The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Two Ton Towing

Is there any reason why a two ton, i.e. 6400 couldn't be towed home with the front wheels on a tow dolly?

The truck has a two speed axle if that would make a difference.

Drop the driveshaft and away we go or not?

Thoughts please. Thanks, Windy in Kansas

I would want to be sure that the vehicle in front is a heavy sucker with all that weight back there.

Haw far?
What roads and conditions?
What does it weigh?
What's your tow vehicle?

Towing would be done with a dual wheeled one ton.

Roads would be good, black topped, secondary roads so that I could take my time.

Distance is about 100 miles.

I'll have to check out a truck encyclopedia to determine truck weight.

Thanks TooMany2count, I hadn't thought about just pulling the axles. Wouldn't take much to torch out a couple of discs, drill some holes and have some homemade caps although the wooden version should work just fine.

Thanks for the prompt replies.

Windy,

Just a thought..some of the old axles were a seperate piece UNDERNEATH the bolted cover you see on the outside. I don't know if yours fits this description or not.


Stuart

Instead of pulling axles unbolt the rear u-joint and tie up the driveshaft. Don't know which tranny is in the truck, but some of them don't throw oil when the front shaft isn't turning. Be sure there's lube in the differential.

Take it easy and you should be okay. It's not like you're going to burn up the brakes going down any steep hills.

Joe's way would let the rear wheels just free-wheel on the bearings, Fred. On the bigger stuff like that, the axle does not hold anything together, it just provides locomotion. As long as you keep the grease in and the dirt out (wooden covers) the wheels will spin free just like a trailer. Better fuel mileage on the tow vehicle and no need to tie up the driveshaft.

Take a BIG breaker bar, though. Those bolts can be a booger to break loose after all this time.

If it's an AD 6400, there's a cap covering the axle. Pull the cap, pull the axle, replace the cap. Make sure all four rear tires hold air, if one's flat, it will leave itself all over the road. That truck will weigh between 6000 and 7000 pounds. Your one ton may weigh 5 soaking wet. Where are you going to find a dolly that's rated as high as what the truck weighs? I "dollied" a 4400 home using a triple axle trailer once. I got the front up onto the trailer, but the rears exploded my ramp. I was stuck, couldn't go on, couldn't take it off. I just backed the truck up until the front wheels were in the center of the trailer axles and strapped the front end down to the trailer. BUT, I only had two miles to go and it took me nearly a half an hour to get there.
Good luck getting her home,
Scott

The 1951 6400 fire truck we have is supposed to be 16,000 GVW.

Lots of thoughts and ideas to sift through. That is what I like about this site. The truck and equipment weight schedules are quite helpful. The two ton appears to be about 1500#s more than my 3800.

I have been welding for decades and figured that I would weld up a dolly from an old one-way disc frame that is 4 inch X 4 inch material. I have a heavy duty axle that is quite capable of carrying the load of the front of the truck plus any stresses I would encounter.

I might even think about rebuilding the brakes and doing whatever else it takes to make it safe on the site and just drive it home.

I'll ponder the whole matter before making any decisions.

My 6400 was towed home by what looked to me like a 1-ton truck. The 1-ton was a diesel powered Dodge wrecker with duels on the rear. It seemed to do the job with out difficulty.

I don't know what my 6400 weighs but I think it is no more than 6,000 pounds. 16,000 GVW means it could carry 10,000 pounds.

My (too new to be a Stovebolt) 1-ton pickup has a GVW of about 9,000 and weighs about 5,000. I feel safe pulling a loaded dual axle trailer WITH brakes towing far more than the 4,000 pounds capacity that pickup seems to have, but only because the trailer has brakes too.

The part that worries me most is not can it pull it, but can it stop it...

tyou always want to have the truck in fron to be heavier that the one being towed

I always thought that tow dollys were for towing front wheel drive vehicles without having to disconect the drive axles. With a heavy truck such as a 6400, I think that it would be safer to keep both axles on the pavement.
I would build an extra heavy duty tow bar. If you have working brakes in the 2 ton, you could have someone ride in it to assist in stopping. You could communicate with a set of inexpensive walkie talkies.
Unless of course there are mechanical problems with the front axle.