Yes, it's true. The message that Steve Dunlop posted covers most of it.
The biggest concern is with the steering gear. The older Jeep's steering
system isn't very strong to begin with, I had to replace the pitman arm
shaft in mine last year because it broke at the cam. Flat towing it, where
the tires are constantly turning the steering mechanism puts enormous
stress on the system, much more than turning the Jeep by the steering
wheel.
If you have been towing your Jeep that much, I would be very wary of the
steering mechanism. You may want to take the steering box apart and
inspect the pitman arm shaft for damage. I can't think of the correct
terms for the parts at the moment, but basically the pitman arm shaft has
two tits (forgive the term) that ride up and down in the screw on the
steering shaft. Both of mine broke clean off causing me to loose all
steering control, luckily I was off-roading at the time and not moving
very fast. Had this happened on the highway, things could have been very
bad indeed.
The dissasembly of the steering box is very simple, especially if you
remove the left fender. Once you pull the pitman arm off the shaft,
remove the side cover on the left side of the box, the whole shaft just
slides right out. The cover will come off easily enough, but you may not
have enough clearance to get the shaft out with the fender on. When I
replaced the shaft in mine last year, it was on a trail in the rain with a
few basic hand tools. The whole process took less than an hour, and would
have been even quicker if I had the right tool to get the pitman arm off
the shaft (not just a big hammer <lol>).
-- Andy Beebe
'44 Willys MB
----------
> From: Kerry Vanderzalm <kvanderz@direct.ca>
> To: mil-veh@skylee.com
> Subject: Re: Towing of CJ2A
> Date: Monday, March 10, 1997 9:10 AM
>
>
>
> > It it not recommended that you flat tow your Jeep this far. The
steering
> > box can't handle the stress of being turned by the wheels. Any early
Jeep
> > should be towed with a dolly if a trailer is not available.
> >
> > Andy Beebe
> > '44 Willys MB
>
> Is this true?
> I tow my '52 CJ3A behind my RV.
> Last summer about 3000 miles.
> What damage is being done?
> Kerry, Vancouver BC.