Towing a LN2

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
This is a hypothetical question about towing our truck. If someday down the road we need a tow would we need to remove the drive shaft to protect the transmission? On our transfer case we have a PTO and on the high/low range switch there is a "neutral". My guess is when you want the PTO you switch to neutral first before engaging the PTO, then adjust the throttle accordingly. With this neutral setting would this also protect the transmission while towing? Or do you still need to protect the transfer case?

Now of course I asked, so I am pretty sure we will break down the next time we drive the truck :rolleyes:.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
I'll admit, I know very little at this point about these trucks. I do know though that some transmissions need the engine running to lubricate properly. I know someone with a Fuso FG that has told me those transmissions would be damaged. They needed to get a flatbed when they needed to be towed, the other option would have been to remove the driveshaft.
 

eilatmar

New member
i thik that this is all about automatic transmission not manual. the transfer and axes are swimming in oil and so a manual transmission and so i do not see any problems or changings that have to be done while towing.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
My take on it... The axles are live axles, so if the wheels turn when towing, the diffs turn, thus turning the props, transfer case and internals of the gearbox... If your transfer case has a neutral switch and you are aired up enough to turn it to neutral and hear it actually disengage, then when being towed, only the diffs and transfer case internals would be turning (all self lubricated). If I was in this predicament, I'd still disconnect the driveshaft between the gearbox and transferbox (at the transfer box end) and then string the now loose prop to the chassis to the chassis. That way only the diffs, props and transfer case are turning whilst being towed, as the gearbox is physically disconected.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
As our truck came with a PTO our transfer case has a neutral (I am guessing that is why it has one, maybe they all do). It is on the same switch for high/low range. I have engaged low just to see if it worked so I am guessing the neutral would also work. All this stuff is good to know before you need a tow (which since there has been very little response in this thread, it has actually never happened with a MB ;)).
 

billiebob

Well-known member
This is a hypothetical question about towing our truck. If someday down the road we need a tow would we need to remove the drive shaft to protect the transmission? On our transfer case we have a PTO and on the high/low range switch there is a "neutral". My guess is when you want the PTO you switch to neutral first before engaging the PTO, then adjust the throttle accordingly. With this neutral setting would this also protect the transmission while towing? Or do you still need to protect the transfer case?

Now of course I asked, so I am pretty sure we will break down the next time we drive the truck :rolleyes:.
There are guides towing companies use which list the correct way to tow anything. Most often a towing company will put the axle on a dolly, effectively towing 4 up. But on larger RVs we always disconnect at the rear axle and tie the driveshaft to the frame. It takes 5 minutes.
 

VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
There are guides towing companies use which list the correct way to tow anything. Most often a towing company will put the axle on a dolly, effectively towing 4 up. But on larger RVs we always disconnect at the rear axle and tie the driveshaft to the frame. It takes 5 minutes.
Good to know, didn't know that there were guidelines (luckily we have never been towed). And 5 minutes! No wonder this build has taken me so long. It would take me 5 minutes just to find the right wrench...
 

gregmchugh

Observer
The two times we have needed a tow there was the option to use low boy flatbed which is the easiest way to get towed safely. Probably only an option in specific locations. Both times we were put on a flatbed was in Alaska where they have tow companies specializing in recovering tour buses, semi-trucks on the Dalton, etc. with big Landoll flatbeds. On short trip in Anchorage to the Kenworth dealer and once from inside Denali NP to the Kenworth dealer in Fairbanks. The cost of both was covered by our roadside assistance plan with CoachNet. One was a battery failure that couldn’t be jump started and the other was a broken serpentine belt before we were carrying spares.

Here is what we looked like on a flatbed, able to be low enough to clear overpasses in most areas.

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dedolomalo

New member
They are quite a piece of machinery...
I can tell you from experience...yes you will have to disconnect your drive shaft (just the rear as the front tires are off the ground) and it will take a semi-wrecker to move it. If you use your road-side assistance be sure to ask for the bigger wrecker. When we did this they sent out a tow truck that was too small the first time.
 

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VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
I can tell you from experience...yes you will have to disconnect your drive shaft (just the rear as the front tires are off the ground) and it will take a semi-wrecker to move it. If you use your road-side assistance be sure to ask for the bigger wrecker. When we did this they sent out a tow truck that was too small the first time.
Well dang, thanks for the first hand experience. What problem did you run into that required a tow? Knock on wood, our initial question is still hypothetical.
 

ekibike

Member
Yep, as others have said, definitely disconnect the drive shaft. Our tow driver connected his truck's air system to ours to maintain pressure and ensure the parking brake didn't automatically engage if/when air pressure in our system lost pressure. In our case, we were having issues with the transfer case overheating that turned out to be 100% our fault (our first long drive with the truck and ZERO knowledge of what we were doing led to over filling the case in response to a small leak near the rear drive shaft...).

Live, learn, and spend a ton on a tow ?‍♂️

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