Towing a toyota truck

If it is a standard trans. like my 99, then no problem, install your towbar, put trans. and tranfer. in neutral, unlock the steering wheel , and release the parking brake. If it is an auto, then you have some modifications to make. I have beenusing mine for a Toad for the last year and about 10,000 miles, no problems.

Safest option is to un-bolt the rear driveshaft at the rear axle pinion flange (4 - 14mm hex head bolts). Tie the shaft up out of the way and its set to go. You can put the tranny in neutral but the part-time Toyota t-cases lack a true neutral (in stock form), in that the N positions is smak dab between 4H - N - 4L, so you have the front and rear drivelines spinning in "neutral". You could install a twin stick shifter in the t-case and then have a true 2WD neutral or get a full floating rear axle and unlock the rear hubs for towing as well.

Contact Remco with your questions.

thanks for the replys. I also thought what if the truck has auto-locking front hubs? Does it matter if they are , or the manual locking front hubs?

Where is the Neutral position in the shift pattern?

On my '85 (RF1A t-case), the stock pattern is:

So, in t-case neutral, you are in 4WD and this leaves the front and rear driveshafts locked together, if one spins the other does.

This may be different on the Tacoma.

In a twin-stift shifter conversion, you remove the internal interlock pin in the t-case the locks out certain gearing combination and you now have the following shift pattern:

Should not matter, auto locking hubs only lock if torque is applied from the axle to the wheel. Otherwise, they are unlocked and free-wheel, just like a manual locking hub (when unlocked).

I didn't see these options when reading other replies to your message.

I noticed a Tacoma behind a M.H. on a tow dolly that was backwards, I.E. the rear wheels were on the dolly. He had some tail lights mounted on the front of the truck and of course the hubs were unlocked.

Some years back I talked to a guy who had some freewheeling adaptors made for the rear of his jeep. He left it in gear with the emergency brake on. It did require taking off the rear wheels, removing the adaptors and putting the wheels back on when he reached his hunting lease. Okay for hunting trips but not very handy if you want to unhitch and use it often.

Jarhead

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." ---Patrick Henry

Don't ask me how they did it - custom machine work on a semi-floater rear axle, a front axle in the rear with the birfield knuckles welded, or a full-on hydraulic rear-steer axle rig like Bigfoot...

But one time I saw a Jeep CJ being towed wheels down with a tow-bar behind a motorhome, and they had a second set of locking hubs on the rear axle. And the track didn't look any wider than normal, like it would if these were bolt-on adapters...

Slick. ;-)

Myself, I'd split the shift levers on the transfer case so it could be put into true Neutral for flat towing. Let the axle spin, it's not much parasitic load. You just don't want the gear cluster in the transfer case or the transmission spinning, especially if it's an automatic - they stopped installing rear pumps a long time ago, and it could be damaged badly through lack of bearing lubrication.

I'd be more worried about towing something heavy for long distances without brakes on it. If the tow vehicle has marginal brakes now, hitching up an un-braked toad will not help any.

If the tow vehicle was a bus-based coach that had air brakes, it would be drop dead easy. (Well, if the coach has a trailer brake circuit installed and you know all about air brakes - I'd have to do some more research.) Just mount removable clevis' on the floor and the brake pedal arm, and put in an air cylinder to push on the toad's brake pedal. Pop it out when driving the car.

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I recently talked to a Toyota mech. and he said was fine to tow a 4x4 with the tranny in N and transfer case in N. Sounds simple. As an extra precaution, remove rear drive line, so as not to spin the tranny while in tow.

Off-Road magazine had an article of how to do this years ago. I remember seeing it probably around 1978-80