towing a car backwards q:
 

will the speedometer cable snap being run backwards with the needle being forced on zero the whole trip?
it shouldnt whenever you back up, but what keeps it from putting pressure on the needle in the wrong direction?

That is an interesting question. Back-in-the-day speedos were so simple; my VW beetle had a cable that attached to the front driver's side wheel that ran the speedo.

Would depend on the age of the vehicle being towed, most modern vehicles use an electronic input (Hall Effect sensor (?)) for the speedometer these days.

Just disconnect the cable from the transmission.

So- if you drive in reverse, does your odometer go backwards?

Most have some sort of one-way drive. And today they are electronic for the most part.



Say, if I drove backwards, do you suppose my gas tank would fill itself???

Actually they used to...way back when. I learned that in high school auto shop. The teacher remembered when they did because he and his buddy put a car up on jack stands in the driveway and ran it in reverse to for a couple of days before he sold it. But by the time I was old enough it didnt do it anymore.

My first truck was a '65 F100. Straight six 300, three on the tree.
I learned how to drive really good in reverse by trying this trick, turning the odo backwards. Didn't work. Original transmission, 1970 motor.

But, when my little ranger was rear ended, the body shop told me that they were actually able to tell how many times the odo had rolled over 100k miles. They said it had flipped 4 times, and applauded me on keeping the crappiest motor on the road... on the road for that long.

I was talking about cars from the 30s and 40s. I am 45. My teacher was probably in his fifties. He told us about when he bought a new car that was the first automatic transmission.

I know that if I drive my Hybrid Civid backwards, the speedometer does display how fast I am going.
I never tried backing any distance to see if odometer reverses.
(But if it does, I'm going drive backwards before I sell it.)

Trip I noticed you used the term "three on the tree" that one I haven't heard in a long time. My first car was a 59 Desoto with push button automatic, then came the 64 Comet with 6 banger and three on the tree. Both were back in 1970.