Flat Towing - Beating a Dead Horse

Not trying to beat a dead horse here... But I have search and read most of the posts here about flat towing. And after doing so I decided to give it a try. I did as many have suggested; removed the rear drive shaft and placed the tcase and tranny in neutral... and yes I know the user manual states to leave the tranny in 3rd.

So the towing was not an issue but the turning was. The jeep did not want to cooperate when it came to turning, the wheels wanted to stay straight. Which caused some nice squealing sounds from the tires.

Has anyone had this issue? Is it because the manual steering is so stiff?

Thanks....

 

I towed one of my 715's 100+ miles without any problems. I did however disconnect both drive lines to prevent damage. Do you have locking hubs? Were they unlocked? Drive flanges? Was the towbar centered? Usually the front wheels will track pretty good while you are flat towing. Maybe the front shaft still being hooked up caused some of the drag?

 

I've had the same experience on occasion. Sometimes not. It may be that the toe-in is off a little.

 

I towed mine from Cedar City Utah to So Cal. Jusy put everything in nuetral. No problem.
Why would there be a problem?

 

flat towed an old f1 pickup a few times, found that if you try to turn too tight of a corner, the wheels on the vehicle being towed tended to steer the other way and stop the whole operation. I found that using a really large turning radius eliminated the problem. I would consider disconnecting the drag link to reduce wear on the ross box. also have your toe in accurately set to keep the front end of the jeep tracking straight. $.02

 

I have only had that problem with slow, tight turns, like pulling out of the driveway, etc. In those cases I just hopped out and turned the Jeep's steering wheel. So far I haven't had any problems while moving at a reasonable speed.

On a side note, on my first Jeep, we were towing it in the rain due to a breakdown, and we did have problems on many turns because the wet roads allowed the tires to skid, causing it to almost jack knife when making turns at intersections. So BE CAREFUL flat towing in the rain.

Jim