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ftodaro · 09-25-2017, 07:33 PM

I have to have my DP towed tomorrow from my driveway to the repair shop about 20 miles. I found some old threads on towing and some other points on towing.

From what i have seen, the points are 1) to be sure that they remove the drive shaft, which is preferable to removal on an axle. That they should be sure to mark the driveshaft location so that it is installed the say way it was removed.

2) Tie up the rear apron, mud guard.

3) be sure that they connect an air line to the air tanks to keep the system aired during towing.

If anyone has any additional commendations please chime in.

Now my back story. you can look at this is either good luck or bad luck. A few weeks back i posted that I had a front main seal leak, and since the wife and i had a trip planned to the Great Smokey's I took my coach in to a trusted shop to replace it and while we were in there we replaced the radiator, hoses, thermostats , filters, belts, tensioner and anything else that looked suspect.

Note we did not replace the water pump.

So I picked up the coach and off we went on our 800 mile round trip. All went well and the trip was perfect.

The following weekend, last weekend, i went to pick it up from where we store it, about 10 miles away to wash it, about 5 miles in, it overheated. I limped it home and looked under it and saw the new water pump belt was missing. Upon closer inspection, i saw the waterpump was frozen up.

So The good news is that it did not happen on our trip, the bad news is I wish i would have replaced the pump when we were in there. It did not appear to be bad, no leaking, the pulley was not loose. I guess its rare that the water pump will lock up like mine did the normally leak. My coach only has 43,000.00 miles so i would have thought it was good to go.

johnhicks · 09-25-2017, 08:34 PM

Looks like you have it covered. Note that the rear may have to be raised to get the drive shaft out/in. Also the straps and bolts are single-use.

ladagobago · 09-26-2017, 07:59 PM

On my previous post I failed to indicate the removal. My operator secured and lifted the front end to get access under the MH and crawled under the rear axle to remove the drive shaft. I am glad to see OP on this thread have listened and learned about the strap and bolt single use advisement of the manufacturers which I posted.

wagonmaster2 · 09-28-2017, 10:25 PM

I thought I remembered reading previously that it was better to remove the axle rather than the drive shaft, thus preventing losing any of the roller needles in the U-joint cups, not getting the cups back on the exact same end of the U-joint, andnot having to worry about getting the shaft re-installed exactly as it was originally.

Have helped Dad either re-pack or replace auto U-Joints way back in my younger days and know what can happen if everything is not done very carefully.

Anyone know about which is right? If the axle is removed does that mean one side axle or both sides?

Neverenuff · 09-30-2017, 07:56 AM

My Chassis Manual says if towing is necessary then disconnect the driveshaft at the rear and support it as necessary. That being said, I have had (3) occasions where I had to have the "hook" come and get mine. On two of the occasions they disconnected the drive shaft but on one, the tow operator pulled the axle. I did note that when the drive shaft was disconnected, they tossed the bolts and straps for new. I didn't see any ill effect from it being towed with the axle pulled. Both methods looked like a PITA.