wogelsby
Actually seeing the United States is nice.
I've been wondering for ages what those RV people do with their tow behinds to prevent transmission destruction.
They seem to prefer tow bars over everything else.
I wonder if they disconnect the rear U-joint.
@wogelsby?
Even on a stick-shift, I've heard the oil pumps are driven by the input shaft, not the output. So if the engine isn't running, there's no lubrication.
I wonder if a machinist can Frankenstein a rear axle out of parts from a 4wd front axle so in the rear of a pickup or RWD car, it's a straight solid axle with the pumpkin in the center, except it's got hub locks like the front of a 4WD so when you tow it you simply unlock them and go. It would be the perfect tow-behind vehicle for a hardcore RV vagabond like wogelsby.
The perfect tow-behind is our automatic Jeep Wrangler, for the reason you mention. There's a little gearbox shift sequence, and voila', disengaged and ready to tow. It's got pretty close to 50,000 miles with lots of it towed (I'm still not sure if it registers towed miles... can't believe I'm saying that!)
Before the Jeep we towed an F-150 4-wheel drive. I purchased a shiny new box wrench just for that "u-joint bolt" reason and fashioned a carrier strap hung from the frame to secure the rear drive shaft out of the way. Put quite a few miles on that setup as well, before we replaced the 6,000lb p/u with the 4,500lb jeep. The p/u already had 120,000mi before we began towing it and there developed a "bearing whine" towards the end... but not sure if the towing was the reason.
. i don't see ant survivors in an accident as well
