I'm planning on towing a roller home tonight on a dolly that has no tranny or engine. Because of this, the axles will flop around and cause problems. My plan is to tow it backwards on the dolly. I'm not sure if the steering wheel lock works, but if it does not, does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve a steering wheel lock? I was thinking of fixing the steering wheel itself by means of a lever, but I'm wondering if there's an easier way that I could do at the rack, etc. Or would it be easier to remove the axles and tow it
forwards? I've never done it so I don't know whats involved with that.

Thanks

Tony

You could tie up the steering wheel with the seat belts, then put one end of the seat belt in the door to keep it tight.

make sure the rear trunk is locked, even then, I've heard of them opening while the car is towed backwards...........

Thats a good idea.


Regarding the hoods.. This car has no trunk lids, glass, or doors... I have heard about glass blowing out while towing backwards without a top, so I think I'm safe. Gonna look kinda funny towing a metal carcass down the road though.

Most 914s if the steering lock ignition is still in place will lock when you remove the key. You might want to take a lug wrench and a spare tire or an air fill bottle.
I take along a fat bungee cord and wrap it through the steerign wheel and down to the crossmenber under the seat. That will lock into place secure enough for your towing.
CCLINSPEEDSTOWING

This may sound stupid, but why not use a trailer? Most of those dollies are so overbuilt, that they weigh almost as much as a trailer and aren't nearly as safe. To me, flat-towing or using a dolly would be the last resort. Pushing a complete 914 onto a trailer by hand is a breeze so a stripped one should be no problem.

tony, is this cory'bs car from pelican (escondido, ca?)

The roller I bought in Nevada was towed home backwards. I used rope to hold the steering wheel in place. Tied it to the steering wheel and ran the ends thru the doors. It would move about 2"

Hey Tony, glad to hear you picked one up. Post some pics of it when you get it home. Hope its decent.

Well, last night was one of those nights where I questioned my sanity and hoped to never see another 914 in my life.

Let me recount the story:

I drove down with my wife to Carlsbad where my generous aunt let me borrow her F-150. She even went to Uhaul yesterday to pick up a tow dolly for me! So on the way down from Redondo Beach, there is a terrible multi-car accident with injuries on 405 which reduced it down to 1 lane. So this made us 30 minutes later than our already late departure time. We make it to Carlsbad at 8:30 and switch vehicles. I'm now driving the F-150 with dolly in tow... slowly. 9:15, we arrive in Escondido (this should answer Acox's question (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ) and the owner has left the car in the back for me. The alley is big enough to fit a truck into, but not big enough to move the car and dolly around much. And those dollys are incredibly heavy. So here I am pushing a very heavy dolly around in near darkness (there's a single flood light from the garage essentially aimed at me) and my wife is sitting in the truck, trying to stay warm. The blinkers are on, because its a dark alley.. This becomes important later on...

So armed with a stock 914 jack (the kind that fits in the jack posts) I try to lift the car off its blocks and intall wheels. This took nearly 2 hours as the car was wobbling and sliding all over the place. I managed to figure out some way to get it high enough to install the wheels one at a time and then had the task of pushing it up a slight incline towards the alley and the dolly. My wife helped me with this, but by the time we got about 1/2 way up the dolly, we just couldn't push any more.

At this point I go to the truck to move it around to hook up the dolly and of course with the blinkers on for now what is nearly 3 hours (its almost midnight by this point) the battery has died and won't start the truck. At nearly the same instant, the familiar red and blue lights appear from behind us. At this point I'm thinking ohh shit. Here I am with a borrowed truck, a rented trailer, in the middle of the night taking a rolling chassis from someone's backyard whom I've never met in person. So he asks me what I'm doing, I explain and he figures he needs to wake whoever is in the house and ask him to verify whats going on. Feeling embarassed and dejected, we start going towards the front of the house and he gets another idea. He asks me who the truck is registered to and check the registration and it checks out fine. Then he tells us we don't look like crooks and that if we were trying to steal a car it would probably not be 'that one.' So he lets us go. He kindly asks us if we need a phone to call AAA.

So, call goes in to AAA and in a few minutes a truck is there to jumpstart our truck. At this point, I wonder ho it could get any worse. And of course mother nature lends a hand and starts to rain. The rain was brief, but it was just the icing on the cake that we needed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

So now its almost 1 am and I feel like I'm coming down with a cold. Realizing that I have to go to work tomorrow, we decide that we are done. We can't get the car up the ramp, so there's nothing we can do. (not to mention that the car would later have to be turned around and reattached to the dolly, because it needs to be towed the other way and the alley was too small).

We got home 2 hours later and I got to bed at about 4 am. In all a really aggrivating evening. My wheels are still down there holding the car up, and I'm contemplating when to go pick it up. If I pick it up today/this evening I can make use of the dolly. Otherwise its another $81 wasted and then I'll have to go back with a $90 rental flat bed trailer which I would MUCH rather do.

The roller is pretty nice. It's got some rust but poking around I didn't manage to find anything too bad.

-Tony

LMFAO (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) That is one for the "Tales of the Teener".
CCLINSPEEDSTOWING

Anyone know if AAA will tow a roller? I have AAAplus which gives me 100 mile towing and its 103 miles from this palce to my place. I could pay for the extra 3 miles and not have to worry about driving with the dolly, pulling a non-registered car, etc. Also a lot easier to get the thing out of the driveway.

Apparently AAA will only tow registered vehicles but I have read about people who just tell them its registered and its fine.

Anyone with experience in this?

-Tony

Call AAA and ask them.
CLINTOWSVILLE

Then do the opposite of what they tell you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

good find tony! i was interested in picking it up...you beat me to it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) , next time a free roller comes around...its mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I hear the hell hole is rusted through on that roller... I would think a lot of people would run at that sight?

I've had AAA tow one car with no motor or transmission....

When I called I just told them the car wouldn't start and I needed it towed home....when the driver showed up he informed me that they are not supposed to tow vehicles that obviously didn't just break down (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Driver was cool about it and towed the car home, I ended up giving him some cash for tip since I was still ahead by not having to pay for a trailer or tow dolly (before I bought a trailer)

All of the AAA driver's I've ever had haul my crap (spitfires, 914s, Jeeps, old Chevy trucks) home were really cool, except one. Most of 'em are car guys and they say stuff like:

I had one of those!
I know where you can find another one of those.
There's one of them there 9-1-4s in a field out in Brighton.
Got 'ny rust on that'un?
I have a _______ that I'm restoring.

Good to hear. I think I'll give AAA a try then and see how it goes.

It will be a lot of work transferring parts from my car to this one. Maybe by summertime I'll have something that moves under its own power.

-Tony

When you tow a car with the front wheels on the ground, you need to use a rope and tie off the steering wheel. You do this by running the rope around the wheel and one of the spokes and then hold it by the ends from outside the car and close the door so that the rope is tight inside and holds the wheel in the position you want it. Then tie a square knot tight up against the window so that it won't loosen up. Don't worry, it won't hurt the car. I've used this setup hundreds of times back when I drove a tow truck. There will be a little play, but it should trail fine. Even if the steering lock is working I would still use the rope. Good luck.

Last I checked AAA won’t tow rollers for you. You can get a tow co to do it, but I wouldn't count on AAA to pick up the bill. I don't know if you've seen how much tow trucks cost per mile now days, but it need not be said that 100 mile tow will break the bank... It also sorta sucks for the driver because he will be driving 200 miles during his shift instead of (potentially) making more cash by getting a number of calls. If you do end up calling AAA I wouldn't recommend fessing up to it being a roller, just say you need a tow. The driver will undoubtedly recognize you have no engine when he is hooking it up to the flat bed though, and may or may not want to spend his whole shift trailering your (to him) junk. If the driver does end up towing him give him a good sized tip (I would give 50 or so for that long of a drive) when he drops you off...

If I were you I would ask a friend with a trailer if you can borrow his trailer, then drive down, back the trailer up the alley, wench the car on the trailer, and be on your merry way... If you were still in SB I would offer to move it for ya for a six pack and a bite to eat... I'm sure you could find some one who would do something similar for ya where you are now.

-Kevin