How to tow a Salvage R1T

[100jacks]

For those of you here who purchased a salvage R1T or R1S, are the front wheels locked due to the accident?
What is the easiest way to get the car off of the flatbed truck in absence of the forklift?

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[Dark-Fx]

Tie the vehicle up to something and drive the flatbed away.

 

[100jacks]

But I'm assuming the wheels are locked due to the car being in a prior accident and pyrofuse is blown.

Tie the vehicle up to something and drive the flatbed away.

 

[Nixapatfan]

Fork lift or flatbed tow truck are the only way. No transporter will risk rolling the truck off without power. You probably will not be able to get in the truck to steer or brake due to 12v likely fully drained.

 

[100jacks]

Fork lift or flatbed tow truck are the only way. No transporter will risk rolling the truck off without power. You probably will not be able to get in the truck to steer or brake due to 12v likely fully drained.

It's going to be forklifted onto the flatbed and towed to my house. My question is what is the best way to get it off the flatbed and not damage powertrain.

 

[MikeWilliams_R1T]

If it’s on a rollback, they sometimes grease or lubricate the ramp behind the locked wheels and drag it off using an anchor point and their winch.
Tow truck driver will know what to do.

 

[Nixapatfan]

As Mike said they will spray wd40 behind the rear wheels and angle the bed up and it will slide right off then they drive forward until the truck is fully off the bed.

If you are worried about damage, the forklift will cause way more than the tow truck.

 

[ERod818]

I’ve been through this and can confirm front wheels are not locked. Car will still steer without power but will take a lot of strength. What is engaged is the rear parking brake, if the tow truck driver is cool and you’re willing all you have to do is unplug the connectors at the rear parking brake at each rear wheel, use a pair of wires/probes, and a 12 volt source whether it’s a battery off one of your current cars, and just reverse the parking brake motors by applying the 12 volt power at the prongs within the connector of the actual parking brake. Easy, can’t mess it up. If you apply power you will hear it tighten or loosen. Obvious sound, if it tightens stop and reverse your wires applying power, then you’ll hear them reverse. A second or two is all it takes and it will disengage. Once you do that you’re golden, it will roll freely. Tow truck can roll it off without issue and you can push it around. Heavy AF though just so you know so pushing it won’t be easy unless it’s flat level ground. Otherwise, like others have suggested you’ll have to lubricate the flat bed and the tow guy will rock the bed back and forth in order to slide it off, ask me how I know. Once parking brake is backed off it’s smooth sailing so I would suggest that route if you’re quick with it.

 

[100jacks]

I’ve been through this and can confirm front wheels are not locked. Car will still steer without power but will take a lot of strength. What is engaged is the rear parking brake, if the tow truck driver is cool and you’re willing all you have to do is unplug the connectors at the rear parking brake at each rear wheel, use a pair of wires/probes, and a 12 volt source whether it’s a battery off one of your current cars, and just reverse the parking brake motors by applying the 12 volt power at the prongs within the connector of the actual parking brake. Easy, can’t mess it up. If you apply power you will hear it tighten or loosen. Obvious sound, if it tightens stop and reverse your wires applying power, then you’ll hear them reverse. A second or two is all it takes and it will disengage. Once you do that you’re golden, it will roll freely. Tow truck can roll it off without issue and you can push it around. Heavy AF though just so you know so pushing it won’t be easy unless it’s flat level ground. Otherwise, like others have suggested you’ll have to lubricate the flat bed and the tow guy will rock the bed back and forth in order to slide it off, ask me how I know. Once parking brake is backed off it’s smooth sailing so I would suggest that route if you’re quick with it.

Thanks Erod818! I appreciate this!
I'm able to do this with the spare battery or a battery starter. Is it possible to brake with the front brakes or we need to winch it to the truck. I'm afraid that the car doesn't slide and run off if I undo the rear brakes?

 

[ERod818]

I tried it with my jumper and it didn’t work. Some jumpers will put out 12 volt but mine wouldn’t. I think some need to detect some sort of power to apply the 12 volts so I just ran jumper cables off one of my cars and connected two smaller gauge wires to the jumpers and did it that way. If the brakes are in tact and didn’t get damaged you should still be able to apply some brakes. Pedal will be hard but will apply some braking power at the front.

 

[R1TandMe]

I move cars around in my garage with dollies under each wheel. Never tried it on my Rivian though.

 

[ERod818]

Put some wheel chucks under or have some near by just in case

 

[ERod818]

I move cars around in my garage with dollies under each wheel. Never tried it on my Rivian though.

I did, bent every single one because of the weight of these things. Some of the wheels on the dollies even shot out the bearings.

 

[100jacks]

I tried it with my jumper and it didn’t work. Some jumpers will put out 12 volt but mine wouldn’t. I think some need to detect some sort of power to apply the 12 volts so I just ran jumper cables off one of my cars and connected two smaller gauge wires to the jumpers and did it that way. If the brakes are in tact and didn’t get damaged you should still be able to apply some brakes. Pedal will be hard but will apply some braking power at the front.

Perfect, thank you! I have a few spare 12v batteries laying around. Is there no concern about damaging the electric drivetrain if the wheels are rolling instead of using dollies?

 

[100jacks]

Fork lift or flatbed tow truck are the only way. No transporter will risk rolling the truck off without power. You probably will not be able to get in the truck to steer or brake due to 12v likely fully drained.

Thanks! I'll try jumping the 12v battery first of course. I got the pyrofuse as well, but I'm not sure if the tow truck will be willing to wait for me to troubleshoot all that.

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