As background I'm out working for my job in Illinois, and call Massachusetts (about 1,000 miles away) home. I bought a truck because it was a good deal, and I need a truck, however I now I have two vehicles in Illinois and will eventualy have to get both of them home.

I'm looking into renting a trailer from U-haul and a trip all the way back to mass with a dolly is $200 something, while all four wheels up would set me back $400 something. Currently I've been driving my little EconBox of a Focus out here. However I miss my 7. I'm driving home in the next couple weeks, so I was thinking of trading out the Focus for the 7.

My question is: Why is it bad to drag a rear wheel drive vehicle on a dolly? Some of what I read made sense for an automatic, but I've got a manual tranny in my seven.

She runs fine, no issues with the drive train right now, so why would running the rear wheels on the ground with no power be so much more detrimental than just driving my seven the distance?

Basicaly I'm trying to figure out whether to keep the front wheel drive Focus out here for safety, or if I can take the rear wheel drive seven out here for fun.

 

its bad for rear wheel drive vehicles when the rear wheels are on the ground because of lubrication issues, best thing to do is to get the auto transporter if you're going to move it with uhaul

 

if you pull the drive shaft off first (and make shure that there is oil in the rear end) you will be fine with the tow dolly.

 

What if you take off the drive shaft, the only thing moving will be the rear axle and you should be fine. You will have to drain the fluids from your tranny if you do remove the driveshaft though, becuase it will leak out.

 

Where you at in Massachusetts? I used to live in Amherst. And Bunker Hill, Indiana. Avoid the Pennsylvania Turn Pike if you can, too many bumps, it's worth paying more for the tolls in NY. Why not just put the front wheels out back, rear wheels on the dolly?

Ray

 

a trick i was recently told to keep from having the tranny fluid spill out when you remove the driveshaft.

take a spray paint can lid over the end of teh tail shaft. i dont know how good this will do for a long trip though.

DEFINATELY take the driveshaft off though and make sure you have enough rearend fluid. if you do, then dont worry.

 

Heres an idea, unbolt the driveshaft but don't remove the slip yoke from the tranny. Just tie the driveshaft up such that the slip yoke won't fall out of the tranny. All problems solved.

 

I don't get it, if you put the rear wheels on the dolly and the front wheels on the road, won't you not have any problems?

 

I think just turning the car around would create a problem with the steering. Getting the front wheels to lock perfectly strait so there' s no issues with the trailer trying to turn is probably difficult. So difficult if it's not illegal to do in Illinois (or any of the other states I'd travel through) I'm sure it's illegal in Mass.

Thanks for the info on draining the Tranny if. I had decided to take off the drive shaft well... I'm not terribly knowledgeable, so I would have learned it leaks by the puddle of fluid trailing behind me or, worse, when I decide to drive anywhere in the Seven after getting home.

I'm still really confused on why it's bad for a manual transmission. I'm sure lubrication issues can be made to make sense to me, and there's just something I don't understand about cars, but I was under the (false?) impression that a manual tranny was isolated from the rest of the system except when the clutch is engaged.

It's probably not good on the throw out bearing to have the clutch pushed for a 1000 mile trip. But in neutral, how is lubrication an issue? The tranny has it's own separate oil system does it not (I could be wrong, totally guessing here) does its' oil system need the front portion of the transmission (with the clutch on it and whatnot) to be spinning to keep oil flowing? Wouldn't this mean when I'm gliding along with the clutch pushed in (in normal driving for me), I'm reducing oil flow in the tranny? Possibly in a detrimental fashion? I'm really curious on the mechanics of this. If anyone could explain it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm on the south shore. My little seven's currently sitting in Rockland. I've only been to Amherst briefly to check out U-Mass. Oh, and do you really think the Pennsylvania turn pike is that bad? I used to travel through Penn all the time when I had a friend who lived there, I don't remember the turnpike being that bad. Of course it has been a couple years now and I drove it in unladened cars with decent suspensions.

As soon as you mentioned "Don't drive through Pennsylvania, my first thought was "Hmmm I wonder if I can figure out a way to travel up Route 13 in Penn." :P I traveled route 13 when I first bough my seven (also in Penn) and I enjoyed greatly that hilly road.

 

I towed my pinto for about 300 miles on a tow dolly from U-hual and it was a 4 speed tranny and I just put it into Neutral and pulled out the shifter(my shifter bolts are striped lol) to make sure nothing flew and hit it into gear as I had boxes in the pinto as well, and It made it just fine.

I dont see how it would cause lube issues, as long as you make sure your rear end fluid level is ok, and your tranny level is fine also. Becuase the tranny is self contained, but maybe at the angle that it is at it wont cover the gears well enough, that is the only thing I can think of.

If I was to tow my 7 that far, I would remove my muffler(mine hangs a lil low) Drain the tranny, pull my driveshaft, and make sure that my rearend fluid was ok.

 

Pull the driveshaft, partially drain the tranny, make sure the diff is full, tow it. Done.

 

Pull the driveshaft. Duct tape paint can top to tail shaft. tow it. Done.

Tranny will partially drain itself

 

So I'm still curious, what is the problem with having the front wheels on the ground? The steering column should lock with the wheels pointed straight after you take the key out, but if you are worried about it you could always tie down the steering wheel for some insurance. You don't want to be spinning all that running gear if you don't have to, especially on the Penn turnpike, but why do all this stuff to the drive shaft if you don't need to? If you have the rear up on the dolly and the front wheels on the road, locked straight ahead (I mean behind), why wouldn't this work?

Ray