Towing

[dktool]

What is the recommended transmission / transfer case setting when flat towing ?
I have heard neutral / neutral, neutral / 2nd, neutral / 5th..........

What do you all say ??

Thanks, Dean

[Jason]

I always put the t/c in neutral and the gear shifter in 4th.

[SoCalinIt]

I put the trans in 5th, and the t-case in N.

[dktool]

What is the reason for having the trans in gear ?
Why not neutral ?

[chris142]

What is the reason for having the trans in gear ?
Why not neutral ?

The trans is not properly lubricated when in Neutral. Putting it in gear wont let it's gears spin. Even with the transfercase in Neutral the trans gears may spin slightly if it's in neutral.



Should put the transfercase in Neutral and the trans in a gear. Preferably 1st.

[Jason]

Not 1st gear. I heard on the internet (so it must be true) of incidents where for whatever reason, the t/c slipped into 4 hi or lo and the tranny engages with the rest of the driveline while driving at highway speed for a whole mess of trouble. Hence the reason of putting the tranny in a higher gear.

Since you are only supposed to drive 55 while towing, 4th gear would be fine.

[JeepGal]

From the Manual:





Tam

[blackZZR]

I turn all 4 of my warn hubs to 2 wheel drive and don't worry about it.

[dktool]

Seems like the only common link to the answers posted is that the trans should be in gear.
The page from the manual fails to reference where to leave a standard trans, only says to put an automatic in park.

[JeepGal]

5. Shift.... manual transmission into gear (and leave it there).

[chris142]

Not 1st gear. I heard on the internet (so it must be true) of incidents where for whatever reason, the t/c slipped into 4 hi or lo and the tranny engages with the rest of the driveline while driving at highway speed for a whole mess of trouble. Hence the reason of putting the tranny in a higher gear.

Since you are only supposed to drive 55 while towing, 4th gear would be fine.

OT a little: I knew a guy that had an older car........Mitsubishi I think that he pulled behind his motorhome. Aparantly he left the car in gear and it consumed whatever fuel was left in the tank before he got to his destination.

[platnumb4x]

What is the reason for having the trans in gear ?
Why not neutral ?

What Chris said.

If you don't the tranny will not cycle the oil. This is a bad thing and what happens next is it locks up and rips your driveline and transmission out. This happened to my father in law once, and me once. We were towing my Jeep back from hunting in Utah and part of our transmission ended up in someones windshield. Luckily they were not hurt. Shook up and mad as heck but not hurt. We now put the transfer case in neutral and the tranny in 5th. Wierd thing was in my father in laws case it happened on the way to Utah one year. On a seperate occasion we towed the Jeep all the way to Utah and it was fine but on the way back it locked up and ripped the tranny out on the way back home.

[Jerry Bransford]

Seems like the only common link to the answers posted is that the trans should be in gear.
The page from the manual fails to reference where to leave a standard trans, only says to put an automatic in park.

Manual or automatic, the transmission should not be in neutral while towing. That prevents the transmission from being spun (via parasitic drag through the transfer case) while in neutral where the transmission's oil pump doesn't work. That of course means the transfer case must be in neutral to allow the vehicle to be towed.

So automatic or manual, the transmission needs to be either in gear or in Park and the t-case needs to be in neutral.

[Jerry Bransford]

Sorry but Jedi.com is hardly authoritative on anything. That was simply the author voicing his personal opinion. That plus transfer cases don't somehow "wiggle into gear" on their own. The factory gives the specified/correct way to set up the transmission and transfer case for towing, I'll trust that before some guy writing on an small website called Jedi.

[Zoobi]

Ive been flat towing my jeeps for years (no where to park a trailer). My first jeep was a 74CJ5, Dana 20 xfer, T18 trans. Trans in gear, xfer in neutral. Next was an 80 CJ7, 999 auto, Dana 300. Trans in park, xfer in neutral. My 04 TJ auto, 02 S10 blazer, auto, 89 Cherokee auto all same. The info came out of either owners manual or shop manual.
Ive also seen worst case scenario just like that jedi guy. The only difference was what caused it. He had a Dana 20 xfer case and they dont oil the rear bearing while flat towing long distances, you need to pull drive shaft. One of my friends towed his rig from orange county all the way past Kramer junction when the bearing seized. Blew the xfer apart and actually "knocked" itself into gear destroying the automatic transmission.

When the wheels locked up he felt a tug then nothing. I guess if his tow vehicle weighed less than his rig there may have been a problem.

Besides him Ive seen rear diffs seize while flat towing. No huge accidents, just tire marks to the side of the road.

I guess the point here is, if something happens to the vehicle being towed like that, it would take someone panicking and slamming on the brakes hard to cause the destruction the "jedi" guy claimed.