Flat Towing
- Thread starter wesel123
- Start date
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Do you have manual hubs in the front, by chance? The one time I had to flat tow my truck I dropped the rear drive shaft and left the front hubs unlocked. That seemed OK. With ADD in the front, I dunno if you have to do anything different. Does the owner's manual address this? Maybe getting a tow dolly, put the front wheels on it and drop the rear drive shaft?
CYi5
Explorer
When I flat tow my Samurai around, I set the key to Acc and put the shifter in 2nd, per the owners manual. For short trips I don't bother with removing the rear driveshaft, and you can definitely hear the lockright clicking. The front hubs remain unlocked as well.
For longer trips i'd recommend removing the rear driveshaft.
For longer trips i'd recommend removing the rear driveshaft.
Andrew Walcker
Mod Emeritus
wesel123 said:
Ian, say it ain't so!!! You can't leave us!!!
BogusBlake
2006 Expedition Trophy Champion
CYi5 said:
Doesn't matter what gear the T-case is in if the front hubs are freespooling and the rear driveshaft is disconnected. (but it never hurts to be redundant)
I flat tow my Toyota buggy all over the place. Unlock the hubs and take the rear driveshaft off the rear axle. Toyota Tcases don't get oil unless the input shaft is turning. Marlin explains this in detail somewhere in the Toyota FAQ on Pirate.
Not sure about what would happen with an ADD system, but if it doesn't burn up when you're just driving around in 2wd, I don't see why anything would be different when towing if you leave the T-case in H2 and tie up the rear shaft.
Be sure to disconnect the battery and leave the key in the ACC position so the steering wheel isn't locked or else the truck won't track right.
wesel123
Explorer
DaveInDenver said:
I was plannning on changing to manual hubs to defeat the ADD system and disconnet the rear drive shaft just to make sure. Transfer case in Nutural and key turned to ACC.
Unfortunalty the owners manual says not to flt tow, but I'm pretty sure thats due to the ADD????? I think????
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Could be that or it's also bad to flat tow a Toyota with the rear driveshaft connected, like Bogus says, because of the oiling. The owner's manual is not going to tell you to drop the rear shaft and then it's OK, that's outside the expected use or something like that.wesel123 said:
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
FWIW I would only do that with the OE Aisin locking hubs. A friend (AKA "MISF" or "My Infamous Scout Friend") has the Warn floating conversion on his Scout. At the sales rep's insistence he started out with their locking hubs instead of the drive flanges that he originally requested. Then when one of the second set of hubs failed it took out the already compromised rear axle, and more expensively, the Detroit. They did replace the axle and the hubs with drive flanges, but he's still out the price of a Detroit.DaveInDenver said:
I'm sure that it's possible but I've never seen an Aisin hub fail. I've seen too many Warns fail to consider going that direction.
njtaco
Explorer
ntsqd said:
A few thoughts:
Don't worry about the ADD, it is made to do what you are doing...driving around without power to the front wheels.
Disconnect the driveshaft, as the transfer case pumps from the input shaft, as mentioned above. (AFAIK)
Regarding backing up...because of front suspension caster settings, you should NOT attempt backing up with a flat-towed vehicle. I can be done in theory, and I'm sure someone can profess to accomplishing this feat, but please do not try it. BTW, the lighter the front end, the harder it is to do.
With the rear driveshaft disconnected, transmission should be in park, transfer case in 2Hi. This keeps the driveshaft from twisting up whatever you are supporting it with. (Assuming it is not removed completely...can you do this on your truck?)
Turn to ACC and unlock steering, for reasons mentioned in above posts.
If you have a set of old tires and rims in good shape to put on the front, the same size as the rear, you may want to change them for a long haul. Flat towing is hard on front tires.
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