Re: Towing a Scout

[Kim Sol <kimsol@domain.elided>]

Two years ago, one of the carbon-based units in our family put our
beloved 1976 Scout II over a cliff, about 100 feet, and into a river
over by Billings, Montana. He came out fine; the Scout landed on its
roof and wasn't so fine (although mechanically it came through
remarkably well). After we fished it out of the river, and got it
rightside up, we got it on to one of U-Haul's autocarriers.  The only
warning they gave us was that their manuals didn't show Scout as an
acceptable tow vehicle for their autocarriers (we were going to tow the
autocarrier with our 1979 Scout.) One of the other workers at the UHaul
laughed at his counterpart and said "I've got a Scout and it'll tow that
thing just fine." So, off we went, towing it across eastern Montana,
over the Continental Divide, and back to Missoula for rebuilding, just
under 400 miles. The UHaul autocarrier towed very well with the
complete, albeit flattened, Scout on it. The '79 Scout, with a 345 with
160,000 miles and the 727 Torqueflite, didn't even flinch on any of the
numerous grades coming home, and only on Homestake Pass (I think a 6%
grade), did it finally have to downshift. The flattened '76 Scout had a
345, auto, airconditioning, and was an XLC model, and so should have
been on the heavy side for a Scout. The autocarrier handled it just fine
at speeds up to 65 mph -- the then speed limit in Montana -- and was
completely stable.  Kim Sol '80 SII, 345 4bbl, 4" lift, auto; and a
bunch of other stuff.