Trans in neutral, trans case in 2wd. Loaded front wheels onto dolley and hit the road. No signs of transfer case being engaged and pulled very smooth. 30km down the road felt a jerk and looked back and smoke was piling out of the engine compartment.. from there battery drained very quickly as something had shorted out in the process of (im guessing) cooking the trans case. Ended up dropping rear drive shaft and continued the drive. Quite upset with myself for not having dropped the shaft in the first place as im unfamiliar with the 4x4 components in these vehicles, but the damage has been done. Wondering if anyone has been unfortunate enough (dumb enough) to have had this happen to them.

 

One can not flat tow(or dolly tow) an automatic transmission vehicle with the rear drive shaft in place! I have seen this at least a dozen times and I always shake my head as to why the owner never read the owners manual! There are only four easily removed bolts to remove the shaft! A real winner I saw once was someone trying to flat tow a vehicle with the steering wheel tied off! Guess what happened to his front end? Which then resulted in tow bar destruction and major damage to the rear of the tow vehicle. This is why towing companies get their prices! I have flat towed vehicles from Maine to Colorado,then back to Vermont with no issues using a high quality frame mounted tow bar,the towed unit was just like a trailer. Sorry to hear of your mis fortune!

 

That explains why some tow trucks pick cars up backwards. Huh all these years and the light bulb finally flickered on lol!