Updated Flat Towing Advice? (1 Viewer)

[dekuiper]

I hate my Jeep Wrangler but...they flat tow perfectly and there are so many options available to make the lights and brakes work. That being said, I believe it is possible to tow an FJ60, manual transmission but am looking for confirmation. The only post I could find was from a dozen years ago and seemed to confirm - although it was on a manual.

My wife and I are retired and live full time in our motor home. I'm not worried about the weight or brakes, only not harming a new to us FJ60 if we were to replace the Wrangler.

 

[doug720]

I don't know if was my flat towing post from a dozen years ago or not, but I have flat towed my 60 for over 30k miles or more with no issues behind our MH's...and still do!

Good tow bar with brake set up, key set to unlock steering wheel - no power, trans in neutral, TC in high 2 so oil will sling and lube bearings. Miles will show on odo. I have magnetic mount turn, brake and running lights combo that I plug in to MH trailer socket.

No problems.

 

[dekuiper]

Hi Doug,
I am hoping you might be willing to share your setup as far as baseplate used to connect to your motor home. I have and Airforce One brake kit I would install so mostly wondering what you use to attach to your rig.
Thanks

 

[esoniat]

I've been flat towing my 60 around the country for over 6 years. I have 30K towing miles.
I have 266K miles on the truck.
I bought blue ox bolt on base plate adaptor 20K version (my rig weighs 5140lbs fully loaded) and had them welded and bolted to my custom bumper and frame.
I put some 10K eyebolts through the frame behind the bumper for safety chains.
I installed the airforce one air brake based brake system works great and is not intrusive.
I used a diode kit to wire in the tail and marker lights.
All works flawlessly. Note that the amount of stress on the base plate can be very extreme going down the road at 60 MPG and hitting a bad bridge abutment or other rough surfaces so take that very very seriously.
If you've done any lifting be sure your camber is good or it wont track well and will eat your tires.

Caveats:
I've had to rebuild the rear diff but I don't think it was flat towing. I had ACC put a Aussi locker in it and I would not be surprised that their work was sub par. The clutch they put in shredded in under 26K driven miles and I am good with a clutch, got 190K on first one.

I'm getting an h55 put in because my 4 speed has high level of brass in the fluid, doesn't shift well, has jumped out of first and second and generally doesn't feel or sound right. Personally I don't think this can be attributed to towing but who can say. Could be 266K miles and two teenagers and the boy was reportedly quite hard on it.

 

[esoniat]

I don't know if was my flat towing post from a dozen years ago or not, but I have flat towed my 60 for over 30k miles or more with no issues behind our MH's...and still do!

Good tow bar with brake set up, key set to unlock steering wheel - no power, trans in neutral, TC in high 2 so oil will sling and lube bearings. Miles will show on odo. I have magnetic mount turn, brake and running lights combo that I plug in to MH trailer socket.

No problems.

So I've been using neutral in both transfer case (TC) and transmission as advised by ACC. Is this just a difference of opinion or bad advise?
BTW we are full RVers also 2013 Winnebago Journey 36M. The 60 has been a great tow vehicle except the past three years with a rear end rebuild and now a transmission issue. Before that it was bad crank bearings fortunately the crank shaft was ok. This could be another ACC issue since they trashed by engine by running it without out oil when they put a clutch in. A clutch that didn't last 50K miles.

 

[doug720]

We tow our 60 with an Itasca Meridian DP, most of the time, but I tow it with my truck sometimes. No issues.

Marv Spector told me to have the TC in High 2 for oil circulation.

Since you and I have towed a 60 for roughly 30k miles without issue, it appears both ways are good.