Towing vehicle with a rope

[NT]

I dont know what percentage of tows are due to spark or fuel mix failure, but I expect its not far off 100%.

NT

[NT]

Funny you say that, I have driven a small truck without it, hence why I said what I did. Ordinary steering ratios are just fine.

NT

[NT]

yeah... much has changed.

[NT]

IME, which is inevitably limited, that's not been so. Modern handbrakes are too often fecking useless. I have driven an old vehicle on the handbrake, because it made it possible to tell when the brakes were going to fail (long downhill descent)

NT

[NT]

I looked it up, youre right

[ARWadsworth]

I believe that people think there is a 30MPH minimum because the highwaycode prohibits mopeds (a 50cc bike with a maximum speed of 30MPH) from the motorway.

[ARWadsworth]

Electronics failure? CV joint failure? Wrong fuel?

But Dave Plowman has already made the main point. It's no good trying to tow unless both of the drivers know what they are doing. If they do then you can cover a good distance with a tow rope and without a problem.

[Andy Dingley]

Not so bad on a Rangie - that's why they had a wheel the size of a Routemaster!

My Rangie had 7.50x16s and a small Momo wheel (at least I could get my knees under it). Now _that_ was a boat if the engine was off and you were trying to steer it.

[Andy Dingley]

AIUI, they've never needed to be independent. At one time they had to have an independent operating system, which was interpreted to mean separate calipers (or even drums!) when rear disks first appeared. This was then re-worded to an independent actuating mechanism, allowing the now-common system of shared rear calipers. Oddly this never seems to have been an issue of confusion when rear drums shared shoes.

There has certainly never been a need for a "hand" brake. Foot parking brakes go back to the 1900s

[dennis]

I tried the handbrake as an emergency brake on the wife's astra.. you pull the switch up while driving and it applies all four disk brakes at maximum. It stops pretty quickly.

[dennis]

How many cars in the fifties had handbrakes that operated on the front wheels? If they only operate on the rear wheels they will never be enough to reach the 0.5g required for car brakes. I guess its like modern handbrakes, you can drive using them, but not legally or safely.

[Davey]

Just don't do it with an automatic as the towed vehicle.

[ARWadsworth]

I seem to recall my brother disconnecting some drive or something when we towed an auto back from Sheffield to Barnsley. He is the mechanic, I just do the towing if needed.

TBH anything over 3 miles and he would normally get a tow truck.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

There was also the pull-on/click-off under-dash handbrake, commonly fitted to many 60s Vauxhalls with bench seats. I'd thought they were an imported American idea anyway, so wouldn't have been surprised to find them on US tanks.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Might have been legal back then, but it's not been for a long time. Two/two good, four/two bad.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

No, there fecking isn't and never has been. It's a desireable thing in many ways, as it would get the doddering auld fcers aff the roads.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If the steering is low enough geared. Most wouldn't like that on a car.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If it were a hydraulic failure, the idea is one will work if the other fails. Of course if one has already failed...

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Watch out for the mud...

[Jules Richardson]

Yes, on my truck it's just a cable from the pedal which operates the rear shoes for the 'main' drum brakes (which is what I'd expect on an older vehicle - it's just that it has the foot pedal system for the parking brake rather than a center hand-lever as common on vehicles elsewhere in the world).

On the car, which has discs, there are actually separate shoes working against a small drum on each rear wheel as part of the parking brake system - it's still cable from the foot pedal though.

If I remember I'll have a look at the van later and see what the setup there is - that's discs all round for main brakes, too, but I don't recall seeing any small drums behind the discs at the rear.

I think I find a hand-operated parking brake rather than the foot-pedal system a bit more natural in use - in an emergency it'd be easy to steer with one hand and operate it, whereas moving feet around to press a separate pedal doesn't seem so intuitive (plus there'd be time needed to hunt for the pedal with your foot or take your eyes off the road to see where it is - they're not typically in line with the main driving pedals or close to them).

cheers

Jules