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Towing a Healey

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What a great discussion. Randy, you are amazing.

Not that my car would EVER need flat towing, but let me ask a simple question: how does one go about disconnecting the drive shaft? Is this an easy roadside adjustment?
 
Tom,

Let me jump in here because before I got my enclosed trailer,

RV-Trailer-Healey2.JPG


I actually flat towed my Healey twice and because I have an automatic transmission, I have actually disconnected the driveshaft.

For me, the process was to:
1) Hook up the Healey to the tow vehicle.
2)(Floor) Jack up the rear end high enough to crawl under with your head near the differential.
3) Spread a ground covering
4) Place jack stands under the frame/axles
5) Crawl under and remove 4 nuts and bolts that attach the driveshaft flange to the differential flange.
6) Secure the driveshaft. In MY case, due to the length of the tail shaft and the limited clearance between the frame and the shroud enclosing the dirveshaft, the driveshaft could not be removed from the car and was secured to the frame.
7) Remove the jack stands and ground covering.
8) lower the car.

To re-attach the driveshaft, step through 1-8 again. except to align the flanges and reinstall the bolts & nuts.

DEFINATELY NOT something you want to do on the side of the road <span style="font-weight: bold">OR IN THE RAIN!</span>

I have heard that others have accomplished the task by removing the rear seat(s). Still not easy !

Tim
 
Tim/Tom:

Tim, you are correct; as that is a side-shift box, you are indeed looking into it from the driver's (LHD) side.

As a WAG*, I will venture to say that the oil level is somewhat below the centerline of the laygear. Certainly high enough so that all the gears, including the smallest diameter 1st/reverse gear, is dipping into the oil, even if at the "MIN" mark on the stick.

Tom, if you have a 2-seater, you'd only have to open the battery door and remove the four (4) bolts/nuts attaching the driveshaft to the input flange on the differential. Including pushing the sparetire out of the way, propping up the battery cover, and rolling the car slightly to access the last bolt, it is probably a twelve (12) to fifteen (15) minute job.



* <span style="text-decoration: underline">W</span>ild <span style="text-decoration: underline">A</span>$$ <span style="text-decoration: underline">G</span>uess = popular construction estimating term :wink:
 
Hi Randy,

Before I started towing my Miata, hearing tall tales of "burning up" the transmssion, I overfilled the transmission with a pint of Lucas Gear Oil.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that picture of my RV & Miata. Within a few days there was a post from a guy telling me that Miatas are not to be towed and that within 500 miles, my transmission would "burn up".

I wrote him back telling him that I wish he had told me that 4 years and 25,000 miles ago because in that time I have towed my Miata that far. I have also put another 40,000 miles on the car NOT being towed.

It still runs and shifts that same as it did when I started towing. I

-----------------------

What would be the liability of just adding apint or 2 more fluid to the AH transmission in order to raise the level up to 1/3 of the way up the gears on the mainshaft ?

Since I made that first post asking the question about flat towing a Healey, I have Emailed with another REVer from Omaha, NB. He tows 1958 A-H 100-6 with OD.

Being a teacher and having summers off, last summer he made a 8 week to the west coast and this summer has just returned from a 5 week trip to New England.

He stated that in the last 16 months, he has towed the Healey over 10,000 miles and reports no driveline or any other car problems. He has not overfilled the transmission or anything else.

Maybe he's just lucky?

-----------------------

Back in the late 70s, I lived east of the San Francisco east bay. Greg Greathouse and I used to drive our V8 Healeys to Laguna Seca to hang out with the 6-8 Healey racers who towed their Healeys the 500 miles up from San Diego and LA and the 600+ miles down from Portland and Eugene.

Back in those days FEW people had trailers and nearly everybody flat towed their Healeys, MGs, and Triumphs. I don't remember any of them dropping their driveshafts.

In fact, I "inherited" my Healey tow bar and attachment brackets from a guy who wrecked his Healey and sold it to another racer as a parts car. He didn't even drag it home. The buyer disassembled it on the spot and took what he wanted and paid a scrap yard to haul off the tub.

Tim
 
In my other business, I run into folks all the time who ignore the stated warnings and get away with it.

Good.

Just be careful telling others to do that, as it can get downright expensive.

Case in point, NiCCad and NiMH batteries:

The Sanyo Engineering Manual states that they are NEVER to be connected in parallel (with the caveat that a properly engineered diode isolation circuit can be designed to do so).

Then you get folks who say they've been doing it with no problems.

So, some newbie shows up, tries it, and burns their shed down.

I have had to rebuild transmissions damaged by flat towing, probably have some parts around to take photos of.

Manufacturers say not to do it.
Towing companies say not to do it.

I won't, and I would suggest anyone who wants to to consider the possible consequences.
The last thing you want is to flat-tow you car 600 miles to a meet, and find it won't function when you get there.

Of course, there is always the small item of the odometer clicking away on those trips.

Tim, I would never dream of telling you or anyone else to not do what they want....I will list the reasons not to.
 
I'm thinking he must be living right :wink:

There will always be exceptions to the rules; I routinely drive 10-15 MPH over the posted speed limit (assuming 45 - 55 MPH zones, not residential areas) but rarely get ticketed (even when "they" spot me before I spot them). Eventually, I'll get a ticket, always do, but I get away with it <span style="font-style: italic">most</span> of the time.

I wish your buddy lived closer to me, as I'd offer to tear down his transmission publico (pro bono) to see what wear is taking place.

It's not something I would recommend, but people jump out of perfectly good airplanes too :smile:

Here's an excerpt from the ZF manual (ZF pt# S531REP publication date 03/03/05) for the 5-speed in my M Rdstrs:

<ul style="list-style-type: disc">[*]
Towing:
Towing in a horizontal position is permissible. If the vehicle cannot be towed in a horizontal postition, the front axle can be lifted to create a maximum of 7* of vehicle tilt. If these guidelines can't be observed, the driveshaft must be removed before towing or damage to the transmission will result.
Maximum towing speed = 80 km/h (50 mph)
Maximum towing distance = 100 km approx. (62 mi approx.)[/list]

There was a thread similar to this one on one of my regular Z3/M message boards too. Apparently the contrast of small 2-seaters towed by large RVs is a popular choice!
 
All,

I just spent time going through the Why/Why Not question with a friend who just finished rebuilding a Healey transmission yesterday.

We used Randy's pictures as a reference and I asked, and got answers to, all of my questions. His opinion is identical to yours. In the light of your opinions and his, I will change my advocacy from Why NOT to HERE'S Why not. Now I know...

I know that it CAN be done, but now I also know That there are good and valid reasons NOT to do it.

I wish to thank y'all, especially TOC & Randy, for your information and your "tolerance" in dealing with my questions and me.

Tim
 
I need to add some more.

I did this for a long time, I no longer do professional automotive work, due to some moron running a stop sign about 11 years ago.

Sometimes, if it's a bad day, pain-wise, I come across rather blunt.

The TOC is a carryover from my business handle on THOSE forums...."The Old Curmudgeon".


I re-read and edited that last post at least 3, maybe 4 times, waiting between reading, so I wouldn't sound as grumpy as I happened to feel.

But, just back from the doc, feeling better.........just some things really get my "interest", so to speak, as far as subjects go.

Now, if you were dealing with six-volt, positive-ground, flathead V-8 powered vehicles and you saw some moron claim that ALL you should EVER put into your cooling system is distilled water.....no anti-freeze at all......and you've seen cracked blocks and heads....well, I admit, I lit off like a roman candle on that one.

Sorry.

Dave
 
Not that I tow my Healey but if you use the front axle cradle that U-Haul rents, you would be facing the same problems, right? I had looked into them but they were too wide for the Healey front end. So I got AAA flat bed towing.
TH
 
tahoe healey said:
Not that I tow my Healey but if you use the front axle cradle that U-Haul rents, you would be facing the same problems, right? I had looked into them but they were too wide for the Healey front end. So I got AAA flat bed towing.
TH
Click to expand...
Yep, back wheels are still on the ground, only now you add the vehicle tilt caution into the equation (see ZF reference above).

TOC: tell me about it; oral surgery yesterday to deal with damage from a twenty-seven (27!) year old injury from stuffing an MGBGT into a culvert. Some days are definitely better than others, pain-wise.

Tim: glad to see you coming around LOL!

:wink:
 
OK after checking a transmission, I "Agree" to disconnect the driveshaft.
But to my 300 KM tow, I remember running the motor in idle to have headlights and a heater for my wife sitting in the Healey towed by a rope in Germany over the Autobahn at 120km/h with a GOLF.
Don’t send me any “YOU are Stupid” comments, this where 1982 and we where young.
The transmission still work in my Healey today.


Mr.JAJA
 
I'm not sending you any "stupid" comments.

We were all young, once, long ago and far away.
THAT is what experience is all about.

We learn, and hopefully we share those experiences.

Motor idling is good.

That keeps the input shaft turning, hence your ability to get 300KM on it.

But, to share another of those "life experiences"...

When I was a kid, we went camping in Yosemite, California, USA.

The folks next to us had a 1950 Pontiac Hearse they used as a station wagon, and went camping in it.

Next morning they started it up, let it idle to warm up before they departed the campsite.

It tried to go into gear, and the owner ran to stop the engagement.

Now, granted, it was a three-on-the-tree, and one of them infamous early GM column shifters to boot, but it does happen.

After his return to the campsite he related that "oh, that happens all the time".

Dave
 
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