Date: Sun, 19 Aug 2001 10:44:22 -0400
Reply-To: "Horace K. Sawyer" <hksawyer@CATT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Horace K. Sawyer" <hksawyer@CATT.COM>
Subject: Re: safety chain!! Was 89 Vanagon engine misfire
In-Reply-To: <18845-3B7FCC3C-3311@storefull-134.iap.bryant.webtv.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
At 09:25 AM 8/19/01 -0500, Terry Kay wrote:
>What was the Dolly's name you had the bad experience with HK---Maybe I
>know her !!
Well, <turning red> I was hauling a 1988 BMW M5. Nice car. TOO NICE a
car to be dragging around on a dadgum tow-dolly.
I was in a Dodge 2500 Ram 4x4 with Cummins turbodiesel.
Some idiot pulls out in front of me.
I slam on brakes. BMW crashes into back of my truck. My heart sank. The
driver who pulled out in front of me just went on down the highway. I
couldn't get a positive tag i.d. Why did the car come off? The front
straps were worn, and the dolly belonged to a buddy of mine. A VERY CHEAP
buddy, who didn't bother to spend money on things of little importance,
like say, safety equipment. But, I too, was cheap. I should have rented a
U-Haul car trailer. Never would have been a problem.
Something told me before I started out on that goofy trip to secure the BMW
with a large chain attached to the frame. Having learned to listen to
those voices, I clambered up underneath and did this. When the panic stop
occurred, the crash I heard was the car going over the front of the dolly
and the frame hitting the dolly, although I didn't know it at the
moment. The safety chain prevented the BMW from hitting the rear bumper of
the Dodge with full force. In fact, it was just a few inches away, if that.
What did I do? After the shock wore off, I was able to pull the entire rig
onto the side-street where the a$$hole pulled out, and called a
wrecker. The BMW was hung between the dolly and the truck, sitting on its
frame. The front wheels were on the ground in between truck and dolly. It
simply rolled off the front of the tow dolly. It wasn't going anywhere
now. The wrecker guy jacked the BMW up with my help, and we blocked it
with "cribbing." (wooden blocks used to put underneath something that is
unstable to make it stable) It took an hour, but we were able to get the
car back on the dolly. I gingerly drove the rig back home.
It was the last time I used such a device, and never will
again. Period. With a top heavy vehicle like a vanagon, I think that
would only increase the risk associated with tow dolly. Of course, it
would make trailering riskier too, but far better than dollying I believe.
Recently, I hauled a car with a U-Haul trailer. As said in earlier post
today, it was great. Being the eccentric that I am, I even have lots of
pictures of the event. (Yeah, that's crazy, I know) It shows how to do
it. Besides, the event did have some historical, sentimental significance
to me, so that was part of the reason for the pictures. If you want some,
just ask and tonight I will shoot them to you.
hk
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