Toad towing issues

Tom · May 30, 2005

Smoky

Does that mean the Taurus can be towed for unlimited miles without having to start the engine and excercise the transmission?

Smoky · May 30, 2005

I have no idea Tom.

Tom · May 30, 2005

BTW Smoky, how can you tow the Taurus with all 4 down with the transmission in park? Are you going to be using some kind of shaft disconnect?

BernieD · May 30, 2005

Tom said:
BTW Smoky, how can you tow the Taurus with all 4 down with the transmission in park? Are you going to be using some kind of shaft disconnect?

Tom

The axle disconnect works like the drive shaft disconnect. With the axle disconnect the axle freewheels and there is no movement to the transmission and nothing drives the gears. Having the transmission in park just holds all the parts together so that they don't move which they would in neutral.

Smoky · May 30, 2005

Tom:

Bernie got it right.

Tom · May 30, 2005

OK thanks Bernie. I didn't know that Smoky had the disconnect, which was why I asked the question.

Smoky · May 30, 2005

Tom:

It is called "Axle lock" by Remco. It is the same idea as the older drive shaft disconnect. But the newer axle lock is called by a different name. Must be very new because I have run into many Remco dealers who did not know what an axle lock was. Fortunately the dealer in Annapolis has installed a few hundred.

Tom · May 30, 2005

Smoky said:
It is called "Axle lock" by Remco. It is the same idea as the older drive shaft disconnect.

Thanks for clarification. I guess I was confused by that misleading new name they've given it.

Karl · Jun 6, 2005

Bernie,

IMHO it wouldn't make any difference whether you had it in park or neutral with the axle lock in the disconnected position. The engine isn't turning, so the tranny isn't either.

Karl · Jun 6, 2005

Smokey,

I wonder why the brake buddy doesn't take its power off the wiring harness from the Motorhome?

The circuits for the brake/tail/turn signals are fused for that specific load only, and adding the drain necessary for the BB would certainly blow them in quick order. A separate wire could be installed (if you have a spare one at the connector), but it would have to be fused for the BB load and you would NOT put a diode in the curcuit because that would drop the voltage by .6 volts. That, combined with the voltage drop of the wire itself, may be too much for the BB to operate properly.

BernieD · Jun 6, 2005

Karl said:
IMHO it wouldn't make any difference whether you had it in park or neutral with the axle lock in the disconnected position. The engine isn't turning, so the tranny isn't either.

Karl

We have a drive shaft disconnect on our car and I checked with Remco about it. When the tranny is in neutral, the gears are "loose", if there is any vibration or such, the gears can move and rattle. When the tranny is in park, the gears are locked and cannot move. May not be an issue most of the time, but it was enough for Remco to make an issue of it.

John From Detroit · Jun 6, 2005

Tom said:
Smoky

Does that mean the Taurus can be towed for unlimited miles without having to start the engine and excercise the transmission?

As ford shipped it no. it does not, Smokey modified his Taurus by addeing a REMCO axel lock, I am doing exactly the same thing with a Chevy Lumina APV, and once that Axel lock is installed, you twist the collar, making an axel "unlock" and the right wheel is now a trailer wheel, it turns freely... The left wheel will still turn but with the trans in park all that means is the differential will cause the right quarter axel to counter rotate (Normally that would be a half axel but the lock cuts it into quarters) The differential on a FWD car like both Smokey's taurus and my Lumina, runs in oil, same as the rear differential on a RWD car. so there is no damage, you also run up no millage since the transmission shafft, where the millage is read, is not rotating at all Only the axel gears (axels) and side gears in the differntial rotate, Nothig else. your car is thus a trailer.

Side benefit, you still tow "key in" (unlock) as you need the steering to turn.

So... I can see the theif now... Sees the car in tow, key in, pulls the pins on the tow gear, fires it up, puts it in gear and goes.... Absolutely no place at all cause the vehicle does not move. Of course by that time you have been alerted and are inquiring if he needs some help.....going to jail

Tom · Jun 6, 2005

Thanks John. Bernie already explained it. Of course, we don't need either an axel lock or an axle lock with the Burb.

Karl · Jun 6, 2005

Bernie,

I certainly won't argue with the experts (Remco and you), but personally never heard of a tranny where the gears rattled around or moved on their own unless they were really worn ;D

Ron · Jun 7, 2005

On 4WD with transfer cases the reason for putting the transmission in park is to prevent the gears from rotaing due to fluid coupling through the xfer case.

BernieD · Jun 7, 2005

Karl said:
I certainly won't argue with the experts (Remco and you), but personally never heard of a tranny where the gears rattled around or moved on their own unless they were really worn ;D

I'm not the expert on this, I was only quoting Remco. I've kept the XTerra in park while towing for over 4 years now and probably close to 50k miles and haven't had an issue. Better safe than sorry. My clicking keeps the elephants away also ;D ;D

Karl · Jun 7, 2005

Bernie,
Darn, and I thought I had a corner on the elephant repellent market :'( As far as I'm concerned, 50k miles of experience makes you an expert.

Ron,

Thanks for the clarification on that point. Makes sense. My toad has full-time 4WD with the back wheels connected thru a viscous coupling rather than a transfer case, but supposedly makes no difference in terms of wear. Also, with leaving the key on to unlock the steering, I'll have to check if miles are being racked up. I'll run it up to 160 mph or so, shut the engine off and coast for a while. On second thought, maybe I'll do it at 50 or 55 ;D

Smoky · Jun 7, 2005

Thanks Bernie and John for the GREAT axle lock descriptions. LOL John, I got a great laugh at your thief description. ;D

Home now but cannot type to long. Big Sky is sitting in the driveway (after paying $500 to have someone come and remove an 80 foot locust tree that was just in the way of the MH roof as it slanted (locusts are prone to a lot of slanting) across the driveway. If I had cut it down the traditional way that heavy locust would have cracked the county road and my bill would have been far worse from the county.The pros had to top the tree down using a bucket truck. I was glad to get BigSky off the residential street, needless to say.

I have lots to tell and even more to ask, but had my eye surgery today, and am trying to type with one eye and a severe headache.

Short version, all has gone terrific so far.

Tom · Jun 8, 2005

Welcome back Smoky. Wish you a speedy recovery from the eye surgery.

Smoky · Jun 8, 2005

Thanks Tom! Just checking to see what I missed while I was gone. Had 2 nights boondocking at WalMart and one night at Holiday Inn so far, and all the dry camp stuff works great! Gonna do my first campground this coming week.

Only calculating 6.5 mpg so far but that includes lots of genset hours. That genset is really spoiling us.

I ran over 7 curbs the first day, 2 the second day and only 2 more since the second day. ;D

Toad towing issues

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