How not to tow your Jeep

www.thedrive.com/news/39794/rv-driver-an...t-towing-it-in-4-low

The video is ...errm... interesting! 

(Makes mental note never to do similar with Jimny)

I always noticed in the manual with the GEN3and GEN4 it says do not flat tow the car, it has to either be dollied with one set of wheels off the ground or use a flat bed.

They towed their Jeep in gear, and in low range.

l can't see why you wouldn't be able to tow a manual transmission Jimny (or a Wrangler for that matter) if the transmission was in neutral.

Towing as they did is going to result in a large bill.

Jimny is front wheels on the floor, rear lifted if you want to tow according to Suzuki. All four on the floor is a not allowed apparently.
I can't understand myself why. Some say gearbox lubrication issues if the engines not running, but I don't fully understand this. But it is in the G3 handbook.

In the 80's/90's I used to Aframe an sj413 all over the country behind my Range Rover, never suffered any I'll effects. Furthest was from Bucks up to Scottish borders.

As far as I understand it, the issue with the Jimny is the way the gearbox is lubricated. The gearbox relies on the input side of the gearbox rotating in order to distrubute oil effectively. When the gearbox is in neutral and the engine is off this will not be spinning. With no option of netral in the transfer case the output side of the gearbox always spins with the wheels. Therefore parts of the gearbox will be spinning without recieving suitable lubrication. It is unlikely to be a problem towing for short distances (up to 10 miles or so) but if you were to strap one behind a motorhome and head off to the Costa del Expat then there is a good chance something will dry up and wear out.

The simple solution is to remove the rear prop before towing a long distance.