Towing vehicle with a rope

[NT]

Lucky man. I did 19 flat out on an mway once. I think people were slowing down to stare. History has its downsides.

[Andy Burns]

Also check the handbook for recommendations on maximum speeds and distances to be towed.

[ARWadsworth]

Before the "doddering auld fcers" pull him over?

[ARWadsworth]

I leave that bit to my brother:-)

He is the mechanic.

[Ret.]

Oh I don't know. When I was teaching my grand-daughter to drive in her Ka last year - she started to pull out in front of an approaching motorcycle and I wrenched the handbrake on. The car stopped quick enough!

[hugh]

In message , "dennis@home" writes

My wife currently as a 3 week old car (Jap of course) with dead power steering motor (electric). It's quite easy to drive. Just feels a bit heavy.

[polygonum]

It doesn't really matter why. It is the case.

Even tiny cars, ones that only warrant electric PS, can be total dogs when that fails.

[hugh]

In message , Andy Dingley writes

I wasn't planning on using it so your precautions are a bit OTT

[hugh]

In message , Jules Richardson writes

Sure it wasn't LPG? CNG is expensive to install and is generally only used on trucks and buses.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Exactly so. Different (and heavier) steering geometry in a lot of PS designs, as well as the obvious rack or worm gearing differences - although some had the same geometries from non-PS to PS versions.

[hugh]

That's why you are required to attach a warning flag in the middle of the rope. (Don't ask me to quote chapter and verse)

[hugh]

In message , "dennis@home" writes

I think you are correct. You can only tow a car onto a motorway if in effect you have converted it to a (braked) trailer, which is what owners of large motor homes do.

[Dave Liquorice]

Which is presumably why some buses and trucks had a knob on the steering wheel so you could crank the steering round at a sensible speed compared to pulling/pushing the rim.

[Dave Liquorice]

But you should get a brake failure warning light if one circuit has gone. Of course that bulb could have blown... but the POST should alert you to that. You won't have full braking capabilty with a failed circuit either but how much less probably depends on how "failed" the failed circuit is.

[Dave Liquorice]

That sounds more like brake effort distribution rather than dual circuit. I thought the latter had one diagonal front/rear wheel on each of the two circuits.

[charles]

Earlier this year, I had a "brake failure" light come up - not all the time which was a bit confusing. Eventually traced to two blown bulbs in the 'stop' lights.

[Andy Dingley]

kept with a padlock between the ends to

Sorry, I wasn't thinking of you in particular! I do keep it padlocked though - you can do a hell of a lot of damage with one of those, even without it being an "accident".

[The Natural Philosopher]

thats correct..and generally two master cylinders mechanically connected.

[Andy Dingley]

Not since the 1980s! Those early dual circuits were there for controlling brake balance to the rear, but they had no real aspirations to reliablility as a safety measure. The first ones (my

1968 Fiat 124 AC) even had a rear brake proportioning valve, but only a single circuit master.

A modern dual circuit, intended for robust fallback after a failure, is diagonally split. If pressure to the rear-end is reduced according to suspension travel is required (getting more rare with ubiquitous ABS), then this is done by reducing the pressure in the rear portion of both circuits. A heavier vehicle will also have duplicated front circuits, where a caliper with multiple pistons has half of each caliper supplied by each diagonal circuit separately.

[<me9]

But they're very much more effective than the footbrake without the servo.