Originally posted by techinspector1
"you dont have to on a auto. trans. stright shift yes."

Mike, I musta' been living in a lead cave all my life, 'cause I thought it was just the other way around.
gears in a straight gear trans. are- input shaft, rear main shaft. cluster gear, and rev. idler.

time to come out of the desert tech on a straight shift trans in order for the rear main shaft to get any oil for lub., the input shaft has to be turning, which turns the cluster gear in the bottom of the trans and the cluster gear is what slings grease up to the rear main shaft and shift forks and that's the only way to get oil on the main shaft and into the top of the trans. if you put the straight shift in neutral and tow the car down the road with the drive shaft in the car, the only thing turning in the trans is the top rear main shaft which is above the oil and has no way to pick up the oil for cooling and lub., it will run hot and burn itself up for lack of lub. the cluster gear can not turn if the input shaft is not turning. you cant tow a straight shift trans with the drive shaft in it very far before it runs hot. you could put it in neutral and let the motor idle while going down the road. that would work.

in a auto. Trans the planetary gears (output shaft) has to be turning to get lub. so going down the road with the drive shaft turning (being towed) then the planetary gears are slinging oil all over the place, doing the same thing it does normal driving. the planetary gears are not pressure lub.but splash lub. you can tow a autu. with the drive shaft turning and full of oil anywhere without it getting hot. you don't need the front cooler if the motor is not running the conv. creates most of the heat.

a long time ago you couldn't have done that because the trans. had a rear pump that turned with the dive shaft and you couldn't tow it without pulling the shaft. far as i know that is where the "cant tow a auto, theory came from." when in doubt pull the drive shaft.