Towing an 85 manual
 

I need to tow my 85 about 60 miles to get it home and start work on it. I plan on using a tow dolly. I would just drive it home but the brakes are DOA and its just easier to work on it at home where all my tools are. Question is on these vehicles is it ok just to put it in neutral and tow it or is there some weird anomaly specific to these cars that this activity will damage something in the drivetrain?

You should be fine leaving it in neutral, if your that worried yank the driveshaft

A friend in Columbus dolly-tows his Miata (same trans) all the time without pulling the driveshaft. Another friend in Oklahoma dolly-tows his Miata (with a Mazda 5!) all over the freakin' country, coast to coast, and I think he also leaves the driveshaft in.

Guy I got my latest FB from said he had a trans lock up in a very short period of time, once. I opt to pull the driveshaft, if there's a plug available.

OTOH I've also driven a few hundred miles with an empty trans, you probably will be fine if you keep the speeds down.

The problem you'd possibly run into is that all of the sliders are on the output shaft. If the input shaft is not turning, none of the gears are turning, so no lube is getting splashed around. The input shaft just rides in the gears on a slowly dwindling bit of gear oil.

I assume your 85 is a manual, so it should be fine to use a tow dolly in neutral.

If you have an automatic, do not tow it with the driveshaft on it. Automatics have their oil pumps driven by the input shaft, so towing them in neutral will mean the trans is not getting any lubrication.

edit: Reading comprehension fail, it is a manual. I'm going to leave the automatic info here just for others' reference.

Towed my 85 SE on a U-Haul dolly for 250 miles in neutral. No issues whatsoever.

Just to be safe check the Trans fluid level and diff level.
I towed my FC 200 miles (didn't disconnect anything) and it worked fine ..

You can tow a manual trans with it in neutral, not a good idea with an automatic

I got a buddy that tows and i asked him to tow the family car because the ball joint was about to bust, and he started the car and left it running in neutral so it wouldn't hurt the trans

The phone call when he swore it acted like the brake were locking up because of the traction control was funny though

I like full car trailers for a variety of reasons. The last time I rented one for a few hours, it was fairly cheap.

That would be my best option but the largest vehicle I have is an Odyssey van and I don't think it has enough ass to pull a car trailer loaded. I would worry about smoking the tranny....

Well usually the company will or Should ask about the vehicle that is being used and what the tow rate of the hitch is.They need to cover the insurance aspect of the rented property.

don't know anyone with a truck you could borrow? does no one have have friends these days!?!?!?!?!? :lol: