towing disabled cars

KC

Victoria Road Rules certainly allow a vehicle to be towed by another via a tow rope, chain or strap etc, even if the vehicle is unregistered. (must be safe to use on a road though) There are specific requirements, such as the driver of the towed vehicle must be licenced to drive it in the first place and must be able to have control over the steering and braking. Tow ropes etc cannot exceed 4 metres.

A quick search of Queensland Road Rules brought this up:

Towing another vehicle:

"When towing another vehicle by means of an “A” frame, rigid drawbar or rope, the drivers of the towing and towed vehicles must hold a current driver’s licence that includes the classes of vehicles being utilised. An “A” frame may also be used to tow another vehicle that has no driver if the specific conditions on the "A" frame towing page are met in addition to the general requirements for drivers and towing vehicles described so far."

Also mentions "If you are towing a car with a towline, the towline must not be more than 4 m long."

Cheers

Dave

Coupling a pair of 4wd's via an A-Frame makes one formidable off road vehicle in mud, snow and sand.

Not so good on big snotty rutted hills though!

With 8 wheels and 4 drive axles there'll almost always be something with a bit of grip!

Similar formula to the one Caterpillar and Terex scrapers use when coupled together.

Geoff

Warfer,

That's half the battle sometimes with a lot of misinformation floating around. Quite legal to tow another vehicle in Victoria by rope etc, provided the nominated conditions are met. The relevant Road Rule No. is 295.
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/4C0E08C5-D7C1-4301-AEFA-3A984D7C2761/0/part_18.pdf

Also - An excerpt from the Vic Roads website - relating to moving an unregistered vehicle from place to place:

"Tow behind a registered vehicle:
You can tow the unregistered vehicle behind a registered vehicle. Road Rules Victoria 1999 (no. 295) apply when towing. They are:

* you must safely control the towed vehicle (you can be on a probationary licence)
* the brakes on the towed vehicle must be working when you are using rope, chain or wire
* the maximum space between the vehicles is 4 metres (if either vehicle is a motor cycle, the maximum is 2.5 metres)
* you must display a flag (minimum 30cm square) attached to the rope, chain or wire."

Regards,

Dave

Not completely off topic to towing, did you see the Google Street Level car being pulled through by the Patrol Bourke Wilcannia Road? It took me a couple of minutes to find it, but a Patrol with a snorkel, roof top tent and an HF radio pulling the car along a sticky section. Person off to the side with a brownie orange jumper

Its ok to tow in WA but Im sure the towed vehicle has to be registered. I dont think temporary movement permits apply.

Hi kcandco,

Forget about pushing vehicles, this is only done in specific circumstances.

Tow ropes are fine as well as solid frames but you would have to check with your state traffic authorities for the specifics as all the states have minor differences.

Snatch straps are only used to get bogged vehicles out of trouble, not tow anything further than necessary.

SB

I have a 2m stiff bar with a 50mm ball coupling on each end. Dad's Slolux has a 50mm ball on the front of it, primarily for pushing the boat and caravan about.
The stiff bar has been used to pull the Slolux, and the Slolux has also been used to push around our other vehicles if required as we do maintenence on them.

In the QLD channel country, McIvers would stiff bar together five SAR KW triple cattle crates to make it through some creek crossings. As the lead prime mover would be slipping as it exited the creek until the drive got onto dry ground, the four behind were still pushing. By the time the 5th SAR was exiting the creek, the other prime movers were well and truly on dry gound and able to pull the last one out with ease.
It must have been an amazing spectacle what they did in the 70's, five GM powered two strokes double shuffling through the gears together with 30 decks of cattle!!

Cheers,
Dion.

Not sure whats legal?, what i do know is if towing with a rope, and the steerer in the towed vehicle is not up to scratch on knowing how to keep tension on the rope all the time , then your in for one hell of a ride!, bit like sitting on a bucking bull!!....LOL.


Cheers Axle.

It was a long time ago but when I was in the army, "A" framing was the preferred tow method, legally(at the time) the towed vehicle was NOT allowed to be occupied - vehicles towed with a rope must (for obvious reasons) be occupied...