edoricko

Hi,
i am non-technical, but have an 87 ragtop, with the steering column completely out. I need to tow it with a car dolly, and need the rear wheels to be in nuetral. The trans is locked in reverse, since that is how you pull the key out, then the column was removed.

Is there any simple way to get it out of reverse into nuetral so i can tow it to california to put the new column in?
Any suggestions would help
Thanks,
epd

Keystring

You should be able to crawl underneath and disconnect the linkage and take it out of gear.

I think there is a 'lockout' solenoid that prevents the shifter from moving.

It should be located under the console.

But don't quote me because I don't own the 4+3.

Sweet 90

Remove the drive shaft! It's the only real safe way of towing any rear wheel drive vehicle if you must tow it with the rear wheels on the ground.

Keystring

That is provided you can get at the bolts to undo them.

Since it's 'locked' in reverse, turning the driveshaft to get at the
U-bolts is going to be a little tough.

Sweet 90

You will already have the rear wheels off the ground, just have someone engage the clutch and you should be able to turn the shaft by the wheels.

edoricko

So if i losen and remove the nuts/bolts that holds the drive shaft to the rear wheel shalft/gearbox (differential), I don't need to remove the rear end to get teh drive shaft disconnected? I was being told by many that rear end needs to come off to disconnect the drive shaft, but i saw those bolts/nuts way up in there.

vetteoz

Remove the boot around shifter ;
there is a cable attached to shifter mechanism that goes to the column that can be disconnected @ shifter end so as to release the shifter from the locked reverse position it has to be in to remove key

vetteoz

No
just undo the 4 bolts holding uni straps to diff yoke and position driveshaft so it is clear of the rotating yoke when being towed

edoricko

Thanks much, if one of the methods works, I'll buy you a bottle of wine if you are even up my way in napa. would you do the rear end drive shaft disconnect, or the boot cable release on the shifter stick, if you were going to tow it 600 miles?

i've been told that towing it in nuetral will not harm the transmission because its a standard, where as an automatic needs pump circulating fluid so would burn it up if the drive shaft was rotating. thx

Railroadman

It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway - if you're going to be disengaging things be sure the car is secured against movement. Be safe!

c4cruiser

With your car being a manual 4+3 trans, the OD unit has fluid that needs to be cooled. The OD unit has fluid lines that run to the radiator and back. There is only about 2.5 to 3 qts of ATF in the entire system so it won't take long to get that fluid hot.

I would suggest you re-consider the use of a tow dolly and use a flatbed trailer. You should also consider that towing the car with a dolly puts about 3500 extra pounds worth of weight on the towing vehicle's brakes. Car trailers (such as those you can rent fro U-Haul or Penske) have their own brakes. You will need a suitable tow vehicle like a pickup but you will need a similar tow vehicle even if you use a tow dolly.

In short, a car trailer is a much better way to haul the car, it's much safer, and you won't have to remove the driveshaft (assuming you can get the trans out of gear) or risk burning up the OD unit.

indallas1978

And have had to do this before, I would remove it completely front and back OR be 100 percent sure it is secured so a bump doesnt knock it down and drag or worse yet catch and ram upwards..just my 2 cents

edoricko

so when i disconnect the bolts from the rear, the front will have nothing holding it in to keep the front from falling out and catching? I didn't think of that. I hope it isn't too hard to get the rear out, then pull the whole thing out. Everything is so tight up in there
thanks