flat towing a front wheel drive car

[urq222]

When the transmission is in neutral there are still gears spinning and splashing lubricant in the gearbox. The input shaft is not spinning ... so it shouldn't need any lubrication. Much ado about nothing IMO.
The problem is on quattros where the wheels on one end are turning and the other are not. The center diff is differentiating far more than it was designed to.  The center diff has sleeve bearings which are damaged by excessive rotation. I don't know to what versions of quatto this issue applies, but I know it applies to the first quattros.
When people talk about removing half shafts, to prevent wheel bearing damage the outer CV joint is separated from the half shaft and reinstalled to hold the hub together. 
Steve Buchholz


-------- Original message --------
From: Dave Fain <kf21857 at gmail.com> 
Date: 10/1/16  6:17 PM  (GMT-08:00) 
To: Peter Golledge <petergolledge at gmail.com> 
Cc: quattro <quattro at audifans.com> 
Subject: Re: flat towing a front wheel drive car 

It is a 5 speed.  My concern is lubrication if the input shaft isn't
turning the gears and flinging grease.  Maybe not as critical with a
transaxle.
thanks,
Dave

On Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 10:36 AM, Peter Golledge <petergolledge at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I've flat towed manual quattros without incident (steering unlocked,
> neutral, no sharp turns).  No real difference between a manual rolling down
> a hill in neutral vs. being flat towed.  If it really bothers you and this
> is a FWD rent a uhaul two wheel dolly.  :-)
>
> On Fri, Sep 30, 2016 at 10:15 AM, Dave Fain <kf21857 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I need to tow a mechanically challenged (fried engine) VW Cabriolet about
>> 200 miles.  I have access to a good tow bar and I know my A6 is up to the
>> task as a tow car.  Will I be risking damage to the transaxle if I flat
>> tow
>> it?
>> thanks,
>> Dave
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