How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

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irowiki
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How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by irowiki »

Alright, so I have a T4 with a blown transmission. I know Dan has dolly towed T4's in neutral all the time, but something tells me this is probably not a good idea, even if it worked at first, I bet if it spins the transfer case it could go boom!

Do I need to remove the rear drive shaft entirely? Or can it disconnect from the rear diff and just hang there?
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xirdneh
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by xirdneh »

as long as the 4WD lever is in the FWD position there is nothing in the tranny that will get damaged as long as there is gear oil in it.
since the car front is elevated on a front wheel towing dolly the oil will go to the back end of tranny.
the only thing that will be spinning is a short shaft with a bearing on forward end and large bushing on aft end that the driveline rests in
but if you want to disconnect drive line at diff and tie it off so it does not drag on the road, why not
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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irowiki
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by irowiki »

The transmission is stuck in second though and may or may not be stuck in 4wd... I'll jack up one side hold the clutch in and test...

No idea if there's any gear lube left in the bad transmission... That might be why it blew!
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Gottolovem
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by Gottolovem »

xirdneh wrote:as long as the 4WD lever is in the FWD position there is nothing in the tranny that will get damaged as long as there is gear oil in it.
since the car front is elevated on a front wheel towing dolly the oil will go to the back end of tranny.
the only thing that will be spinning is a short shaft with a bearing on forward end and large bushing on aft end that the driveline rests in
but if you want to disconnect drive line at diff and tie it off so it does not drag on the road, why not
X2

Many thousands of miles on a dolly without issue's
Even one stuck in gear for over 300 miles
If you ever pull a t4 tranny apart you would clearly understand how your only spinning the tiny little rear tip of the transaxle when it's in 2wd
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by irowiki »

So you're saying if it is not stuck in 4wd we're good even if the tranny fluid is gone?
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xirdneh
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by xirdneh »

if your not towing very far i would say ok (say 60 miles) as any bit of oil in there will run to back end
or just add a qt of oil
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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irowiki
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by irowiki »

He's going to tow it 350+ miles
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by atoyta »

I am towing one home 250 miles next week. I plan to remove the rear propeller shaft portion of the 2 piece driveline just to be safe & check the fluid in the diff just in case.
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Gottolovem
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Re: How to remove/secure rear drive shaft for dolly towing?

Post by Gottolovem »

I would just tow the thing transmissions already blown up what are you going to do blow it up more
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