]

Well then, how did the rim get all cut/worn down like that?

[KenWittlief]

Well then, how did the rim get all cut/worn down like that?

band saw? chop saw? the wheel was already ruined and someone decided to have some fun on the internet?

insurance scam?

what we are saying is, this looks like someone rigged up the photo, then made up a story to go with it.

now if the truck were on a big conveyer belt, and as soon as the motor home started to move, the conveyer belt moved in the opposite direction at the same speed, then .....

:^)