Tow Bar Needed

[Iggy913]

This week I will possibly be buying a 900 series 5-ton. The item is located in New Castle, DE and I would be traveling up to get it from VA Beach, VA. Is there anyone near either location or that has or has access to a tow bar to connect one 900 series to another 5 ton for a tow home? If I end up buying I'll have to remove the truck by the 1st of September at the latest. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd even be willing to purchase a tow bar or rent it at a reasonable rate if anyone can help.

Thanks a lot everyone.

 

[jcappeljr]

I have 1,complete with axle chain clamp ends,1" ends and 3/4" ends.$650

 

[Floridianson]

On another thread they were asking about chambering the air brakes on a tow so you might want to find out if the cage bolts are there or take some with you. You will need 4 of them. Even if you air up the system to release the parking brake it's still a good idea to have them.

 

[Iggy913]

When you cage the spring brake does that not stop the brakes from working completely or are you just eliminating the spring brake backup? I'll be heading up to where the truck is ahead of time to do a look over and I'm going to function check the brakes. Thanks for the advice, that's a good thing to check out.

 

[country]

We are located a short distance from the DE lot. stop by and pick up a tow bar www.easternsurplus.net

 

[sandcobra164]

Iggy,
If you "Cage" the brakes, you take them out of the equation. They will not apply once caged and hooked to another truck. That's acceptable for a short and slow haul but it should not be standard practice if doing a recovery that involves going into heavily traveled or populated areas or areas that are single lane and the posted speed limit is under 55 mph. You're better off in those situations going around 25 to 30 mph when towing a truck with disabled brakes. Caging brakes are a popular option for a recovery worker who has to flat tow or front lift a truck that has a broken air line or a compressor head issue that vents air to the outside. The prime mover will now need to have enough braking capacity to stop both trucks in both normal and emergency situations.

 

[doghead]

The service brakes should function, with the chambers caged.

 

[sandcobra164]

DH,
I've towed plenty of "straight air" trailers such as those that may be found behind and MK-48 with caged brakes. When they are caged, they will not apply. I always did a quick stop before pulling off the lot. If the trailer felt like it was "heavy" during that brake check, I'd go look and pull the caging pins. When I was lucky enough to have a friend along, we ran into the aforementioned situation. I stopped the truck and pressed the brakes while he watched the slack adjusters. He said they didn't move. We removed the caging bolts and all 4 moved when the brakes were pressed on my truck. I would imagine a similar outcome on an M939 series truck. I could be wrong though, I've never owned or recovered one. I'll stand by for some advice as they are getting ready to surplus some close to where I live and I may be on the hook to do just that.

 

[jaxsof]

there should be only one maxi axle(the one with the p-brake) on the vehicle. even if that one axle doesn't work while caged, the other two should, barring any "other" problem.

 

[Iggy913]

Thank you to everyone for the replys, both here and in PM form. I managed to score a pretty nice 923 today, I was able to preview it and found it to be 100% drivable. I'm going to give it a shot and drive it home under its own power early next week. Please wish me luck that she makes the 200 mile journey with no issues. Thanks again.