Is towing a 911 with a front wheel dolly a bad idea? If so, why?

[Dan (almaden)]

I wouldnt bother with a dolly. Just get a nice tow bar and a proper bracket and flat tow.
I flat towed my 914 track car for two years, over 2,000 miles with no problems.
had a custom bracket made that bolted to the front torsion bar mounts and directly to the tow bar.
Had another friend that has flat towed his 914 and his race car 911 for 15+ years with no problems.
Another friend that has flat towed his 914 race car for over 25 years with no problems.

with proper maintenance and caution, you would have no problems.

i hard wired my stock 914 tail lights so no extra magnetic lights while towing

[burgermeister]

As I understand it, in many RWD manual trannys, the countershaft (which is usually below the input & output shaft) only spins when the engine is spinning. This is good because when the car is idling in neutral, the spinning input shaft gets its bearings and seal lubricated.

If the tranny is in neutral, the engine is off, and the car is getting towed, then the output shaft is spinning, and the counter shaft (which is down below in the oil) is not, thus leaving the output shaft bearings and seal without sufficient oil if the towing distance is large.

Not all trannys have this issue. A 911 transaxle always has a ring gear splashing oil around, so it is probably OK.

But, what do I know.

[johndglynn]

Burgermeister is on the right lines, it is not a great idea. I have a dolly for RV and general use, and would not tow my 911 with it now I know what I know. Read the second last post here.

[axvel]

we rented a uhaul dolly and took a 500mi trip 1000mi both ways to go pickup my car, it was fine. We tried putting the rear end on the dolly and messed up the muffler, so make sure it clears. but the we put a front end on the dolly and it was fine.

[DanS911]

Hey Bob, thanks.I hope you don't mind if I post this here too.
I can't take credit for the idea but I have refined it a bit over the years. The tow bar and the original caps were made by a friend Mike Joffee to tow his, then new '69 911 to Parade!
He used the bar for years (maybe 20) and then sold it to me.
Basic premise is take the front torsion bar covers and weld a "tab" onto them that has a hole in the end to attach to the tow bar. I gotta tell you I love towing this way. Throw all my ***** in the back of the truck, strap on a set of rollers and head for the track. Car tracks perfectly, can't even feel it at highway speed. Toyota 4Runner gets 19 MPG while towing.
I have the tabs on my '86 Targa street car right now because my track car is laid up and I have been tracking the '86. I leave the tabs on all the time. No problem.
I hope the attached photo tells the tale. I can take some new ones if you like.
Looks a lot like Dan (almaden)'s rig
--

Dan


-------------- Original message from "Rob B @ Pelican Parts Technical BBS" : --------------
what
> you've come up with, Bob

[OldTee]

I've been towing for several years now. 200-300 miles at a clip. Here is what I found.

I. Had to add tiedowns to the rear shock tower to hook up a small chain for safety.
2. Car would not fit on the dolly forward because of the valance.

3. The wheel hold downs tend to come off. I use bungee cords to hold them on.

4. you can't back up.

5. front is very close to the ground. You can't use a front air dam. It will drag.

6. I won't tow with buddies with expensive trailers and fancy cars and lots of money. They tend to drive 90 mph, which is a little fast for me with my poor 911 being draged along. It ain't right.

7. Buy a trailer if you can afford one and have a place to store it. Storage was my problem. I was going to buy a trailer but the guy who was going to store it for me sold his property.

8. Buy a dolly mover from Harbor Fright.

9. Better than not towing. I HAD to bring it home that way twice.

[Dan (almaden)]

here is what mine looked like. it bolts onto the torsion bar mounting bolts....this is reinforced from the factory

pin the tow bar in place, hook up safety chains, plug in my hard wired lights and off we go.

Flat towing a 911 or a 914 is no big deal and does absolutely Zero damage to your car.

between myself and at least 3 friends we have 10s of thousands of flat tow miles with no problems with trannys, CVs or any other rotating stuff...

[DanS911]

Nice clean setup.
If I had a trailer (or space to store one) I probably would go that way, but I don't get the dolly thing.
I took my car and tow bar up to the local welding guy and one half hour later I was flat towing for years with no worries.