Towing with full floater

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daredevil

daredevil

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My motor home is in the weeds and I dont want to crawl under to pull the drive shaft. Snakes, spiders, wasps all kinda crap that give me the heebie jeebies. Can I just pull the axles to flat tow it at 35 mph or so to my buddys house so I can work on it?
 
I wouldn't go more than a mile or two. Very slow speed.
Take the axles out, push some wheel bearing grease in there and cover it all.
It should make it.
 
How far is it? If just a few miles you'll be OK. I would think pulling the axles is more work than disconnecting/ tying up the shaft. If you do, rubber band some heavy baggies around the hubs to keep dirt out. Also, if this is an EXTENDED tow, the slosh from the axles and rear end guts is what lubes the rear bearings.
 
why not just tow out of weeds then pull driveshaft.
 
find a neighborhood kid to crawl under the damn thing......
 
Pull the axles out and you can tow it as far as you need to, as fast as you can safely stop it. You might loose a little gear lube out the holes but not enough to worry about it.
 
Cover over the hub and you can tow nearly forever that way.
 
Pull one axle, unless you have a spool in it, then pull both, or if your going less then a few miles just pull it and leave it alone
 
daliant said:
Pull the axles out and you can tow it as far as you need to, as fast as you can safely stop it. You might loose a little gear lube out the holes but not enough to worry about it.
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This is what i thought. just wanted to make sure i wouldnt loose the c clips that hold the floaters. thanks.Was gonna stuff some rags in the tubes.
 
daliant said:
Pull the axles out and you can tow it as far as you need to, as fast as you can safely stop it. You might loose a little gear lube out the holes but not enough to worry about it.
Click to expand...

Explain to me how the bearings get lubed. I'm thinking "as far as you need to" what if this turns out to be 1400 miles? I'm under the impression --as I posted-- that the wheel bearings, which are not greased or packed separately, or sealed off from the axle cavity-- get lubed from "slop over" from the axle housing.
 
Just me :thumrigh: Tie two small ropes to a shop broom, wrap an old sheet around is and soak in with round up "weed killer" and you get on one side and your wife on the other side and pull the broom back and forth under the motor home a few times keeping it soaked down with round up.
Then pop the top on a couple bug and spider fog sprayers/ fog them out.
Then lay a florescent light under it and that will run the bad spiders off...
Give it about 2 ta 3 days and remove the rear U-joint off the rear end and tie it up.
I have dun out door decks this way and it works way to good..
Just a thought, I would hate to see you mess up a high dollar axle or worse in toe :thumrigh:.
 
inkjunkie said:
find a neighborhood kid to crawl under the damn thing......
Click to expand...

I came home one day about 15 years ago and ask my wife were the boy's are
She said they was at a friends house helping put itchalation up under there house :tongue9: They was about 12 and 14 years old at the time.
I drove over to the house they was at and ask them to crawl out here for a minute....... Long story short :cwm21: I told Jim off and said if they get any bad bites he will be seeing a Dr bill... and said :cwm21:do not!! NEVER ask my kids to do something he would not do and put my two boys in harms way, no masks and when they crawled out they had fleas and spider all over them.

We never herd from that family again, He did not like my way I told him off :protest: and that he should have ask me and let us know what he had my sons doing..
My sons learned a big lesson that day.

Dang!! Dad got all up in the guys face :shock::shock:
They understand now that they have there own children , and see why I was mad at this POS that took advantage of my sons good abilities for $4 dollars an hour :cwm21:
 
Personally I would not pull an axle and then tow it, those hub bearings are lubed from the rear end, if you remove an axle the fluid will leak out and will not be lubing those bearings.
 
Heavy trucks are full floaters as you know. Lots of tow truck drivers will pull the axles (easiest thing to do) and stick empty coffee cup in the axle stub end to prevent oil lose and they tow for miles upon miles with no problems. The better tow truck operators will have caps to replace the axle to ensure that no leaks take place and the bearing is still lubed. After they drop the truck they remove the caps for the next job.

You will be fine.

onig
 
onig said:
Heavy trucks are full floaters as you know. Lots of tow truck drivers will pull the axles (easiest thing to do) and stick empty coffee cup in the axle stub end to prevent oil lose and they tow for miles upon miles with no problems. The better tow truck operators will have caps to replace the axle to ensure that no leaks take place and the bearing is still lubed. After they drop the truck they remove the caps for the next job.

You will be fine.

onig
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Good info. I was hoping mt andrews would chime in as it seems he,s a big rig tow driver. Thanks for posting that. I think with only 20 miles or less I should be ok.
 
67Dart273 said:
Explain to me how the bearings get lubed. I'm thinking "as far as you need to" what if this turns out to be 1400 miles? I'm under the impression --as I posted-- that the wheel bearings, which are not greased or packed separately, or sealed off from the axle cavity-- get lubed from "slop over" from the axle housing.
Click to expand...
There is a little depression between the bearings in the hub that holds some lube, granted some is going to leak out when the axle is pulled but it will hold enough to lube the wheel bearings (which dont need a whole lot of lube on them) for a reasonable trip. I assumed the friends house was less than 50 miles away and not halfway across the country but if he was to tow it 1400 miles the axles should definatly be pulled and temparary covers be put in their place. Whenever you pull a hub off of a floater rear there is always that little bit of lube left in it that makes a mess when you set it on the floor.
 
onig said:
Heavy trucks are full floaters as you know. Lots of tow truck drivers will pull the axles (easiest thing to do) and stick empty coffee cup in the axle stub end to prevent oil lose and they tow for miles upon miles with no problems. The better tow truck operators will have caps to replace the axle to ensure that no leaks take place and the bearing is still lubed. After they drop the truck they remove the caps for the next job.

You will be fine.

onig
Click to expand...


I worked at a heavy truck repair shop for over a year and a half and never saw that. They always pulled the driveshaft and then reinstalled it when they got to the shop.
 
Floater axles can be a bear to get popped out of diff. on big rigs.
Sometimes it is easier to just drop the driveshaft.
 
Guitar Jones said:
I worked at a heavy truck repair shop for over a year and a half and never saw that. They always pulled the driveshaft and then reinstalled it when they got to the shop.
Click to expand...

Been in the HD field for over 25 years and have seen all the different methods. I wish the tow truck drivers would have pull the driveshaft and reinstalled after drop off, would have made my life a lot easier. Putting axles in is an easy task, as well as taking out, that's probably why the drivers do it that way, never really asked.


onig
 
Here they pull the axle, stuff a rag in and go.

I wish they would put the slip yoke at the diff where it belongs so the LAZY tow truck drivers wouldn't just pull the shaft from the slip when installed at the hanger.
Pulling the axle is easier and has no balance effect to deal with when the tow drivers just pull half the shaft out. . .

.
 
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