8:24 pm
January 7, 2003
Offline
John....you should have shown the rest of the picture that the trailer is actually being towed by a Honda Goldwing motorcycle 😀
2:36 am
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline "Howdy" wrote: John....you should have shown the rest of the picture that the trailer is actually being towed by a Honda Goldwing motorcycle 😀
We thought the Honda Gold Wing was overkill so we used a Toyota 4-Runner 😀
I used to wheel a lot. . .
4:00 am
January 7, 2003
Offline With all the bashing on the 4runner's I am going to have to go back to an Early Bronco now
4:42 am
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline I have Ford parts on my Jeep. Can I tow more with it?
I used to wheel a lot. . .
5:13 am
"Howdy" wrote: With all the bashing on the 4runner's I am going to have to go back to an Early Bronco now
dont do it. please. i beg u. dont turn to the dark side. 
5:26 am
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline "lowrider" wrote: dont turn to the dark side.
Too late! He already bought a 4-Runner
I used to wheel a lot. . .
6:10 pm
January 12, 2007
Offline To continue the school me thread:
I am exploring all my options for getting my Jeep and the RV to the Hammers. What do you all think about tow dollies, or flat towing my Jeep?
6:23 pm
Club Member
July 10, 2003
Offline "Justin" wrote: To continue the school me thread:
I am exploring all my options for getting my Jeep and the RV to the Hammers. What do you all think about tow dollies, or flat towing my Jeep?
Would you quit messing up this thread by brining it back on topic 🙁
I used to wheel a lot. . .
6:27 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Justin" wrote: I am exploring all my options for getting my Jeep and the RV to the Hammers. What do you all think about tow dollies, or flat towing my Jeep?
I flat tow my Jeep with our RV and have had no problems. What transfer case do you have in your LJ? If it's the standard NP231 or the Rubicon 241 there is no distance limit on how far you can tow it. Other t-cases like the Atlas and some others require you to stop every 200 miles or so to run the engine to circulate oil in the t-case.
The one downside to flat towing is you really can't back up. If you try, the front wheels of the Jeep are likely to turn one way or the other and you'll damage your tow bar.
There are arguments whether or not one is required to have a tow braking system in a towed vehicle. The law is that any trailer weighing more than 1500 lbs must have brakes. The argument is whether or not a towed vehicle is classified as a trailer. I choose to have the brake system in the Jeep and know that it has saved us from getting into at least one major accident. I currently use Roadmaster's EvenBrake.
Edit) The towbar between the tow vehicle and the towed vehicle should be as level as possible, within just a few inches. Scott use to tow his with the towbar being several inches higher at the Jeep end. I did a demo for him using his truck and Jeep. 😈 A moderate stop from 15-20 mph lifted the front end of his Jeep and nearly catapulted it into the back of his truck. 😯
6:33 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline As far as using a tow dolly goes, I believe the Jeep owners manual says not to use one. But you've got hubs on the front so I'm really not sure how it would be different than just driving in 2wd, other than the angle of the vehicle and distribution of lubricant in the t-case. You could always remove the rear driveshaft though.
6:42 pm
Club President
April 2, 2003
Offline "FAM" wrote:
I flat tow my Jeep with our RV and have had no problems. What transfer case do you have in your LJ? If it's the standard NP231 or the Rubicon 241 there is no distance limit on how far you can tow it. Other t-cases like the Atlas and some others require you to stop every 200 miles or so to run the engine to circulate oil in the t-case.
How does starting the engine, circulate the t-case fuid? Does't the case need to be engaged (and moving) to get circulation? I didn't know this. I always thought it was the Auto that was the challenge.. 
6:47 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline When you flat tow a Jeep you put the transmission in gear, regardless of whether it's an auto or stick, and the t-case in neutral. On the 231 type t-case the oil pump in the t-case is driven by the rear output shaft. So with that type of t-case the wheels spin the axles that spin the driveshaft, spinning the output shaft and driving the oil pump. So there's no towing limit.
On other t-cases, the oil pump is driven by the input shaft or relies on the splashing of oil from the gears. In those cases you have to start the engine and put the transmission in gear with the t-case in neutral to circulate some oil.
7:01 pm
You save some tire wear if you've got it on a trailer.
Can you get a dolly that will safely hold onto 37s? Oh wait...safety isn't a concern. Just use bungee cords to hold the front wheels on the dolly.
Good info on the t-cases Fred. Now I'm curious how mine works. Especially with the dual case setup. Why not leave the t-case in gear and the transmission in neutral? Or does that just move the problem forward and put a bunch of unnecessary wear and tear on everything?
7:11 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline If you'd like to check out my towbar & brake set-up you're welcome to come over and we could discuss whether or not you'd want to borrow it.
For the tow bar brackets, we'd either have to swap my front bumper onto your Jeep, remove the brackets from my bumper and drill holes in yours, or install the under-bumper frame mount brackets I have.
The EvenBrake requires a 20 amp constant-on cigarette lighter plug. It wouldn't have the break away or remote monitor features since parts of those are hardwired into my Jeep. But it would give you basic towed vehicle braking.
You'd also need some kind of lights. The magnetic stick on lights would be the easiest.
7:16 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: Why not leave the t-case in gear and the transmission in neutral? Or does that just move the problem forward and put a bunch of unnecessary wear and tear on everything?
That's exactly the issue. Then you'd have to worry about how the transmission is lubricated. This would particularly be a problem with automatic transmissions. I'm not sure how it would affect standard transmissions, but it's not the recommended procedure from Jeep.
As a side note, Scott towed his Jeep with the t-case in gear and the standard transmission in gear one time. He didn't tow it far, but was very concerned about it. It's been a couple years since he did it and hasn't seen any problem from it yet, but I can't believe it did the Jeep any good.
7:19 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: Now I'm curious how mine works. Especially with the dual case setup.
If you were going to tow your 4Runner, I would think you'd leave the transmission in gear, the first t-case in gear, and the rear t-case in neutral. I'm not familiar with how your rear t-case is lubricated so don't know whether you'd have unlimited towing capability or not.
7:24 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: You save some tire wear if you've got it on a trailer.
True. But I've towed my Jeep to Houston a couple times and didn't notice any visible difference in tread depth. If you had particularly soft tires and/or frequently towed the Jeep long distances it would make more difference.
The biggest downside to flat towing is if you break something on your axles you can't tow it home to fix it.
7:34 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline If you want to read more about flat towing or dolly towing RV.NET is a pretty good source of info. They've got a forum specifically for dinghy towing. Jeep Wranglers are frequently discussed since they're popular towed vehicles for the RV crowd.
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fusea ... rum/31.cfm
7:50 pm
"FAM" wrote: As a side note, Scott towed his Jeep with the t-case in gear and the standard transmission in gear one time. He didn't tow it far, but was very concerned about it. It's been a couple years since he did it and hasn't seen any problem from it yet, but I can't believe it did the Jeep any good.
How did he do that? Something had to slip. Cluth? Did it spin the motor? Seems like he would have known as soon as he tried to move.
7:52 pm
"FAM" wrote: [quote="Bender"]You save some tire wear if you've got it on a trailer.
True. But I've towed my Jeep to Houston a couple times and didn't notice any visible difference in tread depth. If you had particularly soft tires and/or frequently towed the Jeep long distances it would make more difference.
The biggest downside to flat towing is if you break something on your axles you can't tow it home to fix it.
On a short, one time tow, it probably wouldn't do much, but I know Larry's folks aren't real happy with how fast they burned through their 37" MTRs and base it largely on how much flat towing they do. Just another thing to think about.
7:52 pm
January 12, 2007
Offline "Bender" wrote: You save some tire wear if you've got it on a trailer.
Tire wear would be the last of my worries.
"Bender" wrote:
Can you get a dolly that will safely hold onto 37s? Oh wait...safety isn't a concern. Just use bungee cords to hold the front wheels on the dolly.
I don't think I have seriously condoned unsafe towing since this thread was started. So yes, safety is a concern with me. I'm towing a $30k Jeep behind a expensive RV that doesn't belong to me. But, I never thought about useing bungee cords.............I might look into that.[Image Can Not Be Found]
7:53 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Bender" wrote: [quote="FAM"]As a side note, Scott towed his Jeep with the t-case in gear and the standard transmission in gear one time. He didn't tow it far, but was very concerned about it. It's been a couple years since he did it and hasn't seen any problem from it yet, but I can't believe it did the Jeep any good.
How did he do that? Something had to slip. Cluth? Did it spin the motor? Seems like he would have known as soon as he tried to move.
He just forgot to put the t-case in neutral. Yeah, it spun the engine. He didn't notice it because he pulls the Jeep with a 45 foot diesel pusher motorhome.
Edit) I remembered the rest of the story while I was at lunch. He wasn't towing it with his motorhome, but with his diesel pick up. He did notice it felt different, but it was the middle of the night, had been a long day, and he thought the feeling was because of an on-going steering problem he had that day.
7:54 pm
January 12, 2007
Offline "FAM" wrote: If you'd like to check out my towbar & brake set-up you're welcome to come over and we could discuss whether or not you'd want to borrow it.
For the tow bar brackets, we'd either have to swap my front bumper onto your Jeep, remove the brackets from my bumper and drill holes in yours, or install the under-bumper frame mount brackets I have.
The EvenBrake requires a 20 amp constant-on cigarette lighter plug. It wouldn't have the break away or remote monitor features since parts of those are hardwired into my Jeep. But it would give you basic towed vehicle braking.
You'd also need some kind of lights. The magnetic stick on lights would be the easiest.
Thanks. I would like to check out your set-up. I will call you soon Fred.
8:02 pm
May 4, 2004
Offline "Justin" wrote: Thanks. I would like to check out your set-up. I will call you soon Fred.
I pm'd my home and cell phone numbers.
9:00 pm
January 7, 2003
Offline I may be missing something, but if you took out the rear driveshaft and just unlocked the front hubs couldn't you just put your auto in nuetral?
I used to flat tow my Jeep, but I always just pulled the rear shaft and put the 5 speed in nuetral. It used to be easier when I had the Warn FF rear end with unlocking hubs.
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