Flat or Dinghy Tow a Tacoma - why not?

What about towing in park?

 

After reading this thread again and flat towing my Tacoma in both park and neutral for 5000 miles.

I have decided to join the park side!

 

You all mind if I ask what it costs to buy the disconnect itself and/or with installation? It looks easy enough that I could install but if having a qualified mechanic doing it is only a couple hundred that may be a good route.

My wife has, surprisingly, started talking about wanting to sell our house and travel the country in an RV in a couple of years. Bought my Taco with the intention of driving it to 300k so I wouldn't be ready to give it up in 2 or 3 years!

 

I bought my disconnect new for my 4runner and had my local driveline shop install it. It involves cutting and welding the shaft. They could not get it to balance after and said they would never do one again. That said, installing the modified driveshaft is super easy. There is a mechanical portion that attaches to the 3rd member that has a cable that runs into the cab for you to pull to disconnect the shaft. That was relatively easy to install but not off road worthy imo. On my 4runner I have 2 DL's since the disconnect DL has a vibration. I don't tow the 4runner often so I swap them out when not in use. I don't use the cable and mechanism anymore. I crawl under there and manually slide the coupling to connect/disconnect.

On a Tacoma, which I also have, the best thing to do, I think, is to install a manual transfer case. Now you have neutral to shift into which disconnects. Plus you get the manual TC.

 

Mine was around 1100.00 I installed it myself. Using a battery disconnect to get around steering lock. No problems so far.

 

In a manual transmission it relies on splash lubricantion from the gears turning. The gear closest to the input shaft is permanent coupled to the input shaft (its always turning as long as you don’t push the clutch) this gear is meshed with the countershaft. This means the countershaft is always turning thus turning all the gears on the output shaft. The gears on the countershaft are normally locked on with a press fit while the gears on the output shaft are free to spin until a gear is selected. This is basically how the splash lubrication system works.

Now that we understand how the lubricantion system works we can see that with the engine off and being flat towed only the output shaft would turn. If the gears don’t turn the surfaces between the output shaft and the gears will receive no oil and will burn up, ruining the transmission.

For legality reason I still don’t condone flat towing it but if you were to remove the rear driveshaft you could flat tow a Tacoma. I know when semi trucks are towed the tow truck drivers either drop the driveshaft or pull the axle shafts for this very reason.

 

Big Flat tow guy here

My Check list
hook up tow bar
Safety cables
Hook up Trailer lights
Ebrake off
Hubs unlocked
The key on
the battery disconnected,
Neutral for short trips.
Pull the driveshaft and tie it up to the frame, it's 4 bolts. Takes an extra 5 mins
Install Bob.
Seatbelt Bob

 

I need a Bob.

 

Almost none of that is true for the Tacoma.

1. The Tacoma input shaft is not directly geared to the counter shaft.
2. The Tacoma output shaft is geared directly to the counter shaft.
3. Reverse, 1st, and 2nd gear are fixed on the input shaft and free on the countershaft. 3rd, 5th, and 6th are fixed on the countershaft and free on the input shaft.

Even Toyotas that do use an input shaft fixed to the countershaft are frequently approved for flat towing.

A manual transmission Tacoma will have everything in the drivetrain lubricated normally if set correctly. If there’s a reason not to flat tow it, it’s not that.

Jeff

 

FYI. I have researched what it would take to make my 23 2WD ready for flat towing. After ~15 years of towing a FWD car with a dolly behind our motorhome, I prefer to not do that anymore. Insurance company also stated no concerns with insuring both the motorhome and toad with this configuration (despite what the manual states).

1. Supplemental braking system. There are many brands (Demco, Roadmaster, Blue Ox).
2. Tow bar - Roadmaster, Blue Ox, Curt, Demco or Blue Ox. Just make sure it will attach to the brand of baseplate you choose below.
3. Baseplate kit Roadmaster or Blue Ox
4. Superior driveline disconnect https://remcodsc.com/ $2000 - $2600 installed. Or you can install yourself.
5. Some type of auxiliary brake light setup (hardwired or magnetic)

There are a lot of options so total price varies.

Have a great day.

 

Same as 23 SR5 LB, except I slide under and undo the four flange bolts and tie up the rear shaft. I’m concerned that the Superior disconnect might be a failure potential when wheeling hard.

It’s really easy to disconnect the 2009 TRD Off Road flange once you practice. I keep a “disconnect kit” in the truck all the time. Ground cloth, 1/2” battery impact, scissor jack to lift a tire so I can spin the shaft for access to bolts. Takes 10 min.

Vulcan rechargeable remote lights eliminate the need to screw with OEM wiring. And the RVi brake is a snap to set in place (I also pull a CJ).