Pulling it with a tow dolly
 

I'm pretty sure you don't dare use it with rear wheels down. I have successfully pulled a Porsche 944 turbo backed onto the dolly with front wheels down, but I think our cars are a lot lower in front. I'd be curious if anyone has done this successfully. For short trips you could probably have rear wheels down and motor running but that's no good for long hauls. I have heard of some cars that have had a pump installed in the tranny, but that's getting pretty drastic. Some companies have made U-joint disconnects but they're rare and don't think any are available for our cars.

Drain the trans fluid (Or buy the transmission plug SST) and remove the driveshaft


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I haven't done this before, but is there a concern with AT if you're in neutral? Is the gearset even engaged to the turbine and will they generate that much heat if you're not operating the converter? I don't imagine there would be any overheating concern with MT since it doesn't have any extra hydraulic operation/cooling


My impression with why you didn't want to tow on the rear wheels was overworking the differential.

It's MT and the manual has serious warnings about towing with drive wheels down. Assume that's because input shaft wouldn't be turning and providing lube.

I'm sure somebody else can chime in to confirm, but I was pretty sure that MT gearboxes are just contact lubricated. Essentially the bottom of the gearset is in contact with the sump and splashes the fluid.


AT gearboxes are actively pumped because they need to develop hydraulic pressure to operate the valves and clutches, which is where the concern for overheating comes in. If there is some unintended operation and the fluid is unable to circulate properly and gets overheated in a section of the gearbox, it could cause problems

Appreciate your input. I'll talk to my wrench.

Don't do it. The MT fluid is circulated only by the gear set, which is all spun by the input shaft. In neutral, without the engine running, the only thing spinning in the transmission is the disconnected output shaft.

Wouldn't it be a lot simpler, and safer, to trailer it?

Wouldn't it be a lot simpler, and safer, to trailer it?

That's what I thought.
Thanks

That's what I thought. Thanks

Yes, if I had a place to store the trailer.

a lot of other stuff has been discussed here but no one has addressed my original question. Has anyone ever towed successfully with the rear wheels on a tow dolly? I suspect not or someone would have said so.