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Towing an MG

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Towing most vehicles, and notice I said most not all, no matter what make it is, without disconnecting the drive shaft can burn out the back bearing in the transmission.This is more critical on automatics. How far you have to tow it to achieve this depends on the design of the transmission. Most manual 4 wheel drives are exempt from this as there is a transfer case between the transmission and the drive shaft. Putting the transfer case in neutral,stops the turning of the output shaft in the back of the transmission. When you are driving the car, most of the main gears are turning, thus moving oil to the various parts of the tranny. When you are towing, you are usually only turning the center output shaft and are not stirring up the oil enough to lube the back bearing as in most cases the back bearing does not lay in an oil bath and depends on oil pressure from the pump in an automatic or splash as in a manual transmission. I, not knowing the past history of towing a certian vehicle, would disconnect the drive shaft from the rear before towing it over 10 miles. 15 min. of your time isn't worth the price of a transmission or rear. I have a CJ7 Jeep that has been towed around the United States twice and accross Canada once and the rear and the transmission are still in perfect condition. If the rear is full of oil, towing shouldn't hurt it. This is just my personal opinion from past experiences. Use your own judgement. PJ /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
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