Well you sort of answered your own question. All 4 wheels are spinning. What I
meant by binding was binding in the transfer case. With the NP231 part time
case, if we were to shift your transfer case into neutral, lift it up on Jon's
lift and then spin your rear wheels, your front drive-shaft will spin your
front also. If we were to strap the front wheels to keep them from spinning,
say like to a dolly, and then spin the rears again, it'll bind in the
transfer-case because the main shaft and the front output shaft are still
connected to each other by the drive chain. The mode fork only positions the
chain drive sprocket to spin freely on the main shaft in the most forward
position (2Hi). When you pull back on the shifter handle into 4Hi, splines on
the drive sprocket engauge splines on the main shaft. Pulling the shifter back
further into Neutral, only disengages the main shaft from the input gear, the
main shaft and drive sprocket (and thus the front output shaft) are still
engaged. Since it's a non-differentiated transfer case, either the front and
rear need to be rotating at the same speed or the chain drive sprocket needs to
spin freely on the main shaft (2wd).
I've towed trucks with all-wheel drive transfer-cases on the back of a regular
wrecker. Just use the sling, J-Hook the axles and let the front wheels spin
freely in the air. As long as you're not trying to break any speed records and
the 4 wheels can turn freely, it's not a problem.
Walt
In article <1343.199.64.0.252.1150307609.squirrel@janor.ath.cx>,
dml@bleazard.net ("Jason Bleazard") writes:
>
> Okay, silly question. Why does the owner's manual specify to put the t-case
> in neutral for flat towing? I know that all 4 tires will be turning, but it
> seems like there might still be a binding issue in the corners.
>
> Just curious.
>
.
.
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