towing and transfer boxes

[fossil]

Hi,
Looking to a frame my suzuki to play days, question is can i tow her with locked front hubs or do i have to have manual locking hubs set in the free position.

With the main gearbox in neutral as well as the transfer box, would the gearbox get wound up with locked front hubs?

tahnks

Fossil

[Tramp]

You shouldn't put your tbox in neutral whilst towing as although the drive is disconnected the neutral is in the 4wd planeof the gearbox so it connects your front axle to rear so you can get transmission wind up. You should leave the tbox in 2wd with your main gearbox in neutral, it shouldn't make a difference if you have locked hubs or not, except you might save a little fuel. With regards to A framing some people disapprove & think it can be illegal - just so you are aware,

[Highlander]

It definitely IS illegal

Setting the manual hubs to free will stop the front shafts/diff/prop turning so always worth doing when towing it.

[Edweird]

My dad used to take the front wheels off of his Belmonts when he towed them. He had made this big A-frame that bolted to the underside of the body/chassis (monocoque piece of rubbish) somehow. It puts a fair bit of weight on the rear of the tow vehicle, but at the time he was using a MK3 Cavalier with adjustable rear shocks to tow it.

[ScottieJ]

You shouldn't put your tbox in neutral whilst towing as although the drive is disconnected the neutral is in the 4wd planeof the gearbox so it connects your front axle to rear so you can get transmission wind up. You should leave the tbox in 2wd with your main gearbox in neutral, it shouldn't make a difference if you have locked hubs or not, except you might save a little fuel. With regards to A framing some people disapprove & think it can be illegal - just so you are aware,

Actually SJs are supposed to be flat towed with the transfer box in neutral and the gearbox in 2nd. if you have free wheeling hubs have them unlocked.

It IS illegal to A-frame an SJ unless you have a braking system fitted because they weigh more than 750kg. The SJ must also have MOT and Tax.

so in short...... buy a trailer

[ROBBIE]

Actually SJs are supposed to be flat towed with the transfer box in neutral and the gearbox in 2nd. if you have free wheeling hubs have them unlocked.

I did not know this. Where did you get this info from would be interesting too show a few people

[ScottieJ]

Now I'm confused That's what I've always been told, I'm pretty sure I've read it in a suzuki manual as well and it's what the RAC man said it says on his little computer when he recovered my mate who was broken down but................

tow.JPG (142.12 KiB) Viewed 22890 times

Then you look here
http://www.petroworks.com/pdf/How%20to% ... amurai.pdf


Who's got an owners manual still??????

[ROBBIE]

Its not that I didn't believe you Scott ive just been told so much conflicting info

[trotter]

RAC guy told me to put G box and T box in neutral when he towed me back last weekend... i dont have freewheeling hubs and dan and i were trying to figure out if he was right or not regarding transmission wind up

[dan_2k_uk]

We looked at box after and he was certainly wrong. Probably why your transfer box was smoking when we got to yours!!! joke (pretty sure that was the handbrake)

I deffo wouldnt tow with transfer box in neutral as like has been said before neutral dissengages the input but the front and rear axles are connected. Effectively like 4wd on tarmac like this.

Based on the pdf Scottie put up about the gearbox still turning but not picking up oil I reckon the best bet is if you have free wheeling hubs then transfer box in neutral and hubs unlocked. That way only the front and rear props turning and no transmission wind up.

If you havent got free wheeling hubs then god knows... These transfer boxes are getting expensive now. I personally would rather risk gearbox damage!

Dan