Flat Towed an M35A2 from Davis Monthan to Phoenix

[98G]

Yesterday was an eventful day. Shakedown drive of my most recently acquired M925.

A fellow SS member got a truck at auction and needed it delivered to PHX. I got up and pretripped my truck and went and picked it up. The GP guy was good to deal with and we had the towbars connected in a very short period of time.

The tires on the deuce were questionable at best. Showing 20 psi, and a couple of them had clearly been sitting flat. I aired them up using the glad hand hose off my M925.

In contrast to everything else I have flat towed, this truck flopped the wheels the wrong direction on tight turns. I speculate that this is related to caster settings. I had to be very careful and swing all right turns wide. Fortunately I could see the wheels in my mirrors and keep track of them.

I cautiously got on I 10 and headed towards Phoenix. I stopped and checked everything again after just a couple of miles and then continued on for about an hour to a rest area.

I arrived uneventfully near the destination and texted the person I was to coordinate hand off with.

GPS took me to the wrong place. Worse, GPS took me down a little windy dead end road without opportunity to turn around. Backing towbars is just not an option, not because it's difficult, it just isn't possible without control of the steering of the towed vehicle.

I ended up in a rancher ' s parking area, by permission. It was about half the space that would be reasonable to turn the trucks around. I was accomplishing it with some difficulty, by means of manually turning the steering of the towed vehicle, then pulling forward a couple of revolutions of the wheels until they flopped the wrong way.... repeat as necessary. Evidently this looked like fun, because ranchers son came out to join the festivities. With him riding the running board of the Duece and providing steerage we got it turned much tighter than would be reasonable and without pulling anything sideways. He rode the running board at low speed to the destination.

The recipient presumed that 1) I could back the Duece in on towbars, and 2) the deuce was drivable. Neither of these was true...

With the 20yo clinging to the deuce's running board and steering by my instructions we backed the deuce on towbars about 100 feet, without ever once pushing wheels sideways or torquing the towbars. I was pleasantly surprised that this was possible.

Unhooking was easy and fast. Talked trucks with the young man while we dropped the towbars.

My phone was utterly dead by this point. I went and got fuel and headed for home. I was running the truck topless. The cool night desert air combined with the heat off the NH250 was a delicious blend. I was cruising along in the right lane of I 10 , thinking happy thoughts and enjoying the drive when his happened:

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?145463-Distracted-Driving-Kills

After an extended interval and a police statement, I continued home shirtless and freezing with the heater running wide open. My shirt was donated to the cause of pressure dressings...

98G

 

[98G]

Pics

 

[Tracer]

Well done!

 

[Monkeyboyarmy]

If I bid on that tanker, can you get it to Ohio?

 

[Rmtaunton]

Are you using a heavy tow bar it looks long

 

[98G]

Are you using a heavy tow bar it looks long

I use and endorse the 68k medium-heavy towbars intended for the M113 APC. They're not as bad to move around as the true heavy 112k bars, yet will tow anything up to a HET.

 

[Floridianson]

You don't worry about no service air line to apply the brakes on the Deuce. Myself would worry more about the 6 tons pushing that 5 ton into a jack knife if things got bad and believe me the Deuce will push that 5 ton azz right around in the right conditions.
I have never had a problem with the Med. tow bar and I like to axle clamp even on a flat tow.
Don't forget TM's tow bar speed is 15mph. Glad you made it with out trouble.

 

[Recovry4x4]

The opposite steering of a deuce is common. For necessary backing I've tied the wheel off with good results. I towed a shop van to the 2008 GA Rally that had T831 Stones on it. This truck refused to cooperate so badly that I had to tie the wheel off just to get it there. Looking back, I'm so glad to have moved away from 5 tons and deuces. Glad you had success in your venture!

 

[Floridianson]

There was a thread where someone made the fitting for the air pack so we could apply the brakes on the Deuce but I can't find it.
The reason I say this is if you recall about me telling you that you could cage all the brakes on a 939 series and still tow safely because we still had service brakes on the tow. I tried to explain they do cage the brakes and between you and West Farm thought it was unsafe. It's done all the time. Well there is not that many tons difference between a Deuce and a 5 ton and if you Deuce broke away it would take down telephone poles just as well as the 5 ton would. Yes we do not have the advantage of the parking circuit coming in if the 939 broke away but as we talked about it will not happen all that fast. The thing with the 939 is if the pancake pops you will not know it on your gages but you will know it right away when the wheels lock up. You sound like a nice guy and you want to learn but you must be very careful in how and what you tow as it could effect all of us. That's why I will no tow anything for anybody or myself again as I don't need that kind of pressure when I can call a step deck and just smile when the truck get hauled.
Now in the case you did have the Deuce air pack plumed and something went wrong like one leg breaking or loss of the shackle on one side you would I hope feel it or see the trucking walking sideways and the air service line would still be attached you would get on the brakes quick and hopefully get some speed on the tow and your truck down some before the tow bar broke and the tow did what ever nightmare it was going to do. Please don't think I am harping on you but towing is a gamble every time.

 

[98G]

I've experimented with panic stops with unbraked 14k on towbars behind a 5ton on wet roads previously to see just what it would do. I was unable to get it to break the rear wheels loose.

If i were to snap the towbars , that's why the crossed safety chains are there. Braking would then be accomplished by the deuce impacting my 5ton.

I'm with you though, I'd much prefer to tow with the towed vehicle's brakes live. I very much like the front glad hand access on the 939 series.

Like you, I also feel a tremendous amount of responsibility moving a bunch of heavy steel down the road.

Deuces rate dead last in my preferences for towed vehicles. To be honest, I'm rethinking towing them in the future.

Driving is a gamble every time. I spent 10 years as a level 1 trauma center ICU nurse. I stopped riding motorcycles because of it...

James, we haven't always agreed on everything every time, but perhaps others have learned from our discussions, and I do always stop and re-examine my own views when you disagree with me. I realize there's no substitute for experience. Thanks for your comments.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Maybe a deuce sized tow dolly. LOL. In my previous deuce years, I created a piggyback device and it worked quite well but required a tractor and loading and unloading points.

 

[Floridianson]

I like the Med tow bar and try and keep it short as per TM and my own liking. I believe you are trying but with that long tow bar and long chains if the tow does not hit your truck it will be one lane over trying to pass you. Control is a elusion but the brown streak in you shorts is for real. Trust me been there done that and did not want the T shirt.
I have seen a lot happen in the 10 years of dump truck driving out of a quarry in Northern Va. where it was not uncommon to have 25 tons of product on you back. OTR drivers have a tough job and I have done that for US Express but when you asked to get that 20 tons and spread it out over 200 feet in the mud and sometimes uneven ground you learn a lot. Been asked to get 20 tons of rip rap into a creek bed. Yea that will tighten up your buns.
The down side to our wedge brakes can be they get out of adjustment. So every time we use them and the slack adjuster is not working well or not at all is today we have 100% braking but next week that could be down and working it's way farther down the scale. I did not have automatic slack adjusters on my dump trucks at the time but every other day with a 9/16 box end wrench I checked them for adjustment. I was not worried about the DOT but more worried I would need 100% and it was not there when I needed them. Just be careful keep the speed down and never let your guard down for one second.

 

[Floridianson]

I think the tow bar you are using is to long and that can give towing problems and I looked at the pics again and myself do not like twisting load chains to take up slack.
Correct ends so that the chain can never come loose and very little slack how I use to rig my tows.
Even the tow manual says no twist as it can put more stress on just one link than spreading it out. Grade 43 or better chain for towing.
http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv14.pdf

 

[98G]

I've had no problems with those longer towbars. Yesterday I flat towed an M939 series truck about 400 miles with the standard adjustable medium towbars and couldn't turn as tight and had more wander while going down the road.

I think you're absolutely right on the chains. I don't generally make a habit of twisting them, and now that you got me paying attention to it I'll be making sure they don't get twisted.

Thanks