EL Grande Honcho
05-16-2009, 09:40 PM
Fellas:
Well, I was doing some chassis rust removal on my 1980 J10 build this morning, and decided to pull it out of my garage. I have the engine out and the front clip off. Well, I bought this tow bar from harbor freight that I bolted to the front frame. It takes a little patiences, and a tall hitch receiver, but I can hook up my F150 to it pretty easy to inch it out of the garage stall (I have about 6 inch clearance on both sides). Anyway, today I noticed that it was a little crooked, so I decided to pull it way out in the driveway, and then straighten out, and then back it in. I should say I'm good with a utility and boat trailer. Well, backing it up was a pain in the you know what. I did not have the drop pitman arm attached, so the wheels were pegging to the left everytime I tried to straighten the J10 out. Oh, yeah, I monster south Texas thunderboomer was about on me too, and the rust remover was still wet. I put the pitman arm on thinking that would give me some resistance, but, nope, still pegged to the left. I locked the steering, and that worked enough to skid the truck back on track.
Living down here, you see people using this front tow bars all time time hauling vehicles down to Mexico, with no one in the tow rig. Is the J10 just too big to pull like this? Once I put the engine back, wouldn't this be too much strain on the front steering when the F150 decides to turn? I guess someone could be in the J10 and steer just like you do with a tow rope. Is this the only way?
I know I could get a hauler to lift the front tires off the ground, or a trailer, but just looking for a way to get it to the body shop and/or exhaust shop, etc.
Oh, by the way, rain came hard, but I made it by 30 seconds! However, I spun the F150 tires once when i got my neighbor's lawn. He wasn't too happy. Gotta love these Jeeps!
:thumbsup:
Well, I was doing some chassis rust removal on my 1980 J10 build this morning, and decided to pull it out of my garage. I have the engine out and the front clip off. Well, I bought this tow bar from harbor freight that I bolted to the front frame. It takes a little patiences, and a tall hitch receiver, but I can hook up my F150 to it pretty easy to inch it out of the garage stall (I have about 6 inch clearance on both sides). Anyway, today I noticed that it was a little crooked, so I decided to pull it way out in the driveway, and then straighten out, and then back it in. I should say I'm good with a utility and boat trailer. Well, backing it up was a pain in the you know what. I did not have the drop pitman arm attached, so the wheels were pegging to the left everytime I tried to straighten the J10 out. Oh, yeah, I monster south Texas thunderboomer was about on me too, and the rust remover was still wet. I put the pitman arm on thinking that would give me some resistance, but, nope, still pegged to the left. I locked the steering, and that worked enough to skid the truck back on track.
Living down here, you see people using this front tow bars all time time hauling vehicles down to Mexico, with no one in the tow rig. Is the J10 just too big to pull like this? Once I put the engine back, wouldn't this be too much strain on the front steering when the F150 decides to turn? I guess someone could be in the J10 and steer just like you do with a tow rope. Is this the only way?
I know I could get a hauler to lift the front tires off the ground, or a trailer, but just looking for a way to get it to the body shop and/or exhaust shop, etc.
Oh, by the way, rain came hard, but I made it by 30 seconds! However, I spun the F150 tires once when i got my neighbor's lawn. He wasn't too happy. Gotta love these Jeeps!
:thumbsup: