What The?

[Luvit]

My sons Suzki Vitara did a clutch cable the other day and he wanted me to tow it to the mechanics where he was also getting the fuel pump replaced.

I went to Bunnings and bought a tow strap.

See below image.

It's not a very heavy car and we didn't have to travel far on a fairly straight back road. So for a short distance I thought this would do the job and only $20 bucks.

Well it turns out that a towing strap is not recommended for conventional towing!!! 

What the??

See note 5 down.

Well I'm happy to report the tow went fine and now I feel like a rebel.

[benno573]

i wonder if they meant conventional towing as in a car towing a boat/trailer/caravan?  Now that would be interesting to see - from a safe distance. 

still... it is a little bit of an oxymoron... very glad that despite the clear and present danger you made it there safe and sound. 

[Luvit]

I guess it a liability thing.

If some thing happens they're not responsible because they said not to use it.

The instructions look like more for a tow recovery from a bog etc. that would place far more force than rolling a car along a road. 

I call B%llSht 

[Old Scaley]

That is hilarious @Luvit. Funny how there is a highly specialised product for almost anything these days.  Way back in my youth, cars had metal bumper bars and you would just tie whatever rope you could find from the rear bumper of the tow vehicle to the front bumper of the towed vehicle. If the rope was thin you just doubled it and if it broke (which it often did) you just tied a granny knot to join it up again and off you went. Cars needed a whole lot more towing back then. They rusted out quickly, had no power steering, power brakes, aircon, electronics of any sort, overheated regularly and generally took a lot of maintenance to keep them on the road. Ah, the good old days 

[Luvit]

I remember those days too.

Lucky in this case that brakes, steering and everything else was fine just not clutch to select a gear. 

Supercheap wanted $70 for a tow rope my wife said. So this was a bargain. 

[rayke1938]

you do not need a clutch just start it in gear

Cheers

Ray

[Luvit]

27 minutes ago, rayke1938 said:

you do not need a clutch just start it in gear

Cheers

Ray

The car was out of gear and would not go into gear because of the broken clutch cable. So rather than mucking around with it, a short tow was the preferred to get it to a mechanic.

[kmcrosby78]

3 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

That is hilarious @Luvit. Funny how there is a highly specialised product for almost anything these days.  Way back in my youth, cars had metal bumper bars and you would just tie whatever rope you could find from the rear bumper of the tow vehicle to the front bumper of the towed vehicle. If the rope was thin you just doubled it and if it broke (which it often did) you just tied a granny knot to join it up again and off you went. Cars needed a whole lot more towing back then. They rusted out quickly, had no power steering, power brakes, aircon, electronics of any sort, overheated regularly and generally took a lot of maintenance to keep them on the road. Ah, the good old days 

Did the dinosaurs attack them much Steve .............. ? 

[Old Scaley]

13 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Did the dinosaurs attack them much Steve .............. ? 

Fortunately @kmcrosby78 I am talking about the Paleozoic era where we were mercifully not bothered by dinosaurs.

[Drop Bear]

More bunnings land fill waiting to happen. Sad really. Its like that rope that they sell that has fairy floss in the middle. Built down to a price not up to a standard. 

I'm glad the tow went alright.