Show us your emergency, break-down Tow Pics!!

hozbee

Moderator note: This topic is for sharing your van being towed. For towing with your van, please use the "what do you tow with your van?" topic: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=413266 .

Alright...I know many of you have been in this situation before where your beloved (or not at the time) Vanagon/Westfalia has broken down leaving you stranded in the most inopportune time. Show us your tow pics and tell us how many times and where/why you were left to temporarily curse and kick the wheels while waiting for the tow truck. Here's mine...

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Several miles outside of Brawley, CA July 2010 during road trip from Seattle to Joshua Tree NP, CA. Culprit: Rear Wheel Bearing failure

Total # of tows: 3 (SoCal, Seattle, Seattle)

Syncroincity · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 3:10 am Post subject:

Every time I see something like this, I pull out my AAA (plus!) card and kiss it. Razz

_________________
'86 Syncro CHC Top AAZ Turbodiesel
'04 Passat Variant 4Mo 5MT

Vanagon Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=466866&highlight=

Zero419 · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:04 am Post subject:

been driving the same Vanagon since 2001. Always came home in it.
_________________
1987 Westy Auto Bostig 2.0 Ztec

danfromsyr · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:16 am Post subject:

you need to carry a spare vanagon in case of tow.

this was a 1,000 mile tow after mom's blew a headgasket. from N Myrtle beach to Tampa FL and back to NY (-850mi on Autotrain north)

_________________

j_dirge · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:33 am Post subject:

There's a first time for everything.

Frozen clutch release bearing.
AAA Premium.
_________________
-89 GL Westy, SVX.. finally.

-57 pan f/g buggy with a 67 pancake Type 3 "S"
"Jimi Hendrix owned one. Richard Nixon did not"
-Grand Tour, Season 1, episodes 4 and 5

westyventures · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:44 am Post subject:

danfromsyr · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:56 am Post subject:

hard to blame a whole industry on one bad tow truck operator.
I know there's more but that's not the point.

my AAA experiance was how friggin hard is it to have a call center.. that can't take a locaiton when I'm broken down on a major interstate (at night int he pouring rain fwiw)

Yes, I am I-81 northbound at mile marker #132..

no I am not in XXXville

Yes I am on the highway. norhbound,
Yes on the side of the road..
no I don't have an address. I'm on the interstate.

Mile marker #132..

the truck's directions were southbound 10 miles away..
the good thing was they took my cell number for the driver, a real english american (redneck) driver called, and said.. Oh.. that's not where/what they'd told me I'll be right there. Rolling Eyes

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westyventures · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:16 am Post subject:

seanjenn · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:03 am Post subject:

I've always heard good and bad things about AAA. I've got towing covered with my insurance. Unlimited mileage, from wherever I'm broke down to wherever I need to take it to get fixed.
_________________
1987 GL Sunroof
2.1 4 spd

MootPoint · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:23 am Post subject:

No pix (the loading onto the flatbed was so fast I didn't have a chance to grab my camera out of the van) but AAA was incredible. I've told this story here before but I'll give an encore:

10 miles south of Raton, NM w/ a broken timing gear (yes, they can break, though apparently it's rare) in the middle of freakin' nowhere.

Called AAA and they sent a truck from Trinidad, Colorado, 30 miles north of Raton, 45 minutes away on the other side of 7800 foot Raton Pass. The truck still got there in not much more than an hour from the time I rolled to a stop.

AAA Premier RV ($200 a year with 200 free miles). It was four hours and 203 miles to my driveway east of Albuquerque. Nice driver, interesting conversationalist. Dropped me off and turned around and drove 4+ hours back to Trinidad. AAA never bothered to call me about the three extra miles. If I had paid for that myself I'd still be in debtor's prison today. Renewed it this year with hesitation.
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1984 Westy with tencentlife power!

Zeitgeist 13 · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:27 am Post subject:

What's the best strategy for getting your vehicle home if you're over 100 miles away and don't have AAA? I recently had some overheating issues with my car while traveling down in Oregon, and I was debating whether if the situation called for it, to either have it professionally towed or rent a truck and a flatbed trailer (one-way). Anyone with experience ($) using either method that they would recommend in these instances?

Thanks,
Casey
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

MootPoint · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:30 am Post subject:

Jake de Villiers · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:59 am Post subject: Towing

I lost a rod bearing at the top of a climb on the way to the Oregon coast to go camping with friends. We showed up at Cape Lookout on the back of Rick's flatbed and camped for a week, then rented a U-Haul truck and car trailer to get Dixie back home. It wasn't cheap but I didn't know anybody in Portland, time was limited and I didn't want to take pot luck on a used engine so...

CAA/AAA was terrific and Rick was a good driver and tour guide. It could have been worse. I almost don't want to say this out loud, but in 20 years and 240,000 miles of having a Vanagon as a daily driver, its the only time we've needed a tow truck.

_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com

purplepeopleeater · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 11:44 am Post subject:

Don't be like me, I blew the motor in my deluxe and forgot I had towing on the bus...and it had to be the time I had the wife and daughter with me during summer....I hitch hiked back home got the tahoe and rented a trailer to haul it back.

no pics, just a stupid story.

skivan · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 1:12 pm Post subject:

indytriple · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 4:07 pm Post subject:

No pictures, but I've got videos!

Here I am having my Westy towed to the mechanic after 3 weeks of non-start madness. Ended up being fixed by a new ECU.

Link

Here's a video (click to view) of me picking up my $500 '91 passenger van. One of the nipples on the coolant distributor tower broke off causing a massive coolant leak. What can you expect for $500? I've driven it over 6,000 miles since then with nary an incident.

_________________
"See The Glass As Already Broken."

87 Vanagon Westy Auto Bostig

www.bluegrassbicyclecompany.com

MuesliNZ · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject:

We got our campervanagon towed out of trouble by a ride-on lawn-mower Embarassed

It was a john deere at least, so I guess it could have been worse. And the guy riding it was really nice and didn't laugh at us very much Laughing

We were at the end of a very long clay road in a remote area which people mainly access by boat (probably cos the roads are so very very shite), it was winter and raining and the van only had street tyres. Not a good start. Add a steep hill, deep ruts and a wheezy 1600 aircooled motor to the mix and you can begin to see where we went wrong. Surprisingly we got to the bottom of the hill ok, it was just getting back to the top that we couldn't manage. We ended up in the ruts, wedged against the bank with no way up and no way down until our unlikely saviour chugged up and yanked us out.

I wish I'd taken photos, but at the time my other half wasn't seeing the funny side so I thought I better not!

Syncroincity · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:33 pm Post subject:

Hmm, awful lot of Wolfram Grey on trailers. Coincidence?? I'm upgrading my AAA. Wink

_________________
'86 Syncro CHC Top AAZ Turbodiesel
'04 Passat Variant 4Mo 5MT

Vanagon Build: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=466866&highlight=

Jake de Villiers · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 6:03 pm Post subject:

westyventures · Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:22 pm Post subject:

Mine isn't Wolfram gray. It's actually Slate blue, and a Canadian-market van. Cool

I've only seen two other vans this color, surely there are more.


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