Duster Towing

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dICKj

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Can I tow my 1974 Duster with 908 auto trans behind my motorhome, or will the driveshaft have to be removed?
DickJ
 
Remove the driveshaft and use an extra slip yoke bail wired to the tailhousing to seal the trans.
 
Can I tow my 1974 Duster with 908 auto trans behind my motorhome, or will the driveshaft have to be removed?
DickJ

It’s best to drop the drive line and get a cap or old slip yolk and safety wire/ zip tie it to the tail housing so ya don’t dump all the fluid out...
 
If you flat tow it (which is not recommended), you will have to remove the drive shaft. Why don't you trailer it?
 
I hope you meant a 904 tranny. Remove the driveshaft. I know that's not you wanted to hear. Unless you can keep rear wheels off the ground, remove the shaft.
 
Flat tow remove the rear U joint from the diff. ( 4 bolts)

Tape up the U joint, so the caps don't fall off.

Bag the 4 bolts and 2 caps and put in the glove box (don't want to leave them at home in the garage.

Leave the front yoke in the transmission.

SECURELY tie the drive shaft up under the car being sure it can't slide backwards.

Tow away.

If you need to reinstall on the road put one side of the car up on a curb that will give you about enough room to wiggle under and reattach the 4 bolts and 2 straps on the rear U joint.
 
Why not buy a tow dolly and put the car on backwards? Hell with crawling under the car over and over.
 
Towing backwards is frowned apon, engine mass, steering linkage etc. Sure it could be done but I suspect OP is looking to tow long distance "behind motorhome"

Not sure this would be any better but...
Put front on tow dolly rears on dolly wheels below.

For the price might as well get a trailer
Screenshot_20210403-211206.png
 
All I can say is long before I could afford a car trailer I bought a beat up used Dolley. I towed a many of cars backwards. Longest was from Roanoke Va. to Plant City Fl.
 
Towed my '90 TBird SC coast to coast and then some behind our 34' Motorhome without a single issue backwards on a dolly... well other than parking lots that were too narrow to do a 180 in !
 
If your rear towing a lockable column it is no big deal towing backwards. Now towing a pre 70 means you have to tie the steering wheel off in the straight position.
 
Not sure I like the exicution of this but the idea is fairly solid

Coupling
They're an absolute PITA to get working properly. Did that to the wife's sportrac so we could flat tow it and I spent more time under the truck fidling with the thing that dropping the shaft would have been easier. The unit is also made of cheap quickly rusting steel.
 
This is what we used, back in the good old/bad old days. The tow hubs were made from amc hubs welded to 1/2" steel plate with the bolt pattern drilled in.

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^^Haven't heard "tow hubs" in a long time!!! Friend of mine used to use them on a Jeep

On a side note the earliest WWII Willys had same hubs front and rear---the rear used floating axles similar to a 3/4T The fronts of course had the drive caps on, and is what you removed to bolt on "locking hubs" when they came out. So on the War II jeeps you could pull the rear axles and cap them off.

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33IMP, I had a setup like you pictured for many years & flat towed many cars that way. At 2 day races, we slept in tents & if it rained, we slept in the seats. AH, the good old days. LMAO
 
33IMP, I had a setup like you pictured for many years & flat towed many cars that way. At 2 day races, we slept in tents & if it rained, we slept in the seats. AH, the good old days. LMAO
We used that setup to flat tow to riverside raceway before it closed in the eighties, and bakersfield for the firestone/centerline finals (havent used that description in a few years, lol). Used an ez-up and pool mattresses in the pickup bed.
Funny thing, it would work just as well today, and be easier to set up. A light battery impact and an aluminum floorjack would be easier than our old 80 lb floor jack and star wrench. That star wrench got turned a bit, what with 3"studs on the race car... kinda miss old days, and being that young....
 
Towing backwards is frowned apon, engine mass, steering linkage etc. Sure it could be done but I suspect OP is looking to tow long distance "behind motorhome"

Not sure this would be any better but...
Put front on tow dolly rears on dolly wheels below.

For the price might as well get a trailer
View attachment 1715718346
Scares the hell out of me. IMO those tires wouldn’t last long going down the road at highway speeds. Tow trucks could get away with it because they went short distances at reduced speeds.
 
Scares the hell out of me. IMO those tires wouldn’t last long going down the road at highway speeds. Tow trucks could get away with it because they went short distances at reduced speeds.

I agree.

I’d rent a car trailer from U-haul...
 
Towing backwards, depending on front end alignment, "could be scary."

On a side note, darn few STICK SHIFT vehicles can be towed safely without disconnecting the drive shaft as well. Don't let anybody tell you different.
 
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