Bunge cord the steering wheel Options

[StratPlayer]

How many here that flat tow their 914 bungee cord the steering wheel when towing the car?

[sb914]

I thought you were supposed to leave free when flat towing.
The front wheels will turn accordingly.

[StratPlayer]

The bungee is considered a tool to complete your towing package. It is the right fix. Not a hack fix at all. It is a tool to center the wheel just like the towbar is a tool to tow the vehicle.

[76-914]

Good question! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Mikey914]

I don't. If you takeoff and the steering wheel starts gong back and forth. Stop. Align the wheels with the direction of travel and proceed. It happens when you take off and the wheels are not in the same direction as you are traveling. It oscillates back and forth. Easy to avoid.

[SirAndy]

The bungee is considered a tool to complete your towing package. It is the right fix. Not a hack fix at all. It is a tool to center the wheel just like the towbar is a tool to tow the vehicle.

If you have a good 4 wheel alignment, there is no need to artificially center the steering wheel.

It will straighten itself out when running in a straight line.
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[Chris914n6]

The bungee is to hold the wheel straightish in the event you HAVE to back up. Don't need it moving forward.

[Mikey914]

Haven't been able to back up very well. I always dropped the car off the ball and moved it. Did use a bungee chord to hold the bar up while I moved it around.

[VaccaRabite]

Haven't been able to back up very well. I always dropped the car off the ball and moved it. Did use a bungee chord to hold the bar up while I moved it around.

I keep a block of wood in the front trunk of my 914 for the job of holding up the tow bar. In my experience, if the car is aligned correctly there should be no wobble. If the car is out of alignment, all bets are off. Though if the car were out of alignment to the point where the wheels don't self center immediately, I'm not going to be flat towing it. The last thing I want is a bungie cord to break or slip on the free way and the tail to start wagging the dog.

Zach

[andys]

The bungee is to hold the wheel straightish in the event you HAVE to back up. Don't need it moving forward.

+1

While it's otherwise impossible, the bungee allows you to back the car very nicely though carefully, and without sharp corrections.

Andys

[Mikey914]

Haven't been able to back up very well. I always dropped the car off the ball and moved it. Did use a bungee chord to hold the bar up while I moved it around.

I keep a block of wood in the front trunk of my 914 for the job of holding up the tow bar. In my experience, if the car is aligned correctly there should be no wobble. If the car is out of alignment, all bets are off. Though if the car were out of alignment to the point where the wheels don't self center immediately, I'm not going to be flat towing it. The last thing I want is a bungie cord to break or slip on the free way and the tail to start wagging the dog.

Zach

The dynamic oscillations would be VERY bad.
Zach hit the nail on the head here. You are moving at freeway speeds, if the bungee breaks (and they occasionally do), do you really want the liability of an uncontrollable vehicle being towed at potentially high speed. Yes the odds are remote, but how lucky do you feel? If the bungee is needed to move forward, I'd re-think the process.

[forrestkhaag]

I tow my car to and from my shop across town regularly while in the conversion process. I have no bungee cords in the tow kit. (and I am from Louisiana)..

My car tracks very well and is simply a matter of turning off the battery, turning the ignition key to the on position and releasing the emergency brake. The front wheels track perfectly behind the suv in all situations going forward.

Even with a bungee cord, and a steering partner in the driver's seat, reverse is a no-no unless your ok with significant stress on the frame, tow hitch, and related connections.

If you look closely, you can see the two 2"x2" hitch bar receivers cut-outs that are in the front bumper of my car. Black bumpers help here but basically, I built receiver tube-brackets that are bolted to the interior trunk frame of the car. The tow hitch bars slide in and each side has a 1/2" diameter drop-pin that keep everything connected and safely trailing along behind the tow vehicle that incidentally has heat and AC, Bose stereo, CD and Mp3 tunes, room to pack an ice chest and steamer trunk and most importantly, a happy wife in the passenger seat.

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