xtremerevolution Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 So my Fiance's mom's 97 Ford Windstar broke down 2 residential blocks away, and her sister woke me up at 10 in the morning (I had stayed up late) to tell me. So I drive over there and find that her alternator is practically dead. So I pop the trunk and pull out my 8000lb truck strap. Funny enough, I was able to tow her up and down hills the whole way back to the driveway, on roads covered by a nice sheet of ice, driving in reverse, at about 15 mph never really going over 1500RPM. Unfortunately, her driveway has a bit of an upward slope, and it is covered by literally a 2" thick sheet of slick ice. Keep in mind this is a 500ft+ driveway. I couldn't keep pulling because I didn't have enough traction, so I figure I'd just charge up her battery enough to drive up the driveway, and in the process, managed to kill my own since my own alternator is dead (having replaced it only a month ago, I managed to get a defective one). So now we had two cars facing each other on an icy driveway with dead batteries. I ended up having to walk my ass up and down that driveway (falling twice on the ice in the process) at least 8 trips. I managed to charge my Regal's battery in the Bonneville enough to be able to start up the Regal. Try carrying a heavy as hell car battery up and down a sloped sheet of ice. Not fun. Now the van's battery is getting charged in the Bonneville. All in all, I was pretty surprised that I could tow her van up two relatively steep icy hills on narrow roads. Luckily there wasn't any traffic, but it did look pretty funny. My small lowered Regal pulling her big ass Ford minivan up a hill. 3800 power FTW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AL Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 you pulled her in reverse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 you pulled her in reverse? Yep. Latched myself on the subframe of my car and the subframe of her car, and started driving. Never went over 10 mph, but still, it worked surprisingly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Masterchief362 Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 haha, w-body towing a ford. that makes my day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 haha, w-body towing a ford. that makes my day And up a hill on ice/snow at that. Proof that w-bodies handle excellent in the winter and that my tires kick ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4door Intl Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Last summer i walked eight blocks with my dead battery to a garage willing to charge it for free, SON OF A BITCH that was hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89SupremeCutty Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 haha, w-body towing a ford. that makes my day And up a hill on ice/snow at that. Proof that w-bodies handle excellent in the winter and that my tires kick ass. especially in reverse. nice job on the tow. i guess that means ford has been pwnd by gm once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake91 Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Fury Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 WIN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_mezz Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Pics or ban! I wanna pwn my Ford friends acquaintances! (woundn't want to be caught being friends with Ford people! lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Pics or ban! I wanna pwn my Ford friends acquaintances! (woundn't want to be caught being friends with Ford people! lol) Unfortunately, being cold and slippery out, the last thing I was thinking of was going inside to take a picture. If you want, I can show you her engine bay without an alternator, and a picture of the truck strap I used to tow her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWeb80 Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 :thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 :thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics: Sorry man, I don't have any pics. I was too busy towing that ford minivan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1990lumina Posted December 28, 2008 Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 So you charged too dead batteries with your Bonneville's charging system?? I know you were probably in a pinch but I'd recommend not doing that very often - awesome way to kill an alterntor. Not to mention the batteries aren't getting charged all that much unless you had them in the car for a few hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtremerevolution Posted December 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2008 So you charged too dead batteries with your Bonneville's charging system?? I know you were probably in a pinch but I'd recommend not doing that very often - awesome way to kill an alterntor. Not to mention the batteries aren't getting charged all that much unless you had them in the car for a few hours. I was in a bit of a pinch, and the Bonneville had the best alternator out of the cars I had available. I only charged them enough to start the cars up, then once the cars were started and I had their alternators replaced, I drove around a bit and let the cars idle for a while to charge up the batteries again. Trust me, I know. I definitely don't plan on doing that very often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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