Towing rwd 5Spd by dolly

Towing my bimmer home sunday, its obviously rwd and its a 5 speed.

Im using a car dolly.

Ive searched around and well im seeing different things for auto/manual, towing by front/rear wheels.

I dont want to drop the driveshaft.

So if i tow from the rear wheels, should i just lock the steering as striaght as i can get it, rap the seat belt around it?

What have you done in the past?

I’ve always just towed by the rear wheels with the steering locked. Been fine.

I’ve towed both forwards and backwards on a dolly, never had a problem either way.

Just make sure you lock the steering and put the seat belt around it as you mentioned.

just tow front wheels and leave car in neutral in manual cars

When I bought my 240 I rented the flatbed car trailer from Uhaul. It was something like $80 with $10,000 insurance from Niagara Falls to Burlington one-way. I didnt want to take a chance with the car falling off.

lock the front wheels and your golden man.

caa guy did that with my cars and theyre both still kickin

i tow my 180 all the time with a car dolly… i always put rear wheels on dolly. take front bumper off. and strap steering wheel down tight incase steering lock lets go.

I bought a '09 ranger 5spd and you would think it would tow more then the auto but its the other way around, 5spd=3500lbs auto=6000lbs, i knew this when buying just never thought i would have a dedicated track car so soon :frowning: anyone want a 5spd 4.0 ranger ??? hahahah:cool:

yeah if i didn’t get a straight answer i was just going to call the local towing company and ask their opinion. But i got it, ill just tow by the rear wheels and lock steering thanks guys :smiley:

i was a tow truck driver and we always tow rwd by back on dollie and lock ur stering with seat belt tie as many knots with stering straight

If your not doing more then 10-15H constant driving then there is no point in putting the back wheels on, put your car in Neutral, Front wheels on the dolly, locked, and ur set to go…

nomatter what yur towing u should always pick up the drive wheels. i should know i drive tow truck :smiley:

with my car dolly I find it best and easiest to put front wheels on dolly with car in neutral and steering unlocked for better turning radius.

I have towed many of cars this way for way to many km on the roads and highways.

my 2 cents

^ obviously tie the car down nicely with tire straps and or straps in general

I agree with turbo crazy.

And FWIW the auto has a greater towing capacity because the torque converter allows a torque multiplication, which means it can send more power to the wheels, and they assume people are dummies and can’t drive standard properly. You can tow the same amount as the auto, you just have to expect more clutch wear.

wow u guys dont mind changing transmissions then. the only way u can tow the stear wheels is if the car is running or is a standard but even then u are taking a chance. drive tires down isnt safe in my eyes at all

How is it not safe?

If your not doing constant 10H + driving at 100km+, there is no damage that will be done…

^ Yeah, I’ve never towed a car more than a few blocks, and it was with a low car dolly. Anything more than that and I’d either put it on a full car hauler or call a flatbed.

Whenever my car dolly is already in use, I have to tell uhaul I’m towing a sunfire, because to their specs they say a 240 is too low for a dolly, bunch of idiots, take off bumper and take off axel back part of exhaust…