I have to tow my car with a car dolly tomorrow. How hard is it to unhook the driveshaft? Am I in for a world of fun? Thanks, Scott

 

Not hard to undobut - mark the rear universal joints and the coupling so that you can assemble it the way you took it off. I would consider getting a transmission plug and removing the entire shaft. I've not found a good way of holding the disconnected shaft to the body.
Jim

 

+1 on the removal and the tranny plug. Save the mess and the hassle. Happy trails!

 

Do you think it's safe to just put it in neutral if I'm only going around 30 miles?

 

Do not drag your car with it in Neutral. You can hurt your transmission. I pulled a friend's car to my house (probably 40 miles) and for got to drop the driveshaft. We replaced the engine in my garage. When we were finished, the transmission was ruined. This was on a mid 80's T-bird.

It only takes a few minutes to drop the driveshaft.Two u-bolts connect it to the differential. That's 4 nuts that have to be removed. After that, it will slide out of the transmission. I've heard of people covering the rear of the transmission with a baggie and rubber band, but I've never tried it.

Whatever project you're about to start, dropping the driveshaft will probably be the easiest thing you will do.

 

well i can tell you frnt first hand experience that the baggie and rubber band does not work!!!! it will make a huge mess! but the plug will work just fine!

 

If you have a manual transmisson the drive shaft doesn't need to come out or be disconnectedbut keep the towing speed low. For an Automatic remove the drive shaft or wire it up to the body so it doesn't fall out of the tranny. It must be disconnected from the rear-end if you don't want any damage to the tranny.

 

No matter what its a five minute job to pull it out. I highly recomend doing that. Its a grand total of four nuts to take off the ubolts.

 

I think everyone is assuming you have an automatic transmission. You will probably be OK towing it if you have a manual transmission, but not an automatic.

I'm assuming you've never dropped a driveshaft before. Since a couple people mentioned tieing the driveshaft up instead of pulling it out of the transmission, here's something else to think about.

Do something with the caps that are u-bolted to the differential. If you hang the driveshaft up, then drag the car for 30 miles, they might not still be there when you get to where you're going. You could either wrap electrical tape around the u-joint (leaving the caps on) or just pull the caps off. If you pull the caps of, or if one fell off while disconnecting from the differential, make sure none of the needle bearings move or fall out. Nothing but grease is holding them in place. This is not a big deal; just something to watch out for.

 

Maybe it is just me, but a 10-15 bucks a piece, these are one of those "may as wellget new oneswhile they are out" kinda parts.