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A thought about towing vehicles w/ a 4eat...


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The owners manual says that flat towing the car w/ 4 wheels on the ground and an auto tranny is fine as long as you have the FWD fuse in, the ignition on or in acc. and the transmission in neutral. Don't tow farther than 30 miles, at under 20mph.

 

Manual trannys can be towed all day as long as they're in neutral.

 

Auto trannys can be towed with the front wheels in the air as long as the FWD fuse is in, AND the ignition is on.

Looking at the manual, I still say that it should be towed either off the ground or not at all. Towing it 2 off the ground is way too risky.

 

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/owner/089.jpg

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I always though it had to do with the cooling. There is no forced (by pump) cooling when the engine is not running. Towing will make the parts turn and heat up. I have towed many automatics in N without any probles. But always kept in mind that the speed was not above 25km/h.

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If it's an automatic, put it on a flatbed. Period.

 

The exception would be to remove/disconnect center driveline and tow with front on dolly.

Never tow with the front on the ground, parts inside trans will be turning with no lubrcation or cooling action.

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  • 1 year later...

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead guys but i do have a worthwhile contribution for any other uses wanting to tow.

 

Have towed one 4EAT for 30miles at low speed with no noticeable effects.

 

Towed another 4EAT, all 4 on the ground, for 250 miles at approx 60mph. Took a coffee break every hour and ran the engine for 5 min bursts every 30mins (to get some oil pumping around to cool things off).

 

The transmission is dead.....very dead. Some clutch packs welded together and others grenaded themselves. 1st just made grinding noises, 2nd didnt do anything and reverse wouldnt even engage.

 

Moral of the story is short distances at low speeds MAY be ok but your still wearing things out really fast. Long distances WILL break stuff.

 

Luckily the car i broke was being towed home to have a 5 speed fitted so i didnt mind too much.

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