tomorrow I leave for a month and plan to tow my truck behind the RV up to Canada and drive back.
can I tow the truck....
I have manual front hubs, In "free"
the transfer case does not have a "N" so its in 2H ,
With an auto tranny can I have the tranny in N, and tow...
or do I need to dissconnect the rear shaft

any info will help

..........................thanks Repo

 

what gives, no one has any info or lessons learned from towing.

 

Wish I could help. Good question though.

 

You should be safe up front with the hubs in "free". Probably need to lock the steering wheel in the straight position; my 4Runner has a wheel lock, you would just need to find the right place to leave the wheel before tunring off the engine, and then turn it from there to the straight position.

I am not sure about the rear, but I would guess that the drive shaft would not turn as long as you don't have a rear locker.

Obviously it would be nice to avoid removing the rear driveshaft, but if you have to remove it I would suggest marking the drive shaft and the flanges that it connects to from the tranfser case and third member. This way you should not have to worry about introducing any shakiness.

If you don't need to remove the axle, and it is safe to leave it in Neutral with the axle spinning: Disconnect the speedo cable to keep from "putting on miles". I think it goes into the tranny from the rear of your truck.

I don't have personal experience, and these are just my thoughts as to how it "should" work. Please let us know how it goes.

 

my concern with the auto tranny is weather or not the gears are in tranny fluid all the time(wet gears) or if the gears are only getting lubercated when the truck is "on" and the auto tranny pushing fluids around.
I obviously do not want to smoke my tranny.

 

First a question for you. Are using a tow bar or a tow dolly. If it a tow dolly , i'd say take the rear drive line out , leave the key on, put so theres no power, so the steering wheel will turn, i've broken the the steering lock before. Thats just my .02.

 

I welded up a base plate and bolted it to the frame where the tow hook and chain up pad eyes are. when towing I have been told that the stearing wheel needs to be in the unlocked position. with all four on the ground the front wont be a problem as the hubs will be in free.

 

I had to have mine recovered a while back and i was under the impression that autos had to be towed backwards with the rear wheels off the ground and as it was a 4x4 the front has to be off the ground, it also said that is the handbook that it was ok to tow it flat but only for about a quater mile?but there again i dont have manul hubs.

 

With an automatic you are better off towing with the rear DS removed. Most auto trans pumps (I don't know abut the Toyota) have the pump up front, so the engine has to run to provide oil for lube.

You could ask the dealer or a transmission shop. They should be able to answer the tow question

 

David is correct, the motor has to be running to lube the auto tranny gears. Deffinatly disconnect the rear driveshaft from the diff and hang it fron the frame with something through the companion flange holes so the slip yoke dosen't seperate. Or remove the rear DS completely. Unlock the front hubs as stated above.

 

well that does cut down on how cool it willbe to have a truck with the Rv but its mine and I like it so I'll take off the DS.

thanks for the fonformation on the whole tranny lube thing I was worried about just that thing but I was somehow thinking someone would save the day and say it wasn't so....

well I'm off like a prom dess.
type at ya in a month
Repo