Flat Tow Question AGSIN!😂

[matt w]

I want to flat tow my 73 with a Ready Brute tow bar behind out motorhome.
Is any one using this tow bar or similar and using the d-ring mounts to attach the bar to. I have a 3.5 inch lift, 33’s and a proto fab front bumper.
Also since I have never flat towed my bronco I have heard it is bad to do if you have an auto transmission. I have twin sticks and can put the t-case in neutral but I have heard that doesn’t matter. Can someone please explain to me why we have to disconnect the rear drive shaft?
Thanks

 

[jckkys]

It's the D20 transfer case that has issues with the rear drive shaft connected.

 

[SteveL]

Something to do with the rear output on the t-case. If it's in neutral it doesn't spin and lube the bearing. That was a selling point of the rear full floater kits. You could leave it in gear but unlock the hubs.

 

[jckkys]

There are rear driveshaft disconnects too. The D20s in Jeeps don't have the same problem but they recommend keeping those under 50MPH. I just disconnect it at the axle and tie it out of the way. It's a PITA to do often, but that's they make a disconnect and floater rear axle.

 

[sprdv1]

I want to flat tow my 73 with a Ready Brute tow bar behind out motorhome.
Is any one using this tow bar or similar and using the d-ring mounts to attach the bar to. I have a 3.5 inch lift, 33’s and a proto fab front bumper.
Also since I have never flat towed my bronco I have heard it is bad to do if you have an auto transmission. I have twin sticks and can put the t-case in neutral but I have heard that doesn’t matter. Can someone please explain to me why we have to disconnect the rear drive shaft?
Thanks

hell w/it I say, just get a trailer and don't have to worry about all that

 

[FordFarmer]

hell w/it I say, just get a trailer and don't have to worry about all that

Depends on the type of RV'ing your doing. We knew we wanted to tow a car and it came down to getting a trailer for the Bronco or setting my wife's Flex up for flat towing. The majority of our trip was spent in National Parks and we found it much easier to get reservations or fit into smaller "first come first serve" campgrounds with the flat tow setup as we weren't required to count the car against the total length of the setup. There wasn't a day or a destination where I wouldn't have rather been driving the Bronco, but I'll have to sort a flat towing setup for it before it joins us on the next trip. For what we like to do, it just offers so much more flexibility. On the other hand, if you're hitting up KOA's with pull through spots or remote trailer parking then I completely agree with you.

OP, if you get it sorted please circle back around to this thread and let us know what you did and how it towed.

 

[Nothing Special]

As was talked around above, the trans doesn't matter. It's the transfer case that has issues.

The model 20 transfer case doesn't have an oil pump, so the lube is only circulated by the spinning gears. With the 'case in neutral and the rear driveshaft spinning, nothing down in the lube is moving, so the rear output bearing is moving, but it's not getting lubed. That ain't good.

Back when these vehicles were new, the different manufacturers had different recommendations for flat towing (all of them using model 20 transfer cases). I don't recall who said exactly what, but some said always remove the rear driveshaft, others said you could flat tow with the rear 'shaft in if the distances and speeds were kept down (I seem to recall 200 miles and 50 mph, but I'm not positive about that). And others said you could flat tow if you put the 'case in neutral and LOCKED the front hubs.

Doing that spins the front output shaft as well, which is down in the lube. Theoretically this should work to circulate the lube to the rear output as well. I have heard from some people who do that now and they say it works for them.

Of course some people flat tow with the transfer case in neutral leaving the rear driveshaft in and front hubs unlocked, and they say that it works fine. But I've also heard of two different people (I don't recall what transfer cases they had) that fried their transfer cases by doing that. So to me it's not worth the risk.

Personally I drop the rear driveshaft. I just got back from a trip where I flat-towed my Bronco about 3000 miles. I get a little bit of front driveline vibration, and doing that at 65+ mph for 3000+ miles doesn't seem like the thing to do. And I don't want to take the risk (I have an Atlas, but they don't recommend towing with the rear driveshaft in either for the same reason). Yes, it's a bit of a pain to pull the 'shaft. But to me it's cheap insurance.

Oh, and if I'm just bringing the Bronco for a run-around-while-we're-camping vehicle I'll often leave the rear 'shaft out and run it in front wheel drive while we're at camp. That way I don't need to put it in and take it out in the middle of the trip.

 

[ericwilkison]

Hey, I flat towed my Bronco (no lift and 31s) across the country. I always pulled the drive shaft. If you ask around you find people who do not, but far more that do. Is it worth the potential problems to save ten minutes it takes to pull it? When you get into town an need to drive it lock the hubs and it's a front wheel drive.

The other concern is front end alignment. Make sure you have good caster, especially with a lift. Otherwise the front wheels will not track behind the motorhome and pull you all over the place.

 

[jcasey12]

I've flat towed my 70 bronco at least 15K miles over the years without issues. It's standard trans and I always put the transfer case in neutral. I tow it at freeway speeds (60 or more). Maybe I've just been lucky???

 

[matt w]

Depends on the type of RV'ing your doing. We knew we wanted to tow a car and it came down to getting a trailer for the Bronco or setting my wife's Flex up for flat towing. The majority of our trip was spent in National Parks and we found it much easier to get reservations or fit into smaller "first come first serve" campgrounds with the flat tow setup as we weren't required to count the car against the total length of the setup. There wasn't a day or a destination where I wouldn't have rather been driving the Bronco, but I'll have to sort a flat towing setup for it before it joins us on the next trip. For what we like to do, it just offers so much more flexibility. On the other hand, if you're hitting up KOA's with pull through spots or remote trailer parking then I completely agree with you.

OP, if you get it sorted please circle back around to this thread and let us know what you did and how it towed.

So your explanation is why we want to flat tow the Bronco and or the wife’s car depending on what we will be doing.

There is not enough space in parks for a flat bed trailer.

I’m almost 98% sure I will purchase a Ready Brute tow package/system.

 

[72Sport]

I want to flat tow my 73 with a Ready Brute tow bar behind out motorhome.
Is any one using this tow bar or similar and using the d-ring mounts to attach the bar to. I have a 3.5 inch lift, 33’s and a proto fab front bumper.
Also since I have never flat towed my bronco I have heard it is bad to do if you have an auto transmission. I have twin sticks and can put the t-case in neutral but I have heard that doesn’t matter. Can someone please explain to me why we have to disconnect the rear drive shaft?
Thanks

The factory manuals say to disconnect the rear driveshaft. I have two friends that bought there Broncos from their local Ford dealers. One is a 72 and the other one is a 74. They have flat towed since their Broncos were new and have never removed the rear drive shaft for towing or messed with the rear end or transfer case. Both have rebuilt their 302s. I bought a 72 in the early 90's and decided I would never remove the rear driveshaft for flat towing. I bought a spare D-20 to find out about how the oiling system worked.

I owned (gift) 70? Jeep pickup. In the Jeep manual it said when messing with the engine oil pump to pack the pump with petroleum jelly before you install it on the engine. I had never heard of anyone packing the 13 roller bearings in the Dana 20 with anything other than grease. It appears that the 13 roller bearings in the d 20 act as part of the oil pump for the rear output bearings. Their are 3 ~1/8" dia holes in the rear of the cavity for the 13 bearings. They are angled so they will spray oil radially to lube the rear out put bearings. If a Dana 20 has recently been worked on and a heavy high temp grease is used to hold the bearings in place the oil to the rear output bearings will be blocked until the high temp wheel bearing grease melts and allows the oil to get to lube the rear bearings. I can only guess that is the reason my two friends have never had a problem is because they have never had to reinstall the 13 bearings and use high temp grease. Both Broncos have over 130K miles on them.

While I was messing with the spare x-fer case I thought I would experiment with the oil level. I make a plexiglass cover tor the input side so I could see what was going on with the oil flow over and around the gears. I got some pipe fittings and raised the fill hole. I wanted the oil level high enough so that everything would be lubed when the rear driveshaft was turning. I made up an adapter so I could drive the rear output shaft with a drill motor. I came up with the fittings that would raise the Valvoline oil level to what I thought looked good. I installed the fittings on my Bronco case. I removed the drive shaft, raised the level oil in my Bronco D-20. Put it in gear and ran the speed up to 80mph. Got out of the Bronco and checked for oil puddles. I had about a 3ft dia puddle on the garage floor in a couple of minutes. The oil seemed to have a lot of foam in it. I went to the Torco oil company which is local and asked them what I could do to keep it from foaming They suggested their 50wt racing motor oil. Torco motor oil had been working fine for about 15 years. No more puddles.

While I was messing with things I took my spare case and removed the fittings so it was stock again. I dis-assembled the case and cleaned all the bearings etc and dried them with compressed air. I filled the case with oil to the stock level. I wanted to see how long it would take to get oil to run out of the speedometer gear hole in the rear of the case. Stock it took 2 1/2 minutes to get oil to run out of the speedometer cable hole. It took 30 seconds to get the oil to run out with the higher oil level. Case bearings etc were cleaned before the oil level was raised.

What fittings did I use to get the oil level up? Two half inch hex nipples and 2 half inch elbows and a 1/2" flush plug. I also added a sight tube/fill tube to make it easier for initial oil fill and a remote vent.

In Ca, to flat tow legally you need a brake unit in the Bronco. Something else to remember, too much caster in the Bronco will make for a miserable trip. The Bronco will always want to go straight no matter how much you want to go around a corner.

 

[matt w]

The factory manuals say to disconnect the rear driveshaft. I have two friends that bought there Broncos from their local Ford dealers. One is a 72 and the other one is a 74. They have flat towed since their Broncos were new and have never removed the rear drive shaft for towing or messed with the rear end or transfer case. Both have rebuilt their 302s. I bought a 72 in the early 90's and decided I would never remove the rear driveshaft for flat towing. I bought a spare D-20 to find out about how the oiling system worked.

I owned (gift) 70? Jeep pickup. In the Jeep manual it said when messing with the engine oil pump to pack the pump with petroleum jelly before you install it on the engine. I had never heard of anyone packing the 13 roller bearings in the Dana 20 with anything other than grease. It appears that the 13 roller bearings in the d 20 act as part of the oil pump for the rear output bearings. Their are 3 ~1/8" dia holes in the rear of the cavity for the 13 bearings. They are angled so they will spray oil radially to lube the rear out put bearings. If a Dana 20 has recently been worked on and a heavy high temp grease is used to hold the bearings in place the oil to the rear output bearings will be blocked until the high temp wheel bearing grease melts and allows the oil to get to lube the rear bearings. I can only guess that is the reason my two friends have never had a problem is because they have never had to reinstall the 13 bearings and use high temp grease. Both Broncos have over 130K miles on them.

While I was messing with the spare x-fer case I thought I would experiment with the oil level. I make a plexiglass cover tor the input side so I could see what was going on with the oil flow over and around the gears. I got some pipe fittings and raised the fill hole. I wanted the oil level high enough so that everything would be lubed when the rear driveshaft was turning. I made up an adapter so I could drive the rear output shaft with a drill motor. I came up with the fittings that would raise the Valvoline oil level to what I thought looked good. I installed the fittings on my Bronco case. I removed the drive shaft, raised the level oil in my Bronco D-20. Put it in gear and ran the speed up to 80mph. Got out of the Bronco and checked for oil puddles. I had about a 3ft dia puddle on the garage floor in a couple of minutes. The oil seemed to have a lot of foam in it. I went to the Torco oil company which is local and asked them what I could do to keep it from foaming They suggested their 50wt racing motor oil. Torco motor oil had been working fine for about 15 years. No more puddles.

While I was messing with things I took my spare case and removed the fittings so it was stock again. I dis-assembled the case and cleaned all the bearings etc and dried them with compressed air. I filled the case with oil to the stock level. I wanted to see how long it would take to get oil to run out of the speedometer gear hole in the rear of the case. Stock it took 2 1/2 minutes to get oil to run out of the speedometer cable hole. It took 30 seconds to get the oil to run out with the higher oil level. Case bearings etc were cleaned before the oil level was raised.

What fittings did I use to get the oil level up? Two half inch hex nipples and 2 half inch elbows and a 1/2" flush plug. I also added a sight tube/fill tube to make it easier for initial oil fill and a remote vent.

In Ca, to flat tow legally you need a brake unit in the Bronco. Something else to remember, too much caster in the Bronco will make for a miserable trip. The Bronco will always want to go straight no matter how much you want to go around a corner.

Thank you!! Wow great real life info!

 

[matt w]

Depends on the type of RV'ing your doing. We knew we wanted to tow a car and it came down to getting a trailer for the Bronco or setting my wife's Flex up for flat towing. The majority of our trip was spent in National Parks and we found it much easier to get reservations or fit into smaller "first come first serve" campgrounds with the flat tow setup as we weren't required to count the car against the total length of the setup. There wasn't a day or a destination where I wouldn't have rather been driving the Bronco, but I'll have to sort a flat towing setup for it before it joins us on the next trip. For what we like to do, it just offers so much more flexibility. On the other hand, if you're hitting up KOA's with pull through spots or remote trailer parking then I completely agree with you.

OP, if you get it sorted please circle back around to this thread and let us know what you did and how it towed.
I’m pretty much leaning towards this set up : https://nsatowbars.com/

 

[Nothing Special]

I've flat towed my 70 bronco at least 15K miles over the years without issues. It's standard trans and I always put the transfer case in neutral. I tow it at freeway speeds (60 or more). Maybe I've just been lucky???

Yes, you've been lucky. Others have been too, so you're not alone. But others have had the other kind of luck. To me it's not worth the risk.

.... In Ca, to flat tow legally you need a brake unit in the Bronco.

Probably true in most states. I know that in Minnesota trailer brakes are required on all trailers over 3000 lbs. I don't know for sure, but I'd be really surprised if a flat-towed vehicle would be considered anything other than a trailer for that requirement. (I do have brakes on my Bronco when I tow it)

Something else to remember, too much caster in the Bronco will make for a miserable trip. The Bronco will always want to go straight no matter how much you want to go around a corner.

I can't really see how too much caster would give problems. But I haven't had experience with that, so maybe I'm wrong. But I do know that too little caster can be flaky. I've even had the wheels turn to full opposite lock in a turn. Fortunately I've only had that happen at low speeds in tight turns (I imagine it would be REALLY exciting if it happened at higher speed!).