Tow Bars

I've wondered about the bumper mount idea as well, Frazoo.  I'd have to install a plus/socket in the wiring for the driving lights.

Lane: Copy that.  Not difficult, I suppose, but a minor PITA.  I'd have to do the same.  However, after all done, it would sure beat having to crawl under the car to disengage the clap-trap from the chassis.  My car is so low, not sure a torsion tube hook-up could be done without a jack, and now we are really getting complicated.  Would have to haul the jack around too -- ugh -- 

I thought Leon had a clever arrangement on his Speedster.  His driving light brackets doubled as tow brackets.  He unfolded the lamps and attached the tow bars where the lamps mounted.

Here we go again  THE HUGE FRIGHT ABOUT DRIVING TO CARLISLE IN A SPEEDSTER.........If the car is running well....why not drive it to where you need to be ?  Like Carlisle for instance. Or...

Be cool only to you as hell and drag it behind your DD like the Speedster is too special to be driven.

The next step would be just everyone put their car on a trailer and bring it and drive around the Carlisle area.  A logical progression from that would be to hire a trucking company to get your car there and you could either fly or drive there, pick up your car and do your thing. Likely the truck transport cost might discourage the local East Coasters so the next paragraph might be more user friendly....

Another plan...certainly less expensive would be to leave your Speedster at home if you have one ( certainly bring pictures and videos with you in or at least nearby, possibly with the engine running etc. ) and just go to Carlisle, look around and talk smart about Speedsters.

Even more efficient, lurk on the SOC and be content with a pseudonym, with or without Avatar so cool to you that you actually think others may think you are too.

Another effective phase of success might be just to stay in bed or perform SHC , whatever gets you off.  

Now Dave, don't be so snarky.  I actually like the idea of having the car shipped and flying in.  I would hate to ruffle my hair, you know.

Oh yeah, please explain SHC.  Never heard of it.  Is it a Canadian thing?  Would I like it?

Actually your pain makes me feel better as I thought we had the dumbest "leaders" in the free world ;-)

A little backstory, Dave and I go back a few years and enjoy yanking each other's chains.  Of course I have a much longer chain.

Frazoo - It appears that we've hijacked your thread.  Ah well, what did you expect?

Here ya go, I followed Jims lead. Tows great like its not even back there and unhooking it is pretty straight forward and easy. It also stows in the SUV when not in use.Original BarModified barExhaust clamps attached to beam to keep in centered and away from bumper brackets

I have towed at least 20 different Speedsters with my tow bar setup.  Many of them had anti swaybars, but none of them ever interfered with the tow bar.  There were several that were so low that the tow bar would not slide under the front edge of the car, but these cars are so light that all I had to do was lift the front end manually to slide it under.  It's about a 15 minute job at the most to hook it up.  Maybe when it's a little dryer and warmer I'll make a short video.

Lane Anderson posted:

Oh yeah, please explain SHC.  Never heard of it.  Is it a Canadian thing?  Would I like it?

SHC =  Spontaneous Human Combustion

Caretech-IM posted:

I think Dave is snarky cause he just got the news that our Premier i.e.: Governor of Ontario Kathleen Wynne is so desperate, she’s literally asking taxpayers to voluntarily help pay off her massive debt by volunteering their tax return refund.... Wouldn't make you snarky...

Ray....please do not ever mention my name in jest or otherwise with regard to any political subject that you feel needs to be posted.

No problem deleted it.

I'll take a picture of my underside and we can see how the sway bar fits in there and if the tow bar has room to go too.  What I see here looks pretty good if it can latch up.

Dave: sorry to get you all spun up. I'll just say up front that I am not in the same league as you and Iron Pants Crosby.  Maybe I could do a Canada to Key West and back trip, I dunno.  Never tried it. That said,  I'm not averse to driving my car here there or anywhere.  The question arises here as I contemplate the Southern Comfort Run, an 8+ hour, w/ no stopping, ride from my place.  I would actually look fwd to trying that out, as it would be my longest sojourn so far in the Speedster by a wide margin.  Alan's Pumpkin runs sort of work out like that insofar as they involve spending a very full day in the car.  Certainly not so many miles as down to SC from here, but the day starts at sunrise, and does not end until after dark.  I've done that a few times.  The issue here is wanting to take my sweetie along to Charleston, and she is not keen on so many hours/days in the Baron.  So I am examining alternatives.

I did live out of my old '56 Coupe for about six weeks once upon a time. Went across country and back again.  But as you may well appreciate, I was but twenty-something at that time, and things are different now . . .

Bumper bracket?? Seen on the web -- anybody know this car??

Lane Anderson posted:

 

A little backstory, Dave and I go back a few years and enjoy yanking each other's chains.  Of course I have a much longer chain.

 

Laner....your chain has good balls..... , eh ?  :- )

David Stroud posted:

Lane Anderson posted:

Oh yeah, please explain SHC.  Never heard of it.  Is it a Canadian thing?  Would I like it?

SHC =  Spontaneous Human Combustion

 

Better not be a Canadian thing. Maybe a middle of the country thing, but I've never heard of it on the Wet Coast...

Alright then, Laner's got da balls and I'll take his advice.  Let's have some fun.

Laner, I've got the budget to get some of my engine bits powder coated with the new Frankenmotor build. Intake manifold, coolant manifold, alt mount and adjuster etc and the valve covers.

Now...here's the deal. The engine block / heads is mostly aluminum, right ? So you pick one of two colours for those other parts. A charcoal nice contrasting colour to the aluminum or, a nice brownish towards cinnamon colour .  The car is a bit of a cream colour as you know.

Speak now....it all goes in for coating this Friday. Your choice, my bucks.  Call it now. See it at Carlisle in your choice of colour.

Can't go wrong with charcoal or black, Dave.  If I can't bring my speedster, will you still talk to me and let me see your Frankenmotor?  I promise I'll feel smarter. 

Dave: You'll be much cooler if you just hand polish the whole thing yourself. I assume you know how.

Frazoo: No shame in towing; the bar comes in handy as hell on those rare occasions when you need to move the car long distances but it's not in full fettle. Buy a tow bar. 

Here is the deal: The sway bar will not interfere, ever. What WILL interfere is if you have the "lower beam stiffeners" installed. Those pipe-y things that bolt to the two bolts on the ends of the Napoleon's Hat and then clamp to the lower beam. If you have those, you'll have to mod your tow bar to get it to fit without taking them off first. No biggie. We can show you how.

The bar will clear your bumper. Anything more powerful than a Vespa will tow a Speedster. You just need a decent hitch. (My example is perhaps illustrative: I towed Bridget over the mountains to Pittsburgh last year with my 2002, 4-cylinder Nissan Frontier--perhaps the most gutless pickup truck in modern use on American roads. 143 HP pulling a 3500-lb truck plus Bridget @ 1800 lbs. No problem. Any Subaru made after the '80s would do. A Honda Civic would do. . .). 

Look on Craigslist and/or Samba and buy a used bar for $75 or so. They never seem to break or wear out. You need a 1 7/8-inch ball hitch. You need a set of Harbor Freight tow lights--or similar. 

You're supposed to have the bar chained to the chassis of the tow vehicle to be legal in PA. Good practice anyway.

While a charcoal or black would work, David, a really dark brown would contrast nicely against the cream (which in itself is a very light beige) of the body. I'm thinking something dark enough to be fairly neutral- too light (or bright) and it looks boy-racerish and contrived. IIrc one of the members here had the insets on his Fuchs painted dark brown, and I've always thought it looked good against his cream colored car- 

El Frazoo (sorry, don't know your first name) how much can your Mazda 6 tow before extra brakes are needed?

I didn't have to lengthen my std VW based tow bar at all.  I did have to narrow it maybe 3" to clear the front bumper support brackets.  You also have to be concerned with the height of your tow ball on tow vehicle - so you don't scrape the front valence (behind the bumper).  Harbor Freight has a $25 adjustable height receiver.  Their $10 portable towing lights are great too.  (Don't forget to use a 20% off coupon when buying). Some states you may travel through require a separate chain  between tow bar and tow vehicle and another between tow bar and towed vehicle.  

http://www.expediter.com/natm%...ain%20Laws-Table.pdf

Don't even think of backing up to maneuver! 

Greg and Gary have the perfect tow set up ~

Ron, I go by Kelly, but you dasn't call me Bob!

I like that adjustable receiver thingy.  Will have to get one of those.

Meanwhile, getting no nibbles on the bumper bracket hook up, per the picture.  Anybody?  How does this work?

Mazda is a '03 four door w/ V6, 5 spd.  Plenty of power, disc brakes  all around.  I have hauled (for only a short distance) a 5x8x1 trailer full of topsoil, piled high.  No idea how heavy that was, but it was a lot. Two cubic yards one time was a bit too much, but I made it home.  One goes slow, and brakes easy, well ahead of the need.

ALB posted:

While a charcoal or black would work, David, a really dark brown would contrast nicely against the cream (which in itself is a very light beige) of the body. I'm thinking something dark enough to be fairly neutral- too light (or bright) and it looks boy-racerish and contrived. IIrc one of the members here had the insets on his Fuchs painted dark brown, and I've always thought it looked good against his cream colored car- 

Those be my replica Fuchs Al.  There still available if anybody's interested.  $600 for the set.   Sorry for the hijack .

I have what Dr Clock mentioned above, thanks to Wolfgang for the suggestion. I used this with a VW tow bar that clamps to the front axle. Down to Dr Clock and back with NO problems. Will post some pics when I get them downloaded. I have a Chev 1/2 ton pickup with a 350 engine so I don't know its back there, however hard to see if it is still following me. Some one mentioned a antenna with a ball on top, good idea. 

So I did return with my CMC widebody after Dr Clock finished and I am VERY pleased with the results. Pics will follow.

Gary

This is my set up returning from Dr Clocks, 5+ hour drive with no problems.

Gary

That looks really cool.  The drop-down hitch looks like a must.  also maybe I should have a bra??  Or just lots of blue tape . . .

I used blue tape on the headlights and windshield ( should have bought stock in that company). I prefer the tape over a bra as some times if the bra is loose fit it will flop around and damage the paint. (I am talking about a car bra being loose and flopping around btw.) 

I like that drop hitch for applications of a high rear bumper on the tow vehicle but it does go pretty close to the ground.

Gary

Yes, well, this whole operation requires careful steering to avoid dips, bumps, and debris, plus steep driveway aprons, etc.  Like driving a Speedster.

The bottom of my tow bar was about 3" off the ground and I did not bottom out, however I did watch extreme dips and drove at an angle when I could not avoid them. Great hitch but the hitch pins are a bit small for the holes and they rattle a bit but it is very flexible for many applications.

Gary

Right, come in at an angle.  That works.

Bump.  Parts are arriving.  Got an EMPI tow bar via Amazon, and the short of the story is there is NO WAY it will fit to the lower torsion tube.  (A) the tow bar is too wide and/or the torsion tube is too narrow; (B) there is already so much stuff clamped to the tube there is no room anyway.  The HD anti-sway bar takes up ALL of the width, and hangs down in front of the torsion tube enough that the business end of the tow bar could not slip under it without jacking the car a few inches.  HOWEVER, it appears that if a another tube of appropriate diameter was  welded side-to-side to the little square tube-frame that is clamped to both torsion tubes and extends forward to hold the body and the bumper, then the tow bar could be attached thereto.  And it could be done quite easily without any jacking up,  Believe I will pursue this option.  Have to locate a good metal butcher first.  The spacing is just a little off and so the stirrups on the tow bar would have to sit one just to the outside of one side of the body/bumper square tube frame, and the other just to the inside.  But this seems irrelevant, the offset being an inch or two at most.

I had to narrow my tow bar about 1" or 1 1/2" since my bumper support brackets were at either end of the beam.  I cut the spot welds with a Harbor Freight 4" grinder.  To temporarily assemble it before I had it welded, I put a piece of All-thread thru the support cross tube and bolted it to the "leaders".  I used two bolts thru the receiver coupler too.  It took less than an hour (and I'm a slow worker).  Once it was snugged up and fit correctly, I had it welded.  I also had a could tabs welded on to hook tow safety chains to.  Also notched welds on sides where the mounting bracket attached to beam so they could be bent and be perpendicular (they were rewelded).

You can see shiny marks where I cuts old welds and the bolts I used to line stuff up.  Mine just slides under the front - but I do jack so I can get under and attach the pins and safety chain.  I also use an adjustable $25 tow receiver so once hooked to TV the bar is flat and doesn't foul with the front roll pan. I have 3/4" Add-Co anti-sway bar but it doesn't interfer.

Here is the set up used on "The Gold Brick"....  

Yeah, Ive seen the hook-up to the bumper mounts.  Might work.  Seems a little flimsy vs. hooking to the torsion tubes though. And then there is the R&R of the bumper to contend with.  Hmmmm . . .

The measurements for the bug bar (left) are reversed.

~WB

BTW...This is the WRONG WAY to put hitch clip thru the pin. The clip should be pushed completely on past the center detent.

~WB

Correct position for pin.

Just curious....what is the first position for ? Redundancy ?