I agree with the guys that say get an actual trailer and get all 4 wheels off of the ground. I think with a tow dolly if you have to stop quick the vehicle being towed is going to jacknife and screw everything up. With a trailer you will have trailer brakes and wont have to worry about it.
Dollies really came about the last few years because of front wheel drive cars, and that's what they are designed for. A dolly is just not meant to be used for a rear wheel drive vehicle.
Care to elaborate? As a tow truck driver I have towed rear wheel drive vehicles thousands of miles backwards with no ill effects.
Even some manuals have shafts that gears ride on while being flat towed thus requiring a disconnect. Late model toyotas and rangers I believe need them. Or you will need to pony up for an electric lube pump. Just pull it and forget it or trailer it.
Sure.......but your comment makes me think of the '63 Ford 427/4 speed advertised for sale with only a few hundred miles on it.........1/4 mile at a time. Short distance towing with the front end on the ground, done properly, is no big deal. Many years ago I used to run a wrecker too and that was common practice. But it was usually local tows. That said, towing greater distances and at higher speeds is a horse of another color. First of all, the vehicle's front end geometry/alignment is set up for forward travel. So, toe in, caster (which helps return the wheels to center, as you likely know) are operating backwards from their intended set up. So, tires now have toe out, not toe-in, leading to excessive wear, caster wants to TURN the wheels one way or the other, not track straight. I realize the steering wheel will be 'anchored' in some fashion, but what if that undoes itself along the way? Remember, the OP says he's towing 1200 miles not 12 miles. Ray
If you want to tow something without removing the drive shaft, just put it in nuetral and let the engine idle. The engine turns the transmission pump, lubricating everything in the transmission. Without the engine running, the transmission fluid sits in the bottom of the pan and doesn't lubricate some parts. That's why it burns them up to tow them without removing the drive shaft. I once tow-dollied a 62 Pontiac Tempest from North Arkansas to Dallas, Texas - a 9 hour trip. They have an automatic transmission in the rear, under the trunk (same guts as a corvair tranny) and an engine in the front, under the hood. The drive shaft is a metal rod that's sprung in an arc under the floor (to provide more passenger foot room.) I didn't want to mess with such an odd arrangement so I just started the engine and just let it idle the entire distance. The transmission was fine. I used it several more years before selling it due to other interests. Idling for 9 hours used surprisingly little gas. I guess if the engine had died I'd have been out of luck but it ran fine and I checked on it pretty often until I trusted it. I recomend just letting the engine idle if you don't want to bother removing the drive shaft - especially if you're only going to pull it a short distance. On regular cars (without the Tempest's unique drivetrain) it makes more sense to pull the drive shaft if you're going to pull it long distance.
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