Flat towed Jeep recommendation

[dasbulliwagen]

My father in law retired this year and has purchased a 30' motorhome to travel around with. He's been towing his motorcycle behind it on a trailer but says he'd like to have something 4x4 and able to be flat towed for next year. I know a Wrangler would be an obvious choice, but would an XJ, ZJ, or WJ also work as long as they have the correct transfer case in them? He's looking for something on a budget and has asked me to keep an eye out for something. I think a KJ is out of the picture for this as he had a bad experience with one as a rental. I think that had more to do with the hard base model seats than anything else though. Any recommendations as to models and setups would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Eagle]

I see a LOT of XJs being towed behind mobile homes. IIRC, The early XJs didn't have a true neutral on the transfer case, but somewhere in the 90s they fixed that. Don't remember when.

 

By "true neutral," what I mean is that (again, IIRC), putting the transfer case in neutral on the early ones disconnected it from the engine and transmission, but left the front and rear driveshafts locked together. That, of course, is not what you want when flat towing.

[cruiser54]

Jeep was very good about having their vehicles towable. 

 

XJs are a piece of cake to tow. I've not delved into the ZJs, but I bet they are also. 

[Eagle]

Found this: https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/true-neutral-plate-1076065/

 

So if the true neutral came in with the TJ, what year did the TJ replace the YJ? I'm pretty certain the YJ and TJ shared the same 231 transfer case that the XJ and MJ had in the same years.

[kryptronic]

7 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Found this: https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/true-neutral-plate-1076065/

 

So if the true neutral came in with the TJ, what year did the TJ replace the YJ? I'm pretty certain the YJ and TJ shared the same 231 transfer case that the XJ and MJ had in the same years.

 

The YJ ran 1987-1995.  There were no 1996 Wranglers. The TJ ran 1997-2006.  I own a 1995 YJ and a 2004 TJ.  Other than the output shaft boot, they have the same NP231.

[kryptronic]

Just read and learned that the YJ needs the mode selector plate in the transfer case modded or replaced to achieve true neutral.  Wish I knew that when I had my YJ's case cracked to do an SYE a couple months back.  I had no idea.  

[Eagle]

If both axles are open diffs, you can still flat tow without the true neutral transfer case. If either end (or worse, both ends) has a locker, then it gets a bit dicey. The real problem comes if trying to tow on a dolly with the rear wheels on the ground and the front wheels lashed down. For that, you absolutely need a true neutral ... or else you need to remove the front drive shaft.

[8valvehero]

Maybe just take the axles out when towing?

They are quick in and out, though he is an old man...

[schardein]

14 hours ago, 8valvehero said:

Maybe just take the axles out when towing?

They are quick in and out, though he is an old man...

Do you mean the driveshafts?  Because the axles are not a quick in and out.  

 

Another option would be to convert the front end to locking hubs (lockout hubs, like the CJs had).  I believe there are kits to do this, but I have no experience with them.  I think they are expensive, which probably blows the budget thing.

[cruiser54]

The real option is to find the truth in an owner's manual. 

[8valvehero]

On 10/31/2018 at 2:50 AM, schardein said:

Do you mean the driveshafts?  Because the axles are not a quick in and out.  

TeeHee!

Yes. No axles would pose more than one issue...