Joke Thread

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

LOL!

And - at least they had the presence of mind to add safety chains.

I had totally forgotten about this but you all have reminded me: when I was but a youth I towed by girlfriend's (now wife) VW bug kind of like that. The front suspension had rusted out and so I picked the front of the car up and set the bumper on the trailer hitch, lifting it just enough to tow it home.

Looking back: (a) that seems like a really bad idea, since the rear bumper was always falling off, and (b) I don't remember how I fixed the suspension, or how I prevented it from doing that on the other side.

It's all just a blur....

K

Yeah, this was the same thing. The chassis pan had rusted so that it wouldn't hold the four big bolts that hold the front axle. I had already replaced the bolts and added a stack of big washers to try to hold it together. But it was still "working" and eventually broke the rag joint sending us out in a field. Just earlier that day we had been driving on a narrow mountain jeep trail!

I'm surprised the axle just didn't stay on the ground but there must have been something still holding it, just not very well. I fixed it by unbolting the body and replacing the entire chassis pan with a good one from a wrecked bug we already had. Just as well because we had never registered the replacement bug anyway - figured no cop would ever want to pull out the back seat and try to read the VIN. When I was done it was the right one anyway

Apparently the bumper was still solid but I'm sure I hooked the chain(s) to something back underneath so it cradled the front of the car like a wrecker would. It was a one time thing and a long time ago so I don't remember exactly. It was only a couple miles on a back road to get to where we were living then.