Trevor? previously posted:
"Do these folks have experience with the whole "toad" routine? Tow bars, some sort of brake system will be required to stay legal, brake lights, backing up is apparently difficult to impossible. I'd like to be able to flat-tow my '99 with my hot-tub-palace at some point. A lot of folks seem to get by with those brake-buddy setups but I'm not sure if 'm sold on the concept of those yet. The telescoping tow bars seem to make hooking up much easier. I could imagine that would be difficult with a rigid bar, but the rigid ones are much much less expensive."
I flat tow my cj quite a lot - a lot more than I originally planned, but going to Moab and to the Rubicon is so much fun! I flat tow it with a 2010 toyota tacoma. Its a rigid tow bar with brackets mounted to the front bumper/crossmember, no brake buddy or anything - all braking is done by the tacoma. I do have a manual in the taco, so its pretty easy to manage in the mountains with downshifting. I don't have to deal with the steering column lock or anything (old manual steering), so not sure about that, but it tows pretty darn easy as long as the front end alignment is good on the jeep and the tow bar is square. A slightly bigger tow rig (v8) would help going up I-70 mountains etc, and a full size truck would probably be a bit safer, and brake a bit better, but honestly, the tacoma stops the jeep better than the jeep can stop itself at those speeds...on open good highway, I can do 65 no problem - 70 starts to feel a bit iffy with the small truck. It is true that backing one up on flat tow is essentially impossible other than short straight reversing when absolutely necessary. The only other thing to keep in mind is the driveshaft....my front hubs unlock, so only the wheels turn, but on the back, the hub is part of the axle and thus the rear diff turns when towing (and it can get hot with 4.88 gears spinning at highway speeds - another reason to keep it at 60-65). For short tows, I just put the transfer case in neutral (my rear driveshaft is powered through the transfer case - even when in 2wd). For long tows, I disconnect the driveshaft at the rear differential - 4 bolts, takes about 5 mins. I was initially hesitant to flat tow, but my small truck can't pull a jeep on a trailer, so it was essentially my only options (tow dolly works as well), but its turned out to be easy peasy.