Thanks for all the input. I didnt go to work today, my back is a little stiff and i have to get her van home. sending the boy off to school and the little girl to grandmas house. I am going to call UHaul and see how much it is for a tow dolly. 45 bucks is a little more than i was hoping however its better than the tow would be. She has road side assistance through geico. however only covers like 5 miles or to the closest firestone. dont want to bring the van to the shop. so after calling Uhaul, i will assess the situation. worse case scenario i will buy the straps. over all its better than paying for a tow

 

Wishing you a smooth day(s) with this.

I apologize if I came off too strong about the chain, but its a sewious thing. I have a feeling you were (and the family) were all frustrated with everything. Sincere apologies and safe times working through it.

 

Its hard to take it so "sewious" Mr. Wabbit. lol
thanks for the concern. just to keep everyone up to date. i am alive and the van is home. i picked up a yellow tow strap today for about 25 bucks it had the two hooks and heavy duty ratchet. i looped it around my tow hitch then around a bracket that covers the vans axle about three times each. i pulled her off the highway and to the closest gas station. at the gas station we unhooked and i tryed to jump start her van. the van wouldnt turn over unless i banged on the gas tank under the van, however when ever we took the cables off the car would die. (this weekend ill swap fuel pumps and check the alternator, question: would a bad alternator kill a fuel pump or vise versa???)
after that i hooked up the straps again and proceeded to pull her home. a little too much slack the second time but everyone got home safe. now i just gotta fix her van before she starts asking to drive my truck
oh and the straps got pretty tore up. not from the ground though. from where they were looped around the bracket. the force of the pull was cutting into them.
thanks again guys

 

So no chains for you guys? Everyone needs a little excitement in their lives.

The chain deal just doesn't register with me when it comes to towing because you keep steady tension on it while you roll down the road and ease onto it when you take off from a stop. I know it is dangerous to try to ****** someone/something with a chain because of the possibility of breaking but snatching and a steady pull are two different things.

BigBlue, I'm not sure about the fuel pump but I know a bad alternator can kill a battery and vise versa. So get the battery tested when you go to get the alternator tested.
I went through that with my old car. I got a new battery because it wouldn't hold a charge and tested bad. Then I got a new alternator because it wasn't putting out what it should and tested bad. After the second alternator I was told that they can kill each other if one or the other goes bad so I swapped them both under warranty and it was fixed.

 

I'm not a fan of using chain but they do make tow chains that are rated for towing, strap is always better but not always available.

Glad you got it home
Alt and fuel pump have no relation unless your alt fried and sent some serious voltage out which would fry other things if the fuses didn't pop
Alt and battery like stated work together and die together a lot of times

 

Therein lies the rub.

Back in the day (before heavy duty nylon straps) we'd set the e-brake of the towed vehicle for a light drag, and use hand signals to indicate to the driver of the towed vehicle that we needed to brake or stop so he could do the braking for the pair. Once the driver of the tow vehicle felt the drag he'd let off of the accelerator and let the towed vehicle bring the pair to a stop.

These days darn few of us know how to do the tandem control thing, and I'm guessing that almost no women do. That usually leads to overcompensation and really banging hell out of the chain.

The way I figure it the women around here gotta have someone to fantasize about so I don't want to risk tearing up my purty face and ruining it for them. I'll unstick a stuck with a recovery strap, but to get down the road it's a tow dolly or no deal.

 

Tow Dolly's work great if you have a vehicle that will fit on them and the **** breaks during open hours, most of the vehicles I have ended up towing home have happened at about 1-3am in the morning or been lifted past the limit of a tow dolly.

At one point I towed a mustang with two 300 pound tie down straps....you know the ratcheting type wasn't my proudest moment but at 3am and a hole in the oil pan and a hell of a driver behind each wheel we got it towed with no problems
Now I keep a 30k strap thats 25' long all ready to go

 

Pulled the alternaor in the caravan and the battery. The battery was low and the alt. Failed. Having autozone charge the battery than going to pick up the new alternator. Hope that will fix the problem and hope I dont have to teplace the fuel pump as well... I only think fuel pump,because while jumping it off of my truck it would only fully turn over if I hit the has tank

 

WHAT A F-ING PAIN IN THE NECK!
my flipping microwave is bigger than that engine compartment!!!
all done got the alternator all back in the wives grand caravan (3.0)
Had to go back to the store a couple times (one drop off battery and one to return the wrong but right alternator) Her van takes a 120 amp, the alternator gets bolted to the bracket in two spots one of the spots has a retainer on it. Well apperently theres tow styles of alternator for the 120 amp the difference is the side the retainer sits on. of course the one i really needed autozone didnt have. BUT when they gave me my return they gave me extra money i bought the alternator using the old one for the core charge. when i returned it i got FULL price and my old alternator back. so i went to napa but they only had the alt with the bracket retainer on the wrong side. So i said "F" it and bought that one and two washers to take up the extra space, Got a refurbished one and gave them my bad alt for the core charge. came home wrestled it in there (there really is no room in the engine compartment) the serpentine belts sits sideways compared to our truck and my durango. put the battery back started it up it ran for two sec and shut off. i checked all grounds and unplugged and replugged the spark plug wires to the distributer and tryed again. this next try i banged on the gas tank while the wife started it and it started. tomorrow im going to check her fuses and connectors to the gas tank and see what happens. atleast it holds a charge.