Another Handy Hubby Moment

I love Harbor Freight Tools.  Not all of their stuff is the highest quality, but they have affordable, usable stuff.  Lots and lots of stuff.  

We used to only visit Harbor Freight on "special occasions".  Which was basically anytime we were out of town, visiting Hubby's family.  There was one just down the street. 

The one in our neck of the woods was about 35 minutes away, so we never went there.

Then the Tool Gods smiled upon us, and now we have one of our own that is just down the street.

My new favorite Harbor Freight purchase?  A tow bar.  

When you don't buy brand new cars every year, you end up having to eventually tow them when they break down.  Now, you can buy a tow strap for $30 or so.  But have you ever used one of those?  It scares me to death.  And it doesn't matter if I am in the lead car or the dead one.

So when we were at Harbor Freight a couple months ago and they had a tow bar on sale for $50, Hubby didn't have to twist my arm too hard to get it.  Also bought on sale, a box of tow chain, and magnetic towing lights.

And today we got to use them.

 

front bumper removed

Tow bar attached to front

Tow chains being added

Tow chains being cut to fit

Next, the magnetic tow lights were put on and tested.

They worked!

And then guess what came next? Any guesses?  Why of course, the OTHER car, the one that was supposed to be doing the towing, THAT car, quit working.  The battery was apparently on it's last legs and the tow lights drained it.

Fortunately, Hubby had picked a good place to break down.  There was a Sam's not far away.   So we got the car running,

Took the tow bar back off

Drove to Sam's using both feet, to keep the engine revving so it wouldn't stall.

put in a new battery

Then we drove back to put the tow bar back on.  Now, when we took the tow bar off, we just threw it in the back.  And when we took it out

There was only one Cotter Pin, and there should have been two.  We looked everywhere and could not find it.  So Hubby borrowed the one from the hitch and in it's placed used:

A bobby pin found on the ground

It ended up taking about 3 hours or so, but it was so worth it.  I didn't have to be the tower or the towee.  I got to be the passenger.