Flat-towing 96 Miata

The rest of us don't get to know the answer? Please share.

Healeyman wrote:
I plan to call you tomorrow (Thurs).

Lee,

It was good to voice-chat with you.

Get back with me when you get a Miata and I will walk you through everything.

Tim

I suspect that quite a few rear wheel drive standard shifts fall into the same category.

When the transmission is being driven, the input shaft is constant mesh with the cluster gear, and the cluster gear is constant meshed with the individual constant mesh gears. All of this is spinning when being driven, or idling in neutral with the clutch released, and fluid is being sprayed everywhere by the gears.

When being towed, the only thing in the transmission that is spinning is the output shaft, no gears to throw up lube and keep the bearings and bushings lubed. I was looking at a nice BMW Z3 that was for sale nearby. Thought it would be a neat toad for my Winnebago View. Then I discovered that no one made baseplates for them, and went to the Z3 forum and did some searches and found out why. Fluid level is fairly low and thus the mainshaft will quickly run dry when being towed.

I have an old '67 Ford Falcon with a three speed. For years my Dad and I both had problems with the rear mainshaft bearing failing, and the slip yoke bushing wearing out. Finally I concluded the fill plug was engineered too low and not enough fluid was making its way to the bearing and bushing, even in normal driving. I overfilled the transmission thru the top cover and installed it, putting it nose down when I removed the dummy yoke and installed the drive shaft, and have never had a rear bearing or slip yoke bushing failure since. In the course of a clutch replacement I replaced the fill plug with a iron pipe street ell which allowed me to fill to the higher level thru the fill plug.

Charles

The only way I would tow such a nice car is with a dolly under the rear axle and the steering properly locked (NOT using the ignition).

Skyfarmer wrote:
how many of you flat tow Miatas, and what, if any, are the issues?

Lee,

I have gotten your Emails, but I have been out-of-pocket for the last couple of days.

Hang in there... I plan to call you tomorrow (Thurs).

Tim

We have a member, Healeyman, who can help you with this. Please stand by...

It'd be a good idea to click "Notify Moderator" and ask this question be moved to Dinghy Towing. It's about the Miata, not the RV towing it.

If it's the same manual tranny as my '91, I think Mazda says not to tow it. As I recall the manual tranny needs it's gears tuning on the input side to sling oil around to lube the output side. I think the output shaft is higher than the oil level. Regardless, folks do tow them. I just googled for you and here's a Miata forum link on this topic: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=141875