Hey,

So military told me its time to up and move. Sadly since the last time I moved I got rid of my truck which I used last time to haul the SC along. Now I have an FJ cruiser so need to use one of the dollys. I think I have to disconnect the drive shaft right? How in the heck do I do that on a 5 speed? Thanks in advance!

 

You buy a small trailer

 

in the past rear end on the dolly, front end pointing back, but i think you can rent a flat bed style form uhal

 

Yeah I would like to go the trailer option but the weight of a trailor and the SC exceeds the tow limits on an FJ by more than a little bit.

Is it safe to just put the rear end on the dolly and have the front end pointing back?

Does anyone know how to disconnect the drive shaft though?

 

pull the key out and make sure the steering wheel locks pretty close to straight....

 

couldnt you just leave it in neutral?

and if you tow it by the rear your front will scrape so youll have to tow it from the front if your lowered.. how far do you have to drive it?

as for the drive shaft, its pretty simple. its a slip yoke, jack the car up, between the transmission and the differential in the rear theres a pivot point where you unbolt it all and you push the shaft toward the transmission then down and out of the rear of the transmission IIRC

 

you should not be towing the car facing backwards. this puts all the weight of the car furthest away from the dolley and towing vehicle, although I think most people do it this way, including tow truck drivers, but those are large vehicles that won't flip/jackknife easily.

how far are you towing? you could lift the front up with the rear on the ground in neutral, but this will be moving parts in the transmission which could possibly be bad when the car is off. Im not 100% sure but if you towed the car like that while the car was on, wouldn't the pump be circulating oil through the transmission? im not 100% sure if it does in neutral.

 

dont put the car in neutral, tow from the front, and dont put the emergancy brake on, i think that clears it up

 

IIRC, (and per a local Lexus service department) the 5-speed is perfectly ok to tow in neutral. I definitely wouldn't bother with pulling the drive shaft (usually that's only done for automatics) unless I was moving across the country or something.

 

You can tow a 5-speed in neutral with no problem. No need to overthink this.