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blogandc2300

blogandc2300

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Joined
Jul 1, 2021
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North Augusta
So I've had numerous Jeeps over the years and I was excited that my Dad just gave me his 95 YJ with 90000 miles on it. The engine runs like new. I drove 2 hours to and picked up the Jeep and was hauling it back on a tow dolly. I had it in neutral. About 1.5 hours into the drive back the back wheels froze up. Called a tow and found out the front wheels are also locked up. What happened? How screwed am I? I was really looking forward to fixing this Jeep up. I'm so pissed.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
Brian
 
Was it flat towed as in on all 4 wheels? When you say you had it in neutral was it for the transfer case as well?

Edit: Nvm. I see you wrote dolly.
 
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I am not sure, but I believe it is fine to have the Jeep in neutral and have the transfer case in 2HI or neutral when flat towing. You can damage the drive line if it isin 4LO, but I don't think it would lock up the axles.
 
It’s auto. The auto was in neutral and transfer case in 2hi. Thanks for the reply. I can’t find a single example of this anywhere on the internet. Strange.
 
No. I dolly towed mine 10 hours away. Mine is an auto. I could have sworn both were in neutral. I know for sure the transfer case was in neutral. The driveline may have been in park.

I have seen a few sources that for autos, driveline should be in park and tcase in neutral when on dolly. So being in 2hi may be wrong.

It sounds like the diffs may be damaged. I wouldn't say you are screwed. You could get away replacing the diff if you can. But this is beyond my expertise and cannot elaborate any further.
 
Yeah i must have screwed up. Should have had the auto in park and tc in neutral. Didn’t think about all that should’ve done my research. I hope it’s just the diff and not trans or both.
thanks for your input
 
Diffs are probably fine, tranny probably not so much.
You might be able find a decent used one for reasonable $.
If you can roll it, t-case in neutral the diffs are ok.

Jeep
Just Empty Every Pocket
 
Not sure what you messed up but the auto can NOT be towed in neutral. You may have ruined the transmission. It is supposed to be towed in park with the transfer case in neutral.

Always read the owners manual when towing an unfamiliar vehicle. Take it to a transmission shop or something to figure out what is actually messed up. The fact that the rear and front are locked up together means transfer case, but the transmission being in neutral almost guaranteed screwed that up too.

edit: I see now that I read through that you have figured this all out. Sorry for the annoying redundancy, but it’s important enough that someone else hopefully benefits from this thread. Thankfully you can still find most all the parts, it just may take a bit of money to get them unless you find a few deals. Best of luck on that. Sorry to hear about the misfortune, it really can happen to anyone because a lot of people don’t consider the details when towing, and lots of old vehicles were fine being towed like that.
 
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I know the feeling, you probably feel like you killed "Old Yeller".

Did your Dad do any mods to it you know of?
Or is it bone stock?
There are a number of unseen axle mods that can change how you have to do things.
The locked front wheels suggest to me that the Commandtrac, or CAD (center axle disconnect) has been eliminated.
 
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