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MG MGA - flat towing rules

Hey all, I wish to flat tow my 1960 MGA from New York to Florida in April. Does anyone know of a reliable source for information concerning such an adventure?

How much tow vehicle, dolly or not, remove drive shaft or not? Extra brakes? Weight of tow car vs. towed car?

Thanks, Tom
Thomas McNamara

I have heard a number of thoughts on this subject. My experience is that I have towed my car with a toe dolly and trailer over a thousand miles a few times. I like the trailer and then you do not have to worry about anything. With the toe dolly I have backed the car on to the dolly and tied the steering wheel. It works fine but I am always checking the ties on the steering wheel every time we stop. If I pull the car on and I am going over 500 miles I would disconnect the driveshaft at the rear end and use rubber straps to hold the driveshaft up and away from the rear end. With the trailer it seems to be much easier but I drive a tractor trailer for a living and I am used to looking in my mirrors to check on the trailer. As far as breaks I have always used a pick up truck to tow and never needed brakes either with the tow dolly or trailer. I am not sure how it would work with a car towing the trailer or tow dolly.
GK George

I have done it for maybe 60-70 miles; I did not remove the drive shaft. Braking was not an issue but I used a 3/4 ton truck. The most difficult part of flat towing an MGA is getting a solid mount between the tow bar and the car. The design of the MGA does not lend itself to this, and the bumper mounts are not really strong enough.
D Rawlins

I have towed an MGA hundreds of miles with rear wheels on the ground on multiple occasions with no problems. Disconnecting the prop shaft is not necessary, as the gearbox has an internal oil pump driven by the output shaft (details on my web site). Just be sure the oil is near the full mark. If you want to stop the odometer mileage when towing just disconnect the speedometer cable).

Caution when towing a car backward with front wheels on the ground. A wire wheel car with self-tightening knock offs will "self-loosen" and lose the wheels after relatively short distance traveling backward. Disc wheel cars would be okay (except maybe Twin Cam or "Deluxe" cars with knock off steel wheels).
Barney Gaylord

This thread was discussed between 14/10/2014 and 17/10/2014

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