Towing a pick up

[Darby]

Is it possible to tow a small pick up truck backwards on a tow dolly?

[JohnRR]

I seem to recall seeing several ads by dolly manufactures recommending against it but I think it's more of them covering themselves from liability.

Now if your dolly does not have a swivel platform that would be a different story as there would be no pivot point and the tires would always be pulling at the straps when you were making turns.

[Mr JP]

I towed a 1/2 ton Chevy 2 wheel drive backwards on a dolly for awhile. It was a pain in the butt !! You must get it very straight on the dolly or it will track crooked !! It can be done but I found it to be a hassle !! Good luck JP

[dons2346]

Even the dolly manufacturers do not recommend putting a vehicle on a dolly backwards. I think I would take their advise.

[Darby]

Thanks to all for their answers. Now I see so many RV's towing vehicles with tow bars....how is this possible? I guess I am from the old school and without changes, this would not have been possible years ago. What has changed on the transmissions to allow this?
Darby

[Gary RVRoamer]

You can tow a 4 wheel drive vehicle, including a pick-up truck, with all four wheels on the ground if the transfer case has a neutral position.

And several automatic transmissions in current use allow towing with no modifications at all. They have a lubricating pump that is driven by the driveshaft, so that fluids circulate in the tranny while being towed. That's all it takes.

And some of the cars you see being towed may have been modified with the addition of a transmission lube pump that keeps the tranny lubricated while under tow. Others may have had a drive shaft disconnect added, which accomplishes the same thing as the 4WD Neutral position.

Most standard transmission vehicles are also towable without modifications.

In short, there are a large number of vehicles that are easily towable "four down".

[JohnRR]

When automatic transmissions first came out for cars many were built with the pumps driven by the output shaft and were towable with the rear wheels (no front wheel drives back then) on the ground. Over the years they started to have more and more built with front pumps so there was no lubrication supplied when the engine was off which caused the no tow condition.