I want to flat tow behind my 2001 Honda Odyssey. I have Rennenmetal's tow bar adapter and the Empi tow bar. I've got a two inch ball and just enough drop at the hitch for the tow bar to be level.

I hooked it all up tonight and I couldn't even get down my street. Just barely rolling along and the car starts wandering left to right. The steering wheel just spins form side to side. This is at the breakneck speed of 4mph.

What am I doing wrong? The car tracks nice and straight when driven.

Mike

I seen people put a bunji cord on the wheel to act as a dampener??
I'm sure someone else will have ideas..HotShoe?? Didn't you flat tow or do you have a flat toe?

You need more caster. Then it will track just like a shopping cart. It may not handle as well. I would buy a real trailer. If that is not an option, go with the bunji cords.

I have been to both coast and back but I use a tow dolly. Quick, easy and only wears out two tires at a time.

Part of it is the slow speed. I have flat towed multiple times. The last 74 I did did the same thing slow. Once I got up to speed it tracked great with no problems. Below 15 it wanted to go back & forth. Bungeee sounds okay to me

I've used the same exact setup as you described and sometimes at low speeds (pulling away from a gas station) I would get the back & forth bucking/shaking. I was towing my 914 behind a 1999 Beetle.

I've towed the 914 hundreds of miles and over mountains using the setup and @ speed it is smooth sailing.

I know it is counter-intuitive to speed up when the car seems to be shaking apart but it does work.

-pt

OK, so I think I'll try a bungee cord to see if it helps a little at slow speed, and I'll grit my teeth and push it up to 20 or so.

I was going REALLY slowly, and downhill a bit before, so we'll see what happens.

make sure you have the key in it if it still has a steering wheel lock. Line up the tires before you start. I've towed mine like that for a few thousand miles and never had an issue so that is strange. I've never used a bungee.

I've towed mine both ways - having the wheels track or locked. Unlocked and tracking is def the way to go.

Speed up!
And remember to keep the steering unlocked. I forgot once. Once.
It will track better when ithas some velocity. I pulled mine ~50 miles behind my suby impreza. No problem, and no steering wheel bungie either.
Remember to keep the tow vehicle out of overdrive unless it is set up for towing. My Suby was atthe weight limit for towing with the 914. Going is not an issue, but give yourself lots of room to stop. About 3x what you normally do.

Zach

914 behind a new Beetle!!? that must have got some looks.
I am leary of using my Forerunner for towing, and it has 8,000 lbs tow capacity!

Yes, it was quite a sight to see... I can't seem to find the pics

Towed my '74 track car thousands of miles with the Rennenmetal/Empi bar no problems fast or slow....your car needs more caster....period.

I just went through this with a customer flat-towing his car.

The problem turned out to be the angle of the tow bar. The ball on the tow vehicle was a lot higher than the attachment points on the 914. The tow bar needs be be as close to level as possible.

Problem solved!

I think I need to tweak the bungee a bit as this was tight enough to scrub a little bit on sharp turns. Other than that, it seems to work perfectly. Now I just need to install the transmission cooler on the van. WCR, here I come!

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Better get some mud flaps on that van

Or cover the entire front end of the 914. BTDT.

Don't know if I'll ever tow one, but just for my info and others who may be curious; Gint, how did you cover the front?

little side note to help your 'teener stay shiny. po used mine as a pull toy behind his r.v. poor thing's peppered with rock chips. hood and windshield are a bit rough from that chapter in it's life. would've replaced the windshield but, it's got the nice original trim around it and i rarely drive at night.

can you get mud flaps with the naked ladies?!

Blue painters tape, Griot's garage has a plastic film, Ben showed up for a trip to RR with some black spray on stuff that is easy to remove when you get to your destination (I can't remember where he got that).

o to home depot an get the large (24" or so used for wrapping pallets) roll of stretch wrap for $35, I stretch wrapped the fromt on the tow to WCR and back. Not a single rock chip. Chep quick and easy.

I flat-towed from Flagstaff to Portland for WCC in 2006 with no special protection and got lucky - no chips. I won't temp fate by doing it unprotected this time.

No problems flat-towing - I never had it rock-n-roll even once.

Just how to you apply the Home Depot plastic wrap? Got pictures?

yeah that sucked.