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4 Wheel Down Towing Advice

stugpanzer
Explorer
Explorer
I am considering pulling my 2007 Chrysler Town & Country Touring van 4-Wheels Down. I currently tow using a dolly and I have a nice set of wireless magnetic lights so I am covered there. I know what I need as far as the tow bar and plate and of course a Brake Buddy or something similar.

The one thing my van requires if I choose to tow with the engine off is the oil pump. I do not wish to do the pump for may of my own reasons.

That leaves me with towing 4-wheels down with the engine running. My question is, how many of you do this with the toad engine running while towing behind the RV? Any issues with overheating of the toad or other issues I'm not thinking of with this scenario?

Again, I do not intend on buying another vehicle and will stick with the van even if it means still using the dolly but I wanted to get some input from those that pull this way.

Thanks!
2006 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37C
Mods: EEZRV Products TPMS, Cobra 29LX 50th Anniversary CB radio with Firestik NGP Antenna, Self contained sewer hose
8 REPLIES 8

John_Joey
Explorer
Explorer
AdequateRV wrote:
Is there a higher probability of it slipping into gear when it is running vs not running? If it slips into gear, is the damage more or less severe when running vs not running?


All good questions. The only one I can kinda add something too is the last one. All cars (that I know of) that get towed are disabled prior to towing. As in pulling a fuse to lock out the starting cycle. This has to be done for a reason.

On my Saturn I assumed it was to make sure that if it did slip into gear the motor would not start from the tires turning over the engine. Without that fuse the Saturn would not start.
There’s no fool, like an old fool.

DrewE
Explorer
Explorer
AdequateRV wrote:
Is there a higher probability of it slipping into gear when it is running vs not running? If it slips into gear, is the damage more or less severe when running vs not running?


There's certainly a lot bigger risk of damage from slipping into gear when running and being towed for down vs. slipping into gear when not running and being towed on a dolly.

For towing four down, where one would be in neutral (I assume) in either case, I would guess it's not much different for a mechanically controlled transmission. For an electronically controlled one, if the engine is not running it may not actually shift the transmission into gear since the computer, and not the physical shift lever, is actually making things happen in the transmission. It also may shift it regardless, if the key is on and the computer is so programmed.

Backing up too much with the transmission in drive would be a bad idea, but backing up when towing four down is a bad idea in any case, so that's a moot concern.

mowermech
Explorer
Explorer
Long ago and far away, I had a book that showed oil flow in various automatic transmissions in various gears. I was surprised to see that some transmissions had little or no oil flow in Neutral. None to the cooler, none to the bearings, most of it just dumped back into the pan.
Based on that, I would strongly recommend that anybody who wants to do this find out about oil flow in Neutral!
If the output shaft bearing does not get lubricated, it will eventually fail! It will likely take a while, but it will happen.

edited to change "old" to "oil".
CM1, USN (RET)
2017 Jayco TT
Daily Driver: '14 Subaru Outback
1998 Dodge QC LWB, Cummins, 5 speed, 4X2
2 Kawasaki Brute Force 750 ATVs.
Pride Raptor 3 wheeled off-road capable mobility scooter
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stugpanzer
Explorer
Explorer
@Dutch, I have no plans of getting rid of the van but I have concerns that if I get the pump, will the same one work for another vehicle should I need to change? What if I spend that money on that vehicle and something happens then $1400 might be down the drain.

Regarding it slipping into gear that's an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I know that my van will not go into gear from Park unless the brake is applied but from Neutral I think you can just drop it in gear...will have to test that!

I already own the dolly which was about a $1200 purchase about 7 years go. To fully equip my van for 4-wheel down towing, including the oil pump, I would need to get the tow bar and bracket as well as the brake buddy. The cost would be in the neighborhood of $3600 installed and so when I add the numbers I wonder if its worth the effort! That's a lot of money for convenience!
2006 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37C
Mods: EEZRV Products TPMS, Cobra 29LX 50th Anniversary CB radio with Firestik NGP Antenna, Self contained sewer hose

AdequateRV
Explorer
Explorer
Is there a higher probability of it slipping into gear when it is running vs not running? If it slips into gear, is the damage more or less severe when running vs not running?

John_Joey
Explorer
Explorer
In all the years and miles I have only seen one toad running while being towed. I would think it could be a real danger if it slipped into gear.

I would keep the dolly. Tell people you like the ability to back up if you have too.
There’s no fool, like an old fool.

DrewE
Explorer
Explorer
A caveat: I don't bring a toad with me when I go camping, so this is not personal experience.

I would use the tow dolly long before towing four down with the engine on. Idling an engine for a long period of time is not particularly good for the engine, wastes gas (albeit not a lot of gas), and seems to me to be almost asking for trouble with e.g. the transmission bouncing or getting bumped out of neutral or if the engine stalls or runs out of gas. Mileage while towing will accumulate on the minivan's odometer, too.

Overheating should not be a problem. Modern engines don't produce too much heat when idling, and the electric radiator fans are quite effective at dissipating whatever heat is produced if natural airflow does not do that.

Dutch_12078
Explorer
Explorer
stugpanzer wrote:
I am considering pulling my 2007 Chrysler Town & Country Touring van 4-Wheels Down. I currently tow using a dolly and I have a nice set of wireless magnetic lights so I am covered there. I know what I need as far as the tow bar and plate and of course a Brake Buddy or something similar.

The one thing my van requires if I choose to tow with the engine off is the oil pump. I do not wish to do the pump for may of my own reasons.

That leaves me with towing 4-wheels down with the engine running. My question is, how many of you do this with the toad engine running while towing behind the RV? Any issues with overheating of the toad or other issues I'm not thinking of with this scenario?

Again, I do not intend on buying another vehicle and will stick with the van even if it means still using the dolly but I wanted to get some input from those that pull this way.

Thanks!

I don't know what your reasons are for not wanting the easy to use transmission pump, but folks have towed 4-down with the engine running for many years, although usually for relatively short runs. I do know of a few that have transported an extra car to Florida for snowbird season that way, but that's only twice a year.

Oh, and we have a bit over 50,000 towing miles so far with our Remco transmission pump installed on two different toads. Zero problems...
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate