Planning to Flat Tow

docsouce wrote:
You Folks are Great. This is just the information I am looking for.
I found an interesting Reference article at Motorhome.com /Dinghy towing guides. It lists many autos from 2000 to the present, if they can be towed and restrictions for towing them. Like starting the car every 500 miles and such.

Vehicles with unique "500 mile starting" requirements, have the drive shaft spinning inside the automatic transmission while being towed. A vehicle that is a true 4x4 (not simply 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive) will have an additional transfer case that resembles an ultra-basic manual transmission found on an old lawn tractor. If such a vehicle has push-button selection into 2wd, 4x4high, 4x4low, & neutral, and can remain in neutral when the vehicle is turned off, then all such strange requirements of 500 mile startups and such goes away because the drive shaft does not spin inside the automatic transmission during towing.

Manual transmission vehicles most often have relaxed towing restrictions because there is no harm allowing the driveshaft spin inside the transmission. The thick gear oil is not pressurized and circulated like an automatic. It gets lubricated without the need to spin the input shaft on the engine side like an automatic.